Role of institutions in augmenting famers income-Case studies in India

Smallholder farms are vital for India's agriculture and rural economy. Smallholders constitute about 85 per cent of the country's total land holdings and own only 44.6 per cent of the total cultivated land. Studies in the past have revealed that, smallholders could get higher per acre yields compared to large holding farmers and will be the key to an economic upturn in the fortunes of farmers. The concern now is small quantity of marketable surplus which makes them uneconomical to take it to the main markets. Hence, the major challenge for Indian agriculture is how to link these smallholders to the input and output markets. Various institutional interventions, formal or informal, have evolved over the years due to efforts by the policy makers and private individuals/groups to link smallholders to the input and/or output markets. An attempt has been made in this paper to analyse the status of small holders and institutional interventions for linking them to input and output markets. Several innovative marketing models have evolved over the years in the country which helped in overcoming the shortcomings of traditional marketing system. Farmers have been benefitted from such interventions in terms of access to improved technology, higher productivity, quality production, improved bargaining and market. Effective linkages between farmers and service providers and purchasers of agricultural produce are inevitable to strengthen support services for small farmers. Development of these linkages are governed by a number of factors like, external environment in which farmers and service providers operate as well as the nature of product and processing involved. The reach of these innovative models can be spread across by adopting appropriate policy measures. The aggregation of farmers may be promoted through centrally sponsored scheme.