Problems and Prospects of Agricultural Marketing in India: an Overview

Agriculture is different from industry and plays a significant role in the economic development of a nation. India‟s prosperity depends upon the agricultural prosperity. There are many kinds of agricultural products produced in India and the marketing of all these farm products generally tends to be a complex process. Agricultural marketing involves many operations and processes through which the food and raw materials move from the cultivated farm to the final consumers. Agriculture provides goods for consumption and exports and manufacturing sectors. The suitable marketing system should be designed so as to give proper reward or return to the efforts of the tiller of the soil. Market information is a means of increasing the efficiency of marketing system and promoting improved price formation. It is crucial to the farmers to make informed decisions about what to grow, when to harvest, to which market produce should be sent and whether or not to store it. Awareness of farmers on different components of market information and its utility was very poor (11 to 37 %) as compared to that of traders (75%). Out of the expectations of farmers on grades, quality, prices in potential markets, price projections; only real time arrivals and prices were documented and disseminated with traditional approach. Hence there is a need to create awareness among the farmers through the agricultural extension agencies like the State Department of Agriculture, Krishi Vigyan Kendras so that the marketing information on agriculture commodities are incorporated in the extension services along with production aspects to the farmers. © 2013 Universal Research Publications. All rights reserved