Agricultural marketing is the involvement of assembling, storing, processing, packaging, grading, transportation, and distribution of agricultural commodities from the farmers to the end consumers.

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To strengthen the farmers and ensure the consumers get the lowest price the government of Centre and State are taking initiatives to ensure appropriate price to the farmers

Initiatives taken by Government

• Development and Strengthening of Grading and Standardization System:

Assigning ‘AGMARK’ to graded products which ensure good quality and also command a better price in the market. Agmark online system will be made available 24/7. It will make the process of application simple , quick and transparent . The online system will make processes easy, reliable and cost effective.

Strengthening Agricultural Marketing System:

• eNAM: Integration of APMCs across the country through a common online market platform to facilitate pan-India trade in agriculture commodities, providing better price discovery through transparent auction process based on quality of produce along with timely online payment.
• Agriculture Marketing Infrastructure: The objective is to create market infrastructure including Storage Infrastructure and Integrated Value Chain Projects (IVC)

The organization of Farmer Producer Organisation:

SFAC has been promoting Agri-Business by encouraging institutional and private sector investments and linkages to ensure the empowerment of all farmers in the country.

Encouragement to contract farming: Model contract farming act 2018 by government to integrate farmers with bulk purchasers including exporters, agro- industries etc. for better price realization through mitigation of market and price risks to the farmers and ensuring smooth agro raw material supply to the agro industries.

SAMPADA  scheme : PM Kisan SAMPADA Yojana is a comprehensive package which will result in creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet. It will not only provide a big boost to the growth of food processing sector in the country but also help in providing better returns to farmers and is a big step towards doubling of farmers income, creating huge employment opportunities especially in the rural areas, reducing wastage of agricultural produce, increasing the processing level and enhancing the export of the processed food

Challenges faced in Agriculture Marketing:

1)Lack of infrastructure: open auction platforms exist only in two-thirds of the regulated markets; one-fourth have common drying yards. Cold storage units exist in less than one-tenth of the markets and grading facilities in less than one-third; electronic weigh-bridges are available only in a few markets.

2)Existence of Middlemen: There are as many as 22,000 commission agents and innumerable middlemen in each market. According to Ashok Gulati, former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, commission agents in Delhi charge exorbitant fees ranging from 6 per cent to 15 per cent.

3)Presence of ‘Agriculture’ in state list: Many states fail to implement the guidelines of centre Eg: Model APMC act , eNAM are still not adopted by all states

Conclusion :

The country  will achieve food security only when the income of farmers is secured and doubled ,which will be achieved only when farmers get right price for their produce and hence Agriculture marketing is of extreme importance.