In India different systems of agricultural marketing are prevalent as mentioned below:
(i) Sale in Villages:
The first method open to the farmers in India is to sell away their surplus produce to the village moneylenders and traders at a very low price, The moneylender and traders may buy independently or work as an agent of a bigger merchant of the nearby mandi.
In India more than 50 per cent of the agricultural produce is sold in these village markets in the absence of organised markets.
(ii) Sale in Markets:
The second method of disposing surplus of the Indian farmers is to sell their produce in the weekly village markets popularly known as ‘hat’ or in annual fair
(iii) Sale in Mandis:
The third form of agricultural marketing in India is to sell the surplus produce though mandis located in various small and large towns. There are nearly 1700 mandis which are spread all over the country. As these mandis are located in a distant place, thus the farmers will have to carry their produce to the mandi and sell those produce to the wholesalers with the help of brokers or ‘dalals’.
These wholesalers of mahajans again sell those farm produce to the mills and factories and to the retailers who in turn sell these goods to the consumers directly in the retail markets.
(iv) Co-Operative Marketing:
The fourth form of marketing is the co-operative marketing where marketing societies are formed by farmers to sell the output collectively to take the advantage of collective bargaining for obtaining a better price.
(v) Regulated Markets:
Organised marketing of agricultural commodities has been promoted throughout the country through a network of regulated markets, whose basic objective is to ensure reasonable prices to both farmers and consumers by creating a conducive market environment for fair play of supply and demand.
Regulated market are those markets in which business is done in accordance with the rules and regulations framed by the statutory market organization representing different sections involved in the marketing.The marketing costs in such markets are standardized and, marketing practices are regulated.
