Defects of Agriculture

DEFECTS OF AGRICULTURAL MARKETING IN INDIA tell The term farming(prenominal) merchandising is collected of two words - culture and grocery storeplaceing. Agriculture, in the broadest hotshot means activities aimed at the hire of essential resources for human welf be, and selling connotes a serial of activities involved in moving the goods from the bloom of payoff to the point of consumption. Specification, the subject of sylvan merchandising includes commercialiseing functions, agencies, channels, efficiency and cost, damage spread and food market integration, ca-cars extravagance etceteraThe plain merchandising form is a combine amid the generatorate and the non-farm sectors. Introduction In India Agriculture was practiced formerly on a subsistence basis the liquidations were self sufficient, mountain ex mixtured their goods, and services within the colony on a barter basis. With the development of means of be hand and entrepot facilities, tillag e has become technical in character, the granger grows those crops that fetch a founder set. market of agrarian decl atomic number 18 is considered as an integral sever of market-gardening, since an agriculturist is encouraged to draw and quarter much invest workforcet and to increase production. Thus thither is an increasing awargonness that it is not copious to work a crop or animal product it mustiness(prenominal) be marketed as well. The grandeur of marketing in factory farm is re tout ensembley well illustrated by saying, that a good granger has genius eye on the plough and the separate on the market.This is reliable when agriculture is mainly for subsistence and now, plane Indian agriculture is beseeming commercialized. In these days of commercial agriculture, it pull up stakes be more sum up to say, a good granger has and his custody on the plough solely the eyes on the market Since agriculture constitutes a major spot of the economy, marketi ng of untaught products as well as assumes considerable importance in our context. country marketing involves in its simplest form the buying and look ating of pastoral contract.This definition of outlandish marketing whitethorn be accepted in past days, when the village economy was more or less self-sufficient, when the marketing of outlandish win presented no thornyy, as the farmer exchange his reach directly to the consumer on a cash or barter basis. However, in modem propagation, marketing of pastoral produce is several(predicate) from that of olden days. In modem marketing, agricultural produce has to undergo a series of transfers or exchanges from virtuoso hand to an opposite to begin with it fin tout ensembley reaches the consumer.The National Commission on Agriculture, delimitate agricultural marketing as a process which starts with a conclusion to produce a saleable farm commodity and it involves any aspects of market structure of corpse, both functio nal and institutional, based on technical and economic considerations and includes pre and post- harvest operations, assembling, grading, storage, exaltation and distribution. The Indian council of Agricultural Research defined involvement of three distinguished functions, that is to say (a) assembling (concentration) (b) preparation for consumption ( bear on) and (c) distribution.In short, all the activities want transportation processing, storage, grading ar including in the agriculture marketing. These activities atomic number 18 for stick toful in the economy of every country. importance and Objectives of Agriculture selling The farmer has realise the importance of adopting new techniques of production and is fashioning efforts for more income and higher standards of living. As a consequence, the cropping pattern is no hankerer order by what he needs for his deliver personal consumption but what is antiphonal to the market in terms of termss win by him.While t he trade is very set up the farmers are not Farmer is not conversant with the complexities of the marketing dodge which is becoming more and more complicated. The cultivator is handicap by several disabilities as a exchangeer. He sells his produce at an critical place, time and legal injury. The objectives of an expeditious marketing body are 1. to alter the primary producers to get the trump attainable returns, 2. to provide facilities for lifting all produce, the farmers are willing, to sell at an incentive price, 3. to reduce the price difference mingled with the primary producer and ultimate consumer, and . to make available all products of farm origin to consumers at reasonable price without impairing on the quality of the produce. Facilities Needed for Agricultural merchandiseing In order to yield best advantage in marketing of his agricultural produce the farmer should enjoy accepted fundamental facilities. 1. He should have straightlaced facilities for st oring his goods. 2. He should have holding capacity, in the sense, that he should be able to hold back for times when he could get fall apart prices for his produce and not dispose of his stocks at present after the harvest when the prices are very mild. . He should have adequate and tinny transport facilities which could enable him to steer his unornamented produce to the mandi rather than dispose it of in the village itself to the village silver-lender-cum-merchant at low prices. 4. He should have clear instruction regarding the market forms as well as about the ruling prices, otherwise may be cheated. in that location should be create and set markets where the farmer will not be cheated by the dalals and arhatiyas. 5. The piece of intermediaries should be as keen as possible, so that the shopping mallmans profits are reduced.This increases the returns to the farmers. The existing systems of agricultural marketing in India are as briefly described here. 1. Sale to moneylenders and traders A considerable part of the sum produce is sell by the farmers to the village traders and moneylenders. fit in to an estimate 85% of wheat, 75% of cover seeds in U. P. , 90% of jute in double-u Bengal and 60% of wheat, 70% of oil seeds and 35% of like in Punjab are change by the farmers in the villages themselves. Often the money lenders act as a counselling agent of the wholesale trader. 2. Hats and shantiesHats are village markets often held once or in two ways a week, while shanties are similarly village markets held at longer intervals or on special(prenominal) occasions. The agents of the wholesale merchants, run in various mandies also foretell these markets. The area covered by a hat ordinarily varies from 5 to 10 miles. Most of hats are very naughtily equipped, are uncovered and lack storage, drainage, and other facilities. It is important to observe that further little(a) and fringy farmers sell their produce in such markets. The bi g farmers with volumed surplus go to the giantr wholesale markets. . Mandies or wholesale markets One wholesale market often serves a procedure of villages and is by and large located in a city. In such mandies, business is carried on by arhatiyas. The farmers sell their produce to these arhatiyas with the help of brokers, who are largely the agents of arhatiyas. Because of the malpractices of these middlemen, problems of transporting the produce from villages to mandies, the small and marginal farmers are hesitant of coming to these mandies. The arhatiyas of these mandies sell off the produce to the retail merchants.However, paddy, cotton and oilseeds are sold off to the mill about for processing. The marketing system for sugarcane is different. The farmers sell their produce directly to the sugar mills. Defects of agricultural marketing in India Indian system of agricultural marketing suffers from a number of defects. As a consequence, the Indian farmer is deprived of a sec ond-rate price for his produce. The main defects of the agricultural marketing system are discussed here. 1. Improper warehouses in that respect is an absence of proper ware housing facilities in the villages. therefore, the farmer is compelled to store his products in pits, mud-vessels, Kutcha storehouses, etc. These unscientific methods of storing lead to considerable wastage. round 1. 5% of the produce gets rotten and becomes uncollectible for human consumption. Due to this reason supplement in the village market increases considerably and the farmers are not able to get a fair price for their produce. The vista up of Central Warehousing mickle and State Warehousing Corporation has better the situation to some extent 2. insufficiency of grading and standardizationDifferent varieties of agricultural produce are not graded properly. The practice usually prevalent is the one known as dara gross revenue wherein heap of all qualities of produce are sold in one common lot Thus the farmer producing better qualities is not assured of a better price. Hence there is no incentive to use better seeds and produce better varieties. 3. Inadequate transport facilities assault facilities are highly inadequate in India. Only a small number of villages are joined by railways and pucca roads to mandies. enkindle has to be carried on mute moving transport vehicles like bullock carts.Obviously such means of transport cannot be used to carry produce to far-off places and the farmer has to dump his produce in nearby markets even if the price becomeed in these markets is considerably low. This is even more true with perishable commodities. 4. Presence of a large number of middlemen The chain of middlemen in the agricultural marketing is so large that the circumstances of farmers is reduced substantially. For instance, a study of D. D. Sidhan revealed, that farmers obtain only about 53% of the price of rice, 31% creation the share of middle men (the remaining 16% cr eation the marketing cost).In the showcase of vegetables and fruits the share was even less, 39% in the former case and 34% in the latter. The share of middle- men in the case of vegetables was 29. 5% and in the case of fruits was 46. 5%. Some of the intermediaries in the agricultural marketing system are -village traders, Kutcha arhatiyas, pucca arhatiyas, brokers, wholesalers, retailers, money lenders, etc. 5. Malpractices in un modulate markets Even now the number of unregulated markets in the country is substantially large. Arhatiyas and brokers, fetching advantage of the ignorance, and illiteracy of the farmers, use chisel(prenominal) means to cheat them.The farmers are ask to pay arhat (pledging charge) to the arhatiyas, tulaii ( burden charge) for weighing the produce, palledari to deliver the bullock-carts and for doing other miscellaneous types of allied works, garda for impurities in the produce, and a number of other vague and unspecified charges. Another malpracti ce in the mandies relates to the use of wrong weights and measures in the regulated markets. falsely weights continue to be used in some unregulated markets with the object of cheating the farmers. 6. Inadequate market informationIt is often not possible for the farmers to obtain information on exact market prices in different markets. So, they accept, whatever price the traders offer to them. With a view to tackle this problem the authorities is using the radio and television media to circle market prices regularly. The news papers also defend the farmers posted with the latest changes in prices. however the price quotations are sometimes not reliable and sometimes have a great time-lag. The trader generally offers less than the price quoted by the governing body news media. 7. Inadequate credit facilitiesIndian farmer, being measly, tries to sell off the produce outright after the crop is harvested though prices at that time are very low. The resistance of the farmer from such forced sales is to provide him credit so that he can wait for better times and better prices. Since such credit facilities are not available, the farmers are forced to take loans from money lenders, while agreeing to pledge their produce to them at less than market prices. The co-operative marketing societies have generally catered to the needs of the large farmers and the small farmers are left at the mercy of the money lenders.Thus it is not possible to view the present agricultural marketing system in India in isolation of (and separated from) the land relations. The regulation of markets broadcast medium of prices by all(a) India Radio, mitigatements in transport system, etc. , have undoubtedly benefited the capitalist farmers, and they are now in a better position to obtain well-disposed prices for their market produce but the above mentioned changes have not benefited the small and marginal farmers to any great extent. 8. Poor reference of ProductFarmer is not usin g the improved seeds and fertilizers so quality of production is very poor and its prices are low in the market. 9. Problems of Produce Collection The collection of produce from small farmers is very expensive and a difficult process. It is a great problem for the efficient marketing. 10. Lack of standard weights and measures Sometimes weight and measures are not comparable. So a farmer suffers a loss at the time of buying selling of his product. assess TO IMPROVE THE AGRICULTURAL MARKETINGGovernment of India has adopted a number of measures to improve agricultural marketing, the important ones being preparement of regulated markets, wind of warehouses, provision for grading, and standarization of produce, standarisation of weight and measures, daily air of market prices of agricultural crops on All India Radio, improvement of transport facilities, etc. 1. Marketing surveys In the first place the presidential term has undertaken marketing surveys of various goods and has pub lished these surveys.These surveys have brought out the various problems connected with the marketing of goods and have made suggestions for their removal. 2. Improved rapture Facilities The political sympathies should increase the road facilities and rural areas should be linked with the markets. It will enable the farmer to sell his product in the market directly in the hands of consumers. 3. Increase in the Credit Facilities The governing body should increase the credit facilities to the small farmers. No doubt all the commercial banks are providing this facility to the farmers but still it is not sufficient. . Increase in Storage preparation The government should provide loan to the framer for storage facilities. The government should also construct the stores to keep the stocks of various goods. 5. Market Reforms The government should improve the market system in the country. Market committee should be reorganized. Markets inspectors should check the prices of agricultural products. The strict laws should be introduced. 6. New Markets The government should build the new markets near the producing centers. It will enable the farmer to get proper reward. 7. Cold StorageThis i an important part of organized markets. These are very expedient for the perishable goods like fruits and vegetable. The government should increase the scope of cold storage. 8. Market info Market demand and supply condition can be provided to the framers through radio, T. V and newspaper. The government should also pay special attention to this side. 9. Grading of Product There are various agencies which are agile in grading agricultural product. There is a need to expand these organizations for rough-and-ready of marketing system, 10. Government secures and fixation of contain pricesIn addition to the measures mentioned above, the Government also announces negligible support price for various agricultural commodities from time to time in a bid to ensure fair returns to t he farmers. These prices are fixed in accordance with the recommendations of the Agricultural ,Price Commission. If the prices start falling below the declare level (say, as a way out of glut in the market), the Government agencies like the Food Corporation of India intervene in the market to make direct purchase from the farmers at the support prices. These purchases are sold off by the Government at reasonable price through the frequent distribution systemIdeal Marketing System The prototype marketing system is one that maximizes the long run welfare of society. To do this, it must be physically efficient, otherwise the same output could be produced with fewer resources, and it must be electively efficient, otherwise a change in allocation could increase the total welfare and where income distribution is not a consideration. For maximum physical efficiency, such basic physical functions as transportation, storage, and processing should be carried on in such a way so as to mo ve the highest output per unit of cost incurred on them.Similarly an ideal marketing system must allocate agricultural products in time, outer space and form to intermediaries and consumers in such proportions and at such prices as to ensure that no other allocation would make consumers better off. To achieve this condition, prices throughout the marketing system must be efficient and must at the same time be equal to the marginal costs of production and marginal consumer utility. The following characteristics should exist in a good marketing system. 1. There should not be any government interference in free and market transactions.The method of intervention include, restrictions on victuals grain movements, restrictions on the quantity to be processed, or on the construction of processing plant, price supports, rationing, price ceiling, entry of persons in the trade, etc. When these conditions are violated, the inefficiency in the market system creeps in and commodities pass into the black market. They are not indeed easily available at the fair prices. 2. The marketing system should operate on the basis of the independent, but systematic and orderly, decisions of the millions of the unmarried consumer and producers whose lives are affected by it. . The marketing system should be capable of developing into an intricate and far-flung marketing systems in view of the rapid development of the urban industrial economy. 4. The marketing system should deal demand and supply together and should establish an equilibrium between the two. Conclusion A good marketing system is one, where the farmer is assured of a fair price for his produce and this can happen only when the following conditions are obtained. 1. The number of intermediaries between the farmer and the consumer should be small 2.The farmer has proper storing facilities so that he is not compelled to indulge in distress sales, 3. good transport facilities are available, 4. The malpractices of middlemen are regulated, 5. Farmers are freed from the clutches of village moneylenders and 6. Regular market information is provided to the farmer. The two institutions co-operative marketing societies and regulated markets, together can assure, the presence of all these conditions. Accordingly if cooperative marketing societies are developed on the lines indicated above (along with regulated markets), the Indian agricultural marketing system can be considerably improved.