1Dept of Agrl Marketing and Agri Business, (Agrl Economics), Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu
Division, (Agrl Policy and Planning) State Planning Commission, Govt of Tamil Nadu
Online published on 30 June, 2017.
Tamil Nadu State Agricultural Marketing Board is the regulatory board for agricultural markets. In Tamil Nadu 22 Market Committee are operating and 277 regulated markets are functioning in the State. The major constraints faced in APMC Model act are viz., the dominance of non formal channels; too many intermediaries resulting in higher cost of goods and services; inadequate infrastructure for storage; sorting and grading, existence of limitations in Price setting mechanism;licensing systems creates entry barriers to new traders. Moreover, existence of multi point levy of market fee and essential commodity act also impedes free movement of farm produce across the country. Strategy and initiatives by the State are: Linking small farmers to the market, support to Farmer Producer Companies, price discovery, direct marketing and integrated value chain promotion. Besides, the Government has set up an innovative agro market intelligence and business promotion centre for rapid dissemination of market information and enriching the knowledge management on agro business related issues. Reforms are needed in the following areasviz., empower producers with knowledge, information and capability to undertake market driven production, provide multiple choice and competitive marketing channels, attraction of large scale investment for post harvesting andprice stabilization fund. A national agriculture market online trading portal should be established where farmers can offer their produce to buyers in any part of the country. Finally, integrating the existing APMCs markets through a common e-platform as done in few states would help the farmers in the State. Reforms in APMCsmust be accompanied with easier access in credit and market information services, for which farmers often rely on their captive buyers; there also needs to be a greater push for cooperative groups so that marginal and small farmers have adequate negotiating left in a free market.
