Question

Do you think the various measures taken by the government to improve agricultural marketing are sufficient? Discuss.

Answer 1

To improve the system of agricultural marketing the government initiated a number of measures such as organisation of regulated markets, infrastructural development (cold storage, warehouses, etc.), propagation of market information through agriculture based programmes on radio and television, Minimum Support Price Policy, etc. However, despite various attempts by the government the system of agricultural marketing in India has only been partly successful. The following are some of the obstacles in the successful agricultural marketing system. 

1. It is found that farmers often fall prey to defecting weighing techniques and misappropriation of accounts. 
2. Farmers lack knowledge of market prices and market conditions which forces them to sell their produce at a lower price. 
3. Storage facilities are insufficient which forces the farmers to sell their produce at a lower price right after harvesting. Also, insufficient storage makes the crops vulnerable to pests and bad weather. 
4. There is lack of institutional sources of finance which forces the farmers to fall back on moneylenders for obtaining credit. 
5. Transportation facilities are insufficient as a result of which the farmers are unable to sell their produce at far off places. 
6. Due to the presence of large number of intermediaries farmers remain separated from the actual consumers. The intermediaries purchase the produce from  the farmers at a very low price and sell them at a much higher price in the market. This implies that the farmers receive a very small share of the actual return of the produce.