Agricultural marketing is the study of all the activities, agencies and policies involved in the procurement of farm inputs by the farmers and the movement of agricultural products from the farms to the consumers. The agricultural marketing system is a link between the farm and the non-farm sectors. It includes the organization of agricultural raw materials supply to processing industries, the assessment of demand for farm inputs and raw materials, and the policy relating to the marketing of farm products and inputs.
It is a process which starts with a decision to produce a saleable farm commodity, and it involves all the aspects of market structure or system, both functional and institutional, based on technical and economic considerations, and includes pre- and post-harvest operations, assembling, grading, storage, transportation and distribution.
Grading, standardization, packaging, labelling, storage, transportation, market intelligence, wholesaling, retailing and modern tools of marketing such as contract farming, terminal markets, futures markets etc. are the various focus fields of Agricultural Marketing.
Major Constraints of Present Agricultural Marketing System are as follows-
- Indian Agricultural Markets highly fragmented
- Insufficient Number of Agricultural Markets
- Inadequate Marketing Infrastructure
- High Incidence of Market Fee/ Charges
- High Post—Harvest Wastages
- Restrictions in Licensing
- Less Remuneration to the Farmers and High Intermediation Cost
- Market Information Asymmetry
- Inadequate Credit Facilities
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