Agricultural Produce

Introduction
India is an agricultural country and one third population depends on the agricultural sector
directly or indirectly. Agriculture remains as the main stray of the Indian economy since ages.
Indian agriculture contribution to the national gross domestic product (GDP) is about 13.7 per
cent in the year 2013-2013. With food being the basic and the most prioritized need of
mankind, much emphasis has been on commercialization and marketing of agricultural
production. For this reason, adequate production and even distribution of food has of late
become a high priority concern.
Agricultural marketing is mainly the buying and selling of agricultural products. In earlier
days when the village economy was more or less self-sufficient the marketing of agricultural
products presented no difficulty as the farmer sold his produce to the consumer on a cash or
barter basis.
India is ranked second worldwide in farm output. Our country is the largest producer of many
fresh fruits, vegetables, milk, fibrous plants. It is the second largest producer of rice and
wheat. It is the third largest producer of dry fruits.
Overview: Marketing of agricultural produce
The peculiar characteristic of agricultural produce results in complicated marketing system &
in the process rural produce is exploited. Income of rural consumer depends upon the
efficiency of marketing of agricultural produce irrespective of the technology adopted in
production. Any technology innovation should go hand in hand with efficient marketing.
There are several challenges involved in marketing of agricultural produce. There is limited
access to the market information, literacy level among the farmers is low, multiple channels
of distribution that eats away the pockets of both farmers and consumers. The government
funding of farmers is still at nascent stage and most of the small farmers still depend on the
local moneylenders who are leeches and charge high rate of interest. There are too many
vultures that eat away the benefits that the farmers are supposed to get. Although we say that
technology have improved but it has not gone to the rural levels as it is confined to urban
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areas alone. There are several loopholes in the present legislation and there is no organized
and regulated marketing system for marketing the agricultural produce. The farmers have to
face so many hardships and have to overcome several hurdles to get fair and just price for
their sweat.
But the globalization has brought drastic changes in India across all sectors and it is more so
on agriculture, farmers and made a deep impact on agricultural marketing. It is basically
because of majority of Indians are farmers. It has brought several challenges and threats like
uncertainty, turbulence, competitiveness, apart from compelling them to adapt to changes
arising out of technologies. If it is the dark cloud there is silver lining like having excellent
export opportunities for our agricultural products to the outside world.
Marketing in accordance to the needs
Today's agricultural marketing has to undergo a series of exchanges or transfers from one
person to another before it reaches the consumer. There are three marketing functions
involved in this, i.e., Assembling, Preparation for Consumption and Distribution. Selling
on any agricultural produce depends on some couple of factors like the demand of the
product at that time, availability of storage etc. The products may be sold directly in the
market or it may be stored locally for the time being. Moreover, it may be sold as it is
gathered from the field or it may be cleaned, graded and processed by the farmer or the
merchant of the village. Sometime processing is done because consumers want it, or
sometimes to conserve the quality of that product. The task of distribution system is to match
the supply with the existing demand by whole selling and retailing in various points of
different markets like primary, secondary or terminal markets.
Most of the agricultural products in India are sold by farmers in the private sector to
moneylenders (to whom the farmer may be indebted) or to village traders. Products are sold
in various ways. For example, it might be sold at a weekly village market in the farmer's
village or in a neighbouring village. If these outlets are not available, then produce might be
sold at irregularly held markets in a nearby village or town, or in the mandi.



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Selling Strategies
Following are some of the strategies that are followed while selling the agriculture produce:
1. The products can be sold directly or stored.
2. It can be sold as gathered from the filed or it can be cleaned, graded and processed.
3. Sometime processing is done because consumers want it, or sometimes to conserve
the quality of that product.
4. The task of distribution system is to match the supply with the existing demand by
whole selling and retailing in various points of different markets like primary,
secondary or terminal markets.
5. Most of the agricultural products in India are sold by farmers in the private sector to
moneylenders (to whom the farmer may be indebted) or to village traders.
6. Products are sold in various ways. For example, it might be sold at a weekly village
market in the farmer's village or in a neighbouring village.
7. If these outlets are not available, then produce might be sold at irregularly held
markets in a nearby village or town, or in the mandi.
















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Market Reforms

Below are the certain measures that can be affected to bring out the reforms in agricultural
marketing so as to ensure just and fair price for the farming community.

1. Generate a new distribution network that connects the farmers directly to the
consumers to get maximum returns as the present channel of distribution involves
multiple mediatory who take away the major portion of profits which otherwise the
farmers is supposed to get.
2. Provide loans to the farmer at low rate of interest so that they will be freed from the
clutches of local moneylenders who squeeze them. It is said that farmer in born into
debt, lives in debt and dies in debt. Right from the beginning of the life, the poor
farmers approach money lenders for investing into cultivation who levies very high
rate of interest and who takes away the maximum amount of the share from the
produce. In case if the crop fails due to natural calamities then the situation would be
worse as the farmer is not in a position to pay his loans. And ultimately he is forced to
sell the land at throw away price to the money lender.
3. Creating local outlets at each village where the farmers sell their stocks directly to the
consumers or the authorized buyers at fixed prices would help to a great extent.
Intervention of government in this network is essential to bring the fruits to the
farmers.
4. The retail revolution has brought several changes in the retail sector where the retail
giants buy in bulk directly from the suppliers and sell to the consumers directly and in
this process they pass the benefits to the consumers as well. In the past the consumers
were paying more for less as there were many channels of distribution system and
now the consumers pay less for more.





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Cooperative Marketing

1. To avoid exploitation by the middlemen, formation of cooperative societies took
place.
2. The purpose of cooperative societies before independence was to provide relief to
farmer from moneylenders. After independence they became a powerful instrument of
economic development.
3. There are about 5 lac cooperatives working in selected agriculture produce areas like
dairy, sugar, oilseeds, maha-grape in Maharashtra, tomato growers in Punjab etc.
succeeded in cooperative processing industry.
4. After independence they became a powerful instrument to avoid concentration of
economic powers.
5. It is beneficial for the farmers as it increases the returns, helps in creating marketing
infrastructure.
6. Provided bulk purchasing so farmer has to pay less.
7. Provides quantity seeds, pesticides & fertilizers.
8. Arranges availability of requisite inputs & ensure distribution.

Conclusion

Rural marketing depends on agriculture produce, the production is seasonal and the
consumption is spread out. Because of this, equalization of demand and supply has to be
done. In addition to this, the raw agricultural produce as marketed by the farmers has to be
processed by many middlemen. This includes collection and assembling, financing, grading
and standardization, storage, transportation, wholesaling and retailing. These functions are
performed by village merchants, commission agents, wholesalers etc.
Thus, the middlemen get more share of the price than the producers. This has led to formation
of cooperative societies.



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