Contract Farming for Sustainable Growth of Indian Horticulture in the Changing Global Economic Order

In the age of globalization and changing economic order there is a danger that farmer's particularly small-scale farmers will find difficulty in fully participating in the market economy. In many countries such farmers could become marginalized as larger farms become increasingly necessary for a profitable operation. The large number of intermediaries in the value chain from farm gate to food plate adds no value to the entire value chain. Well-organized contract farming provides such linkages and would appear to offer an important way in which smaller producers can do farming in a commercial manner. Similarly, it also provides investors with the opportunity to guarantee a reliable source of supply, from the perspectives of both quantity and quality. To establish an agrarian economy that ensures food and nutrition security to a population of over a billion, raw material for its expanding industrial base and surplus for exports the contract farming is no doubt a viable marketing strategy which provides assured and reliable marketing source to farmers and desired farm produce to the contracting firms.