Agricultural marketing in India: Review of some issues

This paper has documented various dimensions of present agricultural marketing system in India and the attempts made so far to make the system work efficiently to the satisfaction of all the stakeholders, viz., farmers, traders, consumers, etc. The paper has argued that the small and marginal farmers who constitute about 85% of total holding and nearly 45% of total area operated, have found themselves on the receiving end when it comes to selling their produce efficiently in the mandi due to low marketable surplus of various commodities generated by them. The small farmers who normally cultivate subsistence crops like, ragi, bajra, jowar barley, paddy, wheat, etc have very low marketable surplus ranging between 21 to 45 per cent and the percent of farmers selling their produce is even much less ranging between 14 to 45 percent. The paper has made some suggestions to help small farmers to get a better deal in the mandies. Promoting Farmers Producers, developing ICD based market intelligence to ensure that the farmers are fully aware about market information, creating sufficient storage facilities, etc., may help small farmers in one or the other way. The attempt may also be made to link the farmers, particularly the small growers, to the developing retail chains with some safety provisions to ensure that the farmers do not get exploited in the process. It is now the time to have a re-look at various provisions under the Model APMC Act 2003 keeping in view the changing dimensions in the agricultural marketing system. There is also a need to re-examine the provisions under ‘Essential Commodities Act’, 1955, ‘Land Tenancy Acts and any such legally created structures whose provisions are restrictive and create barriers to free trade.