Part B : lesson 22 “Agricultural Marketing”
In this chapter we will discuss about Agricultural Marketing in India. After reading this essay you will learn about: 1. Introduction to Agricultural Marketing 2. Present State of Agricultural Marketing in India 3. Conditions for Satisfactory Development 4. Defects 5. Remedial Measures 6. Steps Taken.
Meaning of Agricultural Marketing:-
Agricultural marketing system is an efficient way by which the farmers can dispose their surplus produce at a fair and reasonable price. Improvement in the condition of farmers and their agriculture depends to a large extent on the elaborate arrangements of agricultural marketing. So in the context of Indian Agriculture, one can say that marketing is a menace and serious threat to the inducement to invest.
More often than not, they are the victim of ‘ paradox of plenty': greater the production, lesser the revenue, as price tend to crash owing to bulk sales in the market. To quote Royal commission Report “ problem of Agricultural growth can’t be fully solved unless agricultural marketing is improved.
Definition of Agricultural Marketing :- according to Faruque, “ Agricultural Marketing comprises all operations involved in the movement of Farm produce to ultimate consumer. “
So, Main operations included in agricultural marketing are as follows as under:-
• Arrangement regarding collection of Agricultural produce.
• Arrangement of grading & standardising the product.
• Processing of the products,
• Warehousing facilities for storage.
• Cold storage facilities for the perishable products.
• Transportation facility.
• Credit facility.
Diverse outlets of Agricultural Marketing in India:-
1. Sale in Villages or local market:- In the local markets, agricultural produce is sold in three different ways:
(a) In the rural fairs/Bazars
(b) Directly to the mahajans or moneylenders.
(c) To the Mobile Traders of the urban areas.
2. Sale in Urban Markets:- Urban market in India are of two types:-
(a) Unregulated Market ( farmers produce purchased by commission agents)
3. Regulated Market.( under this fair price offered to the farmers under direct supervision of the market committee.)
4. Other outlets of sale:- It include the following:-
( a) Sale through cooperative societies
(b) Direct sale to the Government. ( through FCI, Jute corporation, cotton corporation of India etc.)
Conditions for Satisfactory Development of Agricultural Marketing in India:
The following are some of the important conditions for the satisfactory development of agricultural marketing in India:
(i) Eliminating Middlemen:
In order to ensure a fair and satisfactory market for agricultural produce, elimination of middlemen is very much required. Such middlemen between the farmers and the ultimate consumers usually disturb the normal functioning of the market.
(ii) Freedom from Moneylenders:
Easy finance facility should be developed so as to set free the farmers from the clutches of moneylenders who often force them to go for distress sale of their output.
(iii) Storage Facility:
Suitable agricultural marketing structure needs an improved and adequate storage capacity in the form of modern warehouses and cold storages. Such facilities can raise the holding capacity of farmers for getting a remunerative price of their product.
(iv) Bargaining Capacity:
The poor bargaining capacity of the farmers arising out of poor holding capacity should he improved for getting price of their produce in the market.
(v) Regulated Markets:
A good number of regulated markets should be set up throughout the country for removing the practice of exploitation of farmers by the middlemen. Weights and measures are also to be modernized.
(vi) Adequate Transport Facility:
For developing satisfactory agricultural marketing cheaper and adequate means of transport must be developed so that farmer can take their produce in urban market or mandis.
(vii) Agricultural Marketing Societies:
Agricultural marketing co-operative societies should be formed throughout the country for developing a better marketing structure.
(viii) Market Intelligence:
Proper arrangement should be made through mass media coverage to pass correct and updated information to the farmers about ruling prices and marketing operations.
Defects of Agricultural Marketing in India:
Following are some of the main defects of the agricultural marketing in India:
(i) Lack of Storage Facility:
There is no proper storage or warehousing facilities for farmers in the villages where they can store their agriculture produce. Every year 15 to 30 per cent of the agricultural produce are damaged either by rats or rains due to the absence of proper storage facilities.
(ii) Distress Sale:
Most of the Indian farmers are very poor and thus have no capacity to wait for better price of his produce in the absence of proper credit facilities. Farmers often have to go for even distress sale of their output to the village moneylenders-cum-traders at a very poor price.
(iii) Lack of Transportation:
In the absence of proper road transportation facilities in the rural areas, Indian farmers cannot reach nearby mandis to sell their produce at a fair price. Thus, they prefer to sell their produce at the village markets itself.
(iv) Unfavourable Mandis:
The condition of the mandis is also not at all favourable to the farmers. In the mandis, the farmers have to wait for disposing their produce for which there is no storage facilities. Thus, the farmers will have to take help of the middleman or dalal who take away a major share of the profit, and finalizes the deal either in his favour or in favour of arhatiya or wholesalers.
(v) Intermediaries:
A large number of intermediaries exist between the cultivator and the consumer. All these middlemen and dalals claim a good amount of margin and thus reduce the returns of the cultivators.
(vi) Unregulated Markets:
There are huge numbers of unregulated markets which adopt various malpractices. Prevalence of false weights and measures and lack of grading and standardization of products in village markets in India are always going against the interest of ignorant, small and poor farmers.
(vii) Lack of Market Intelligence:
There is absence of market intelligence or information system in India. Indian farmers are not aware of the ruling prices of their produce prevailing in big markets. Thus, they have to accept any un-remunerative price for their produce as offered by traders or middlemen.
(viii) Lack of Organisation:
Accordingly, the Royal Commission on Agriculture has rightly observed, “So long as the farmer does not learn the system of marketing himself or in co-operation with others, he can never bargain better with the buyers of his produce who are very shrewd and well informed.”
(ix) Lack of Grading:
Indian farmers do not give importance to grading of their produce. They hesitate to separate the qualitatively good crops from bad crops. Therefore, they fail to fetch a good price of their quality product.
(x) Lack of Institutional Finance:
In the absence of adequate institutional finance, Indian farmers have to come under the clutches of traders and moneylenders for taking loan. After harvest they have to sell their produce to those moneylenders at unfavourable terms.
(xi) Unfavourable Conditions:
Farmers are marketing their product under adverse circumstances. A huge number of small and marginal farmers are forced by the rich farmers, traders and moneylenders to fall into their trap to go for distress sale of their produce by involving them into a vicious circle of indebtedness. All these worsen the income distribution pattern of the village economy of the country.
Remedial Measures for Improvement of Agricultural Marketing:
Improvement of the agricultural marketing in India is utmost need of the hour.
Following are some of the measures to be followed for improving the existing system of agricultural marketing in the country:
(i) Integration of Domestic Markets with International Markets: The barriers in free marketing across different states especially for foodgrains should be dismantled. This calls for dismantling of restrictions on pricing, trading, distribution and movement of agricultural products within the country. Further, India, being a signatory to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement, should do away with physical barriers, both for imports and exports, on various agricultural commodities. Simultaneously, it should reduce tariff barriers within a time frame. These steps could facilitate the integration of domestic markets with international markets in due course.
(ii)Strengthening Co-operative Marketing Societies: The progress made by co-operative marketing societies so far, though noteworthy, is not wholly satisfactory. Co-operatives have yet to cover a substantial part of the total agricultural produce. It is, therefore, essential that these cooperatives develop at a faster speed and along right lines. Marketing societies need to be more closely intertwined with other societies dealing with farming inputs, credit, etc. The best way to do so is to establish multipurpose societies to look after all the aspects of agricultural marketing. These societies, apart from organizing the sale of agricultural produce, should undertake construction of their own storage capacity, provide for their own transport, arrange for the processing of produce, grade their goods, organize exports, etc. This will reduce their dependence on other sources and provide a total view of marketing services to the members.
(iii)Strengthening of Regulated Market Structure: The management of regulated markets is entrusted to agricultural produce marketing committees (APMC) on which different interests are represented. There is an urgent need to make these market committees viable and managerially competent in keeping with liberalized trade atmosphere. The market committees should be headed by marketing professionals. Further, the present number of regulated markets is not enough to meet the growing requirements of the country. There is also an urgent need to develop rural periodic markets in a phased manner with necessary infrastructural amenities to have a strong grass-root level link in the marketing chain.
(iv) Re-framing Price Stabilization Policy: With a view to provide remunerative price to the farmer, food at affordable price to the consumer and sustained growth of marketable surplus, all undesirable restrictions on agricultural trade has to be removed. Public procurement, storage and distribution of foodgrains need to be managed efficiently on commercial lines.
(v) Developing Efficient Commodity Futures Markets: In order to strengthen the future market Government should set up more commodity exchanges, improve the regulatory and supervisory systems, modernize clearinghouse operations, upgrade training facilities and establish an enabling legal framework to develop vibrant commodity futures market in India.
(vi) Promoting Direct Marketing: Promotion of direct marketing as one of the alternative marketing structures is beneficial for the farmers as well as the buyers as it enables the former to meet the specific requirements of the latter. Direct marketing enables farmers and buyers to economize on transportation costs, handling charges, market fees, etc., to improve price realization considerably. In direct marketing, the market will operate outside the purview of Agricultural Produce Marketing Act and will be owned by professional agencies, such as wholesalers, trade associations, NGOs or self-help groups (SHGs).
(vii)Improving Transport Infrastructure: The traditional rural transport system should be improved. The public investments in the road, railway and waterways should be developed.
(viii)Improving Storage Facility: The private sector needs to be encouraged to enter the warehousing and storage in a big way by extending proper incentives to it. Experiment of the creation of decentralised rural godowns also needs to be pursued more vigorously. Village Panchayats, co-operatives, SHGs, farmers organizations, NGOs, etc., should also be encouraged to undertake warehousing activity under the scheme. In case of perishable commodities like fruits, vegetables and flowers, the complete cold chain comprising pre-cooling, grading, packaging, cold storage and refrigerated vans should be developed.
(ix) Providing Processing, Packaging and Grading Facilities: Proper cleaning, grading and packaging of primary products will need greater attention not only in the physical markets, but also in the villages from where produce is brought to the market for sale. Besides, there is a need to educate the farmers for proper grading and packaging before they bring the produce to the market. In the changed context, new technologies of packing like tetra packs, ascetic packing, pouches, etc. need to be introduced.
(x) Making Available Credit for Marketing: Provision of credit by the organized financial system to support agricultural marketing has to grow further. Considerable amount of institutional financing for agricultural marketing is directed towards public organizations. The credit facility available to private traders is quite limited.
(xi)Promoting Agricultural Marketing Research: The agricultural marketing research in the areas of agri-business management, post-harvest management, grading, standardization, quality assurance, export promotion and information technology should be promoted. The agriculture research institutes and universities should be further strengthened to undertake applied and operational research in agricultural marketing, impart training to market functionaries and provide consultancy services to the public as well as private organizations engaged in agricultural marketing. Further, conferences, seminars, and workshops should be conducted from time to time on current and relevant issues to facilitate exchange of views among various market functionaries.
Steps Taken by Government for Improvement of Agricultural Marketing in India:
In the mean time, the Government has taken following important steps for the improvement of agricultural marketing in India:
(i) Warehouses:
For constructing the network of warehouses in the town and mandis, the All India .Warehousing Corporation has already been set up. In 1988-89, the Central Warehousing Corporation (CMC) owned and managed nearly 465 warehouses with its total storage capacity of 6.4 million tonnes.
(ii) Development of Marketing Societies and Regulated Markets:
Moreover, the Co-operative Credit Societies are also re-vitalised for providing more credit to the farmers. Again about 2633 general purpose primary co-operative marketing and processing societies have also been formed for assuring reasonable prices to the farmers and also to remove all existing intermediaries from the market.
(iii) Infrastructure Facilities:
The central Government is also providing assistance for the creation of infrastructural facilities in the markets and also for setting up godowns in rural areas.
These schemes have been transferred to different States and Union Territories with effect from April 1992 In order to facilitate grading; standards have been laid down for 143 agricultural and allied commodities under the Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marketing) Act, 1937.
(iv) NAFED:
NAFED is a central nodal agency for undertaking price support operations for pulses and oilseeds and market intervention operation for horticultural items like Kinnu/Malta, onion, potato, grapes, black pepper, red chilies etc. During 1994-95 NAFED’s turnover was Rs 718.77 crore and the turnover target for 1997-98 is Rs 80.000 crore.
A few other organizations in the co-operative sector are the National Co¬operative Tobacco Growers Federation Ltd., the National Consumers’ Co-operative Federation and the Tribal Co-operative Marketing Development Federation of India Ltd. (TRIFED) which attends specifically to the marketing problems of the tribal areas.
However, the share of co-operatives in the total marketing of agricultural commodities is rather small.
(v) Commodity Boards:
Moreover, specialised Commodity Boards continue to operate for rubber, coffee, tea, tobacco, spices, coconut, oilseed and vegetable oils, horticulture etc. The National Dairy Development Board is also engaged in the marketing of agricultural commodities.
The role of Co-operatives in the marketing of agricultural produce has also been expanding progressively.
(vi) Standardisation and Grading:
Finally, promotion of standardisation and grading of agricultural products is the main function under institutionalised agricultural marketing. In order to improve the marketability of products within and outside the country, an effective quality control mechanism is essential.
The Act also empowers the Central Government to include additional commodities/products in the schedule for enforcement of grade standards and implementing grading and quality control. This kind of grading and quality control will help farmers to fetch a good price for quality products produced by them.
So far, Ag-mark standards have been framed and notified in respect of 163 commodities which include food grains, pulses, fruits and vegetables, spices, edible nuts, oilseeds, vegetable oils and fats, fibres, forest products, livestock, dairy and poultry products.
At present, 22 Regional Ag-mark Laboratories are operating under the Apex Central Ag-mark Laboratories, Nagpur. These laboratories also provide training to chemists of the laboratories of States and Union Territories.
(vii) Marketing Surveys: The market survey of agriculture products are conducted and published to benefit farmers. The surveys also discuss the problems and measures to tackle the problems associated with the marketing of agro-products. The prices of agriculture products in major markets are published widely. Further, for dissemination of information all sorts of media like radio, television, display board etc. are used.
Conclusion:-
The agricultural marketing system stands today at a critical stage of its evolution. It needs to meet the growing requirements of farmers, consumers, industry and exports as also of agriculture, which is becoming input-intensive and getting diversified. At the same time, the requirements of the small farmers and poorer sections have also to be met. Efficient marketing can ensure better income for the producers and improved satisfaction to the consumers. This requires the increased public investments to improve infrastructural facilities and proper maintenance and up gradation of the existing facilities through repair, replacements and technological modernization.
Concept-check Questions :
* What are the important components of agriculture marketing structure in India?
* What are problems facing agriculture cooperatives in India?
* Write a note on future trading in agriculture commodities.
In this chapter we will discuss about Agricultural Marketing in India. After reading this essay you will learn about: 1. Introduction to Agricultural Marketing 2. Present State of Agricultural Marketing in India 3. Conditions for Satisfactory Development 4. Defects 5. Remedial Measures 6. Steps Taken.
Meaning of Agricultural Marketing:-
Agricultural marketing system is an efficient way by which the farmers can dispose their surplus produce at a fair and reasonable price. Improvement in the condition of farmers and their agriculture depends to a large extent on the elaborate arrangements of agricultural marketing. So in the context of Indian Agriculture, one can say that marketing is a menace and serious threat to the inducement to invest.
More often than not, they are the victim of ‘ paradox of plenty': greater the production, lesser the revenue, as price tend to crash owing to bulk sales in the market. To quote Royal commission Report “ problem of Agricultural growth can’t be fully solved unless agricultural marketing is improved.
Definition of Agricultural Marketing :- according to Faruque, “ Agricultural Marketing comprises all operations involved in the movement of Farm produce to ultimate consumer. “
So, Main operations included in agricultural marketing are as follows as under:-
• Arrangement regarding collection of Agricultural produce.
• Arrangement of grading & standardising the product.
• Processing of the products,
• Warehousing facilities for storage.
• Cold storage facilities for the perishable products.
• Transportation facility.
• Credit facility.
Diverse outlets of Agricultural Marketing in India:-
1. Sale in Villages or local market:- In the local markets, agricultural produce is sold in three different ways:
(a) In the rural fairs/Bazars
(b) Directly to the mahajans or moneylenders.
(c) To the Mobile Traders of the urban areas.
2. Sale in Urban Markets:- Urban market in India are of two types:-
(a) Unregulated Market ( farmers produce purchased by commission agents)
3. Regulated Market.( under this fair price offered to the farmers under direct supervision of the market committee.)
4. Other outlets of sale:- It include the following:-
( a) Sale through cooperative societies
(b) Direct sale to the Government. ( through FCI, Jute corporation, cotton corporation of India etc.)
Conditions for Satisfactory Development of Agricultural Marketing in India:
The following are some of the important conditions for the satisfactory development of agricultural marketing in India:
(i) Eliminating Middlemen:
In order to ensure a fair and satisfactory market for agricultural produce, elimination of middlemen is very much required. Such middlemen between the farmers and the ultimate consumers usually disturb the normal functioning of the market.
(ii) Freedom from Moneylenders:
Easy finance facility should be developed so as to set free the farmers from the clutches of moneylenders who often force them to go for distress sale of their output.
(iii) Storage Facility:
Suitable agricultural marketing structure needs an improved and adequate storage capacity in the form of modern warehouses and cold storages. Such facilities can raise the holding capacity of farmers for getting a remunerative price of their product.
(iv) Bargaining Capacity:
The poor bargaining capacity of the farmers arising out of poor holding capacity should he improved for getting price of their produce in the market.
(v) Regulated Markets:
A good number of regulated markets should be set up throughout the country for removing the practice of exploitation of farmers by the middlemen. Weights and measures are also to be modernized.
(vi) Adequate Transport Facility:
For developing satisfactory agricultural marketing cheaper and adequate means of transport must be developed so that farmer can take their produce in urban market or mandis.
(vii) Agricultural Marketing Societies:
Agricultural marketing co-operative societies should be formed throughout the country for developing a better marketing structure.
(viii) Market Intelligence:
Proper arrangement should be made through mass media coverage to pass correct and updated information to the farmers about ruling prices and marketing operations.
Defects of Agricultural Marketing in India:
Following are some of the main defects of the agricultural marketing in India:
(i) Lack of Storage Facility:
There is no proper storage or warehousing facilities for farmers in the villages where they can store their agriculture produce. Every year 15 to 30 per cent of the agricultural produce are damaged either by rats or rains due to the absence of proper storage facilities.
(ii) Distress Sale:
Most of the Indian farmers are very poor and thus have no capacity to wait for better price of his produce in the absence of proper credit facilities. Farmers often have to go for even distress sale of their output to the village moneylenders-cum-traders at a very poor price.
(iii) Lack of Transportation:
In the absence of proper road transportation facilities in the rural areas, Indian farmers cannot reach nearby mandis to sell their produce at a fair price. Thus, they prefer to sell their produce at the village markets itself.
(iv) Unfavourable Mandis:
The condition of the mandis is also not at all favourable to the farmers. In the mandis, the farmers have to wait for disposing their produce for which there is no storage facilities. Thus, the farmers will have to take help of the middleman or dalal who take away a major share of the profit, and finalizes the deal either in his favour or in favour of arhatiya or wholesalers.
(v) Intermediaries:
A large number of intermediaries exist between the cultivator and the consumer. All these middlemen and dalals claim a good amount of margin and thus reduce the returns of the cultivators.
(vi) Unregulated Markets:
There are huge numbers of unregulated markets which adopt various malpractices. Prevalence of false weights and measures and lack of grading and standardization of products in village markets in India are always going against the interest of ignorant, small and poor farmers.
(vii) Lack of Market Intelligence:
There is absence of market intelligence or information system in India. Indian farmers are not aware of the ruling prices of their produce prevailing in big markets. Thus, they have to accept any un-remunerative price for their produce as offered by traders or middlemen.
(viii) Lack of Organisation:
Accordingly, the Royal Commission on Agriculture has rightly observed, “So long as the farmer does not learn the system of marketing himself or in co-operation with others, he can never bargain better with the buyers of his produce who are very shrewd and well informed.”
(ix) Lack of Grading:
Indian farmers do not give importance to grading of their produce. They hesitate to separate the qualitatively good crops from bad crops. Therefore, they fail to fetch a good price of their quality product.
(x) Lack of Institutional Finance:
In the absence of adequate institutional finance, Indian farmers have to come under the clutches of traders and moneylenders for taking loan. After harvest they have to sell their produce to those moneylenders at unfavourable terms.
(xi) Unfavourable Conditions:
Farmers are marketing their product under adverse circumstances. A huge number of small and marginal farmers are forced by the rich farmers, traders and moneylenders to fall into their trap to go for distress sale of their produce by involving them into a vicious circle of indebtedness. All these worsen the income distribution pattern of the village economy of the country.
Remedial Measures for Improvement of Agricultural Marketing:
Improvement of the agricultural marketing in India is utmost need of the hour.
Following are some of the measures to be followed for improving the existing system of agricultural marketing in the country:
(i) Integration of Domestic Markets with International Markets: The barriers in free marketing across different states especially for foodgrains should be dismantled. This calls for dismantling of restrictions on pricing, trading, distribution and movement of agricultural products within the country. Further, India, being a signatory to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement, should do away with physical barriers, both for imports and exports, on various agricultural commodities. Simultaneously, it should reduce tariff barriers within a time frame. These steps could facilitate the integration of domestic markets with international markets in due course.
(ii)Strengthening Co-operative Marketing Societies: The progress made by co-operative marketing societies so far, though noteworthy, is not wholly satisfactory. Co-operatives have yet to cover a substantial part of the total agricultural produce. It is, therefore, essential that these cooperatives develop at a faster speed and along right lines. Marketing societies need to be more closely intertwined with other societies dealing with farming inputs, credit, etc. The best way to do so is to establish multipurpose societies to look after all the aspects of agricultural marketing. These societies, apart from organizing the sale of agricultural produce, should undertake construction of their own storage capacity, provide for their own transport, arrange for the processing of produce, grade their goods, organize exports, etc. This will reduce their dependence on other sources and provide a total view of marketing services to the members.
(iii)Strengthening of Regulated Market Structure: The management of regulated markets is entrusted to agricultural produce marketing committees (APMC) on which different interests are represented. There is an urgent need to make these market committees viable and managerially competent in keeping with liberalized trade atmosphere. The market committees should be headed by marketing professionals. Further, the present number of regulated markets is not enough to meet the growing requirements of the country. There is also an urgent need to develop rural periodic markets in a phased manner with necessary infrastructural amenities to have a strong grass-root level link in the marketing chain.
(iv) Re-framing Price Stabilization Policy: With a view to provide remunerative price to the farmer, food at affordable price to the consumer and sustained growth of marketable surplus, all undesirable restrictions on agricultural trade has to be removed. Public procurement, storage and distribution of foodgrains need to be managed efficiently on commercial lines.
(v) Developing Efficient Commodity Futures Markets: In order to strengthen the future market Government should set up more commodity exchanges, improve the regulatory and supervisory systems, modernize clearinghouse operations, upgrade training facilities and establish an enabling legal framework to develop vibrant commodity futures market in India.
(vi) Promoting Direct Marketing: Promotion of direct marketing as one of the alternative marketing structures is beneficial for the farmers as well as the buyers as it enables the former to meet the specific requirements of the latter. Direct marketing enables farmers and buyers to economize on transportation costs, handling charges, market fees, etc., to improve price realization considerably. In direct marketing, the market will operate outside the purview of Agricultural Produce Marketing Act and will be owned by professional agencies, such as wholesalers, trade associations, NGOs or self-help groups (SHGs).
(vii)Improving Transport Infrastructure: The traditional rural transport system should be improved. The public investments in the road, railway and waterways should be developed.
(viii)Improving Storage Facility: The private sector needs to be encouraged to enter the warehousing and storage in a big way by extending proper incentives to it. Experiment of the creation of decentralised rural godowns also needs to be pursued more vigorously. Village Panchayats, co-operatives, SHGs, farmers organizations, NGOs, etc., should also be encouraged to undertake warehousing activity under the scheme. In case of perishable commodities like fruits, vegetables and flowers, the complete cold chain comprising pre-cooling, grading, packaging, cold storage and refrigerated vans should be developed.
(ix) Providing Processing, Packaging and Grading Facilities: Proper cleaning, grading and packaging of primary products will need greater attention not only in the physical markets, but also in the villages from where produce is brought to the market for sale. Besides, there is a need to educate the farmers for proper grading and packaging before they bring the produce to the market. In the changed context, new technologies of packing like tetra packs, ascetic packing, pouches, etc. need to be introduced.
(x) Making Available Credit for Marketing: Provision of credit by the organized financial system to support agricultural marketing has to grow further. Considerable amount of institutional financing for agricultural marketing is directed towards public organizations. The credit facility available to private traders is quite limited.
(xi)Promoting Agricultural Marketing Research: The agricultural marketing research in the areas of agri-business management, post-harvest management, grading, standardization, quality assurance, export promotion and information technology should be promoted. The agriculture research institutes and universities should be further strengthened to undertake applied and operational research in agricultural marketing, impart training to market functionaries and provide consultancy services to the public as well as private organizations engaged in agricultural marketing. Further, conferences, seminars, and workshops should be conducted from time to time on current and relevant issues to facilitate exchange of views among various market functionaries.
Steps Taken by Government for Improvement of Agricultural Marketing in India:
In the mean time, the Government has taken following important steps for the improvement of agricultural marketing in India:
(i) Warehouses:
For constructing the network of warehouses in the town and mandis, the All India .Warehousing Corporation has already been set up. In 1988-89, the Central Warehousing Corporation (CMC) owned and managed nearly 465 warehouses with its total storage capacity of 6.4 million tonnes.
(ii) Development of Marketing Societies and Regulated Markets:
Moreover, the Co-operative Credit Societies are also re-vitalised for providing more credit to the farmers. Again about 2633 general purpose primary co-operative marketing and processing societies have also been formed for assuring reasonable prices to the farmers and also to remove all existing intermediaries from the market.
(iii) Infrastructure Facilities:
The central Government is also providing assistance for the creation of infrastructural facilities in the markets and also for setting up godowns in rural areas.
These schemes have been transferred to different States and Union Territories with effect from April 1992 In order to facilitate grading; standards have been laid down for 143 agricultural and allied commodities under the Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marketing) Act, 1937.
(iv) NAFED:
NAFED is a central nodal agency for undertaking price support operations for pulses and oilseeds and market intervention operation for horticultural items like Kinnu/Malta, onion, potato, grapes, black pepper, red chilies etc. During 1994-95 NAFED’s turnover was Rs 718.77 crore and the turnover target for 1997-98 is Rs 80.000 crore.
A few other organizations in the co-operative sector are the National Co¬operative Tobacco Growers Federation Ltd., the National Consumers’ Co-operative Federation and the Tribal Co-operative Marketing Development Federation of India Ltd. (TRIFED) which attends specifically to the marketing problems of the tribal areas.
However, the share of co-operatives in the total marketing of agricultural commodities is rather small.
(v) Commodity Boards:
Moreover, specialised Commodity Boards continue to operate for rubber, coffee, tea, tobacco, spices, coconut, oilseed and vegetable oils, horticulture etc. The National Dairy Development Board is also engaged in the marketing of agricultural commodities.
The role of Co-operatives in the marketing of agricultural produce has also been expanding progressively.
(vi) Standardisation and Grading:
Finally, promotion of standardisation and grading of agricultural products is the main function under institutionalised agricultural marketing. In order to improve the marketability of products within and outside the country, an effective quality control mechanism is essential.
The Act also empowers the Central Government to include additional commodities/products in the schedule for enforcement of grade standards and implementing grading and quality control. This kind of grading and quality control will help farmers to fetch a good price for quality products produced by them.
So far, Ag-mark standards have been framed and notified in respect of 163 commodities which include food grains, pulses, fruits and vegetables, spices, edible nuts, oilseeds, vegetable oils and fats, fibres, forest products, livestock, dairy and poultry products.
At present, 22 Regional Ag-mark Laboratories are operating under the Apex Central Ag-mark Laboratories, Nagpur. These laboratories also provide training to chemists of the laboratories of States and Union Territories.
(vii) Marketing Surveys: The market survey of agriculture products are conducted and published to benefit farmers. The surveys also discuss the problems and measures to tackle the problems associated with the marketing of agro-products. The prices of agriculture products in major markets are published widely. Further, for dissemination of information all sorts of media like radio, television, display board etc. are used.
Conclusion:-
The agricultural marketing system stands today at a critical stage of its evolution. It needs to meet the growing requirements of farmers, consumers, industry and exports as also of agriculture, which is becoming input-intensive and getting diversified. At the same time, the requirements of the small farmers and poorer sections have also to be met. Efficient marketing can ensure better income for the producers and improved satisfaction to the consumers. This requires the increased public investments to improve infrastructural facilities and proper maintenance and up gradation of the existing facilities through repair, replacements and technological modernization.
Concept-check Questions :
* What are the important components of agriculture marketing structure in India?
* What are problems facing agriculture cooperatives in India?
* Write a note on future trading in agriculture commodities.
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