Existing status and changing scenario of agricultural produce marketing in India

Marketing of agricultural produce is an important economic activity. Agricultural marketing has become the primary driver of the agriculture sector. It balances the affordability and availability of food for consumers with sustained improved incomes to farmers. Present study is based on secondary data information which is collected from a different source of information such as various research journals, annual reports of various government departments on agricultural marketing in India. The main objective of paper is to study the existing status and present scenario which includes new initiatives taken by the government and major reform of new trends in the agriculture produce marketing. Agricultural marketing plays a crucial role not only in stimulating production and consumption, but in accelerating the pace of economic development. To protect the farmers’ interests and to ensure adequate availability of food grains for official procurement from the unfair practices by private grain traders, a large number of restrictions were imposed by the central and state government. However, excessive regulations of domestic marketing had resulted in increased marketing costs, risks and uncertainty, which impacted the performance of agriculture sector. However, it is not sustainable to continue with controlled markets for long time. To achieve higher growth and move the sector in long term sustainable growth trajectory, market reforms in agriculture need to be undertaken. As a result a broad consensus has emerged about the need for reforms in agricultural market policies and quite significant reforms have been implemented in recent years, as a part of the ongoing policy reform process in India.