Marketing reforms: India's agri-marketing system needs an upgrade

The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare recently circulated a draft “National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing”, inviting public comments and suggestions. Despite vast improvements in agricultural output and productivity over the years, agricultural marketing has not evolved with time.  Agricultural reforms should, therefore, not remain limited to factor-market reforms, but should also include efforts to liberalise constraints to marketing.  This will benefit all stakeholders, including farmers and consumers. In this context, the draft policy calls for the need to achieve barrier-free trade in agricultural produce under a uniform pan-Indian framework. 

There are 7,057 regulated wholesale markets