THE EVOLUTION AND BENEFITS OF FARMERS DIRECT MARKETING

Indian agriculture has transformed itself from traditional subsistence farming to that of market oriented commercial farming. In this context it is the marketing of output which plays a key role in the development of agriculture. Any commodity produced will be useless unless it is consumed. An efficient agricultural marketing system is a prerequisite for the development of agriculture sector. Today the main challenges faced by the Indian farmers are to market their produce profitably. Lack of marketing ability and strategy on the part of the producers to sell their own produce is becoming a curse to the farmers. It is estimated that nearly 50paisa out of the rupee is being reaching to the market middlemen especially in vegetables. In order ensure reasonable price to the farmers and consumers a marketing system with minimum intermediaries needs to be established. The concept of farmers markets have been evolved to protect the producers from being exploited by the middlemen.