Agricultural marketing as an enabler for rural development in India

India is an agrarian country and ever since the independence, India has taken the responsibility to feed the people and the objective has been efficaciously achieved. Having considered the enormous population of the country, there is a need to develop contemporary agricultural practices and marketing. The majority of the Indian population lives in rural areas or villages. According to the census, nearly 70% of the population lives in 6, 40, 867. The size of the Indian rural market clearly indicates its potential. The Indian rural market was the only market that was insulated from the impact of the global economic downturn. The “rural” mantra evidently drove the socio-economic development in villages. Rural India depends on agriculture and the need of the hour is to proliferate the marketing of agricultural produce for farmers to get the maximum benefit. For the development of the country, rural marketing is the right approach and to realise the potential of rural marketing, agricultural marketing is the key. Rural India is whirling under severe strain with sequential droughts ensuing the slowdown in demand. Focusing on agricultural development and the welfare of the farmers are critical for rural development. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the significance of agricultural marketing for the growth of the rural India and deliberates the various problems faced by farmers. This paper also highlights various measures to improve the marketing environment that aims to put Indian rural economy on the growth trajectory by recommending various development approaches that would create demand in the economy thereby giving a decisive push to an overall growth, development, and transformation of rural India.