Agriculture Marketing:-
India is an agricultural country and one third population depends on the agricultural sector directly or indirectly. As food being essential need of mankind, much emphasis has been on commercializing agricultural production.Agricultural marketing is mainly the buying and selling of agricultural products. In earlier days when the village economy was more or less self-sufficient the marketing of agricultural products presented no difficulty as the farmer sold his produce to the consumer on a cash or barter basis.
Today's agricultural marketing has to undergo a series of exchanges or transfers from one person to another before it reaches the consumer. There are three marketing functions involved in this, that are;
• Assembling
• Preparation for consumption
• Distribution
Selling of any agricultural produce depends on couple of factors like the demand of the product at that time, availability of storage etc. The products may be sold directly in the market or it may be stored locally for the time being. Moreover, it may be sold as it is gathered from the field or it may be cleaned, graded and processed by the farmer or the merchant of the village. Sometime processing is done because consumers want it, or sometimes to conserve the quality of that product.Products are sold in various ways. For example, it might be sold at a weekly village market in the farmer's village or in a neighboring village. If these outlets are not available, then produce might be sold at irregularly held markets in a nearby village or town, or in the mandi.
In India, there are several central government organizations, who are involved in agricultural marketing like, Commission of Agricultural Costs and Prices, Food Corporation of India, Cotton Corporation of India, Jute Corporation of India, etc. There are also specialized marketing bodies for rubber, tea, coffee, tobacco, spices and vegetables.
Government of India has launched new website called agmarket where prices of all crops in various district and urban markets are compiled and updated on daily basis. These prices include grain, pulses prices, fruits and vegetable prices, meat, fish prices, rare cereals and pulse, fruit prices.
Importance Of Agriculture Marketing:-
Interests of Farmers, Manufacturers, Traders and Consumers in Agriculture Marketing System:-
Functions Of Agriculture Marketing:-
A. Exchange Functions: Buying, Selling, Storage,
B. Physical Functions: Transportation, Processing, Standardization
C. Facilitating Functions: Financing, Risk Bearing, Market Intelligence
These agriculture marketing functions performed by farmers, traders, retailers, consumers and manufacturer that rises importance of effective agriculture marketing system in India.
Agro-business sector is dependent on agriculture produce characteristics which are as follows: -
Quality:- To build a profitable business, food manufacturers seek to establish a preference for their products by differentiating those products in some way which is meaningful to consumers.
Cost:-: With an increased capability to search the world for raw materials, the food industry is able to find the lowest cost source for any given level of quality.
Non-Seasonality:-: Agricultural products are traditionally seasonal in their production and supply.
Reliability:-: A manufacturer who has invested heavily in building up his brand will be very keen to get reliable supplies in terms of quality, timing and cost.
Processing:-: Ease of processing will become an increasingly important expectation of the food industry. Like all industries, reductions in the costs of capital equipment, wages and inventories are important objectives.
Agriculture Marketing Jobs:-
There are agriculture marketing jobs in government and private sector of agri-business responsible for:-