Private participation in agricultural marketing infrastructure in India: An assessment

The main aim of this article is to know the trends in agricultural investment in India and to assess the growth of public and private investment made in promotion of agricultural marketing infrastructure in India. Agricultural Marketing rather than production is the prime concern today. Agriculture activity is no more substance rather commercializing. Fine-tuning of APMC Regulations enables the farmers to face new challenges in the post-Globalization context. A new wave of treatment is needed with private participation for cleaning, grading, quality certification, packaging, storage, transportation, financing, wholesaling and retailing etc. The post-WTO regime requires private participation in agri related activities like insurance, finance, marketing, storage and supply chain. In order to come out from the clutches of unscrupulous commission agents and to protect the interest of farmers, both private and public sectors need to go hand-in-hand with regard to investment in agri-infrastructure. Industry-Agriculture linkages through agro processing industries and direct participation of farmers in the process of agricultural marketing will hold rural exodus. Massive programmes with regard to privatization of the agri-marketing extension services. The public investment should induce the private investment. Therefore, the targeted areas of agri-marketing infrastructure are invested initially by the public fund. Massive private investment in infrastructure services and value addition should be attracted by relaxing the regulatory frame work. Despite well developed infrastructure facilities, there is lot of scope for developing and upgrading agri-infrastructure. By creating good environment (appropriate legal frame work) it is possible to establish an effective linkage between farms to fork.