Prospects of apni Mandi in Punjab - A case study of Ludhiana District

The concept of Apni mandi i.e. farmers’ own market was initiated in Punjab in February 1987 in to provide marketing facilities by the market committee to the farmers in the market to sell their produce in a direct contact with the consumers. But over a period of time the dominance of the non- farmers and retail traders can be seen in these markets which has corrupted the true spirit of the concept. The present-study examined the prospects of the Apni Mandi scheme by analyzing the influencing factors and problems-faced by the fruits and vegetable sellers in these markets. Two Apni mandis each in Ludhiana and Khanna were randomly selected for the purpose of the study. Complete enumeration of the sellers was done and total 189 sellers comprising 50 farmers and 139 non- farmers were found. All the 189 sellers were made respondents for study conducted in 2017-18 and primary data were collected through well structured pre tested schedule. The farmer and non-farmer sellers (100 per cent) claimed that the basic facilities such as, market intelligence services, transportation of produce, storage facilities, counter balance weights, packaging material, etc, were not provided by market committee. Though about 96 per cent of farmer sellers whereas only 45 per cent of non- farmer sellers agreed that parking facility was there in the Apni-mandi. Quick sale and higher returns were perceived as number one factor which influenced the farmer-and non- farmer sellers respectively to sell their produce in Apni mandi. The presence of non-farmer sellers-in Apni mandi badly affected the farmers’ sale and it was number one problem as reported by farmer-sellers while absence of registration of non-farmer sellers with Punjab Mandi Board in Apni mandi was-the top most problem in case of non- farmer sellers.