An Economic Analysis of Marketing Practices in Regulated Markets of Karnataka

This paper has studied how best the standard marketing practices were being followed in the markets of Karnataka and what were the problems in implementing the standard marketing practices. The study has revealed that there were deviations from standard marketing practices in all the markets selected for study. It was found that law permits a deduction of only one kilogram as container weight, but in practice additional one kg was being illegally deducted from farmers produce in all the markets. The majority of farmers followed the agreement of sale through white paper. As pe the standard practice, the commission charges were to be paid by traders, but it was revealed that these were being paid by both farmers and traders. There was a clear violation of standard practice regarding payment of sale proceeds to the farmers. For individual farmers, this loss ranged from 300 to 3000. Farmers availing loans, non-receipt of sale proceeds, the ungraded produce and weak monitoring of selling activities by market staff were the major problems. The study has suggested the strengthening of market intelligence cell to generate awareness among stakeholders, and introduction of e-tendering and e-payment to bring in transparency in marketing and reduce deviations from standard practices.