Impact of procurement of agricultural commodities under minimum support price scehemes to promote agricultural marketing in Karnataka

The present study focused on the effective implementation of price support scheme and its usefulness to the farmers in marketing of their produce. Multistage sampling procedure was adopted for the selection of the study districts, taluks, villages and farmers. For detailed evaluation of the scheme, the present study covered Dharwad, Haveri and Gadag districts of north Karnataka. These districts produce major agricultural commodities on a large scale, which are used for distribution under Annabhagya scheme. In all, 90 farmers (at rate of 30 farmers in each district) and 30 officials (@10 in each district) were selected for collection for required information by personal interview method using schedules prepared for the purpose. Tabular analysis and Garrett ranking technique were used for data analysis. The results of the study revealed that most of the agricultural commodities are not procured on regular basis as per the MSP announced by the government and delay in establishment of procurement centers and short period of procurement has not attracted farmers to sell their produce through procurement centers. In Dharwad district green gram was procured under MSP. The sample respondents of the district harvested per acre 5.08 quintals with cost of cultivation of 14,800 per acre. Out of the total quantity produced, 4.71 quintal was sold with support price of 5225/quintal. Gross returns realized by the sample respondents by selling their produce under the procurement programme were 24,646. Whereas in Gadag District, onion was procured under price procurement programme during 2016-17 and the support price announced by the government was 624/quintal. On an average, sample respondents produced 18 quintals of onion with a cost of cultivation of 16,186 and obtained gross returns of 11,232. In Haveri district, on an average paddy produced was 12.50 quintal per acre. Out of which, 11 quintal was sold under procurement programme. The support price for paddy announced by the government during the year 2016-17 was 1510/quintal. Gross return obtained by the sample respondents by selling under the procurement programme was 16,610. Marketing cost was highest in Dharwad district in marketing of green gram (386) as compared to marketing of Onion (201) and paddy (172) in Gadag and Haveri districts respectively. Difficult to meet the FAQ standards, delay in the payment and procurement, price lower than market price, delay procurement and short period of procurement of commodities are the major constraints faced by the farmers. Procurement by commission agents from farmers and selling it under MSP in the name of farmers was the major constraint faced by the agencies. To encourage the farmers to sell their commodities under Minimum Support Schemes efforts should be made to initiate procurement process as soon as harvesting of crops commence, open procurement centers all through the harvesting season and timely payment of sale proceeds to the farmers. Strict enforcement of regulation is needed by the concerned authorities to avoid interference of traders in procurement process and creation of adequate storage facilities and timely procurement of the produce to improve marketing of agricultural commodities under procurement schemes.