Problems of agricultural marketing are.4,s follows:
(i) Distress sales : Most of the farmers are poor
and indebted. They can’t wait to get higher prices. They want to clear their debts. So, they are compelled to sell their surplus produce to the rural moneylenders or traders at lower prices. It is called distress sale. It makes the conditions of the farmers weak.
(ii) More middlemen : There are a large number
of middlemen between the farmers and \fie final consumers. Therefore, the middlemen get the maximum benefit but the farmers get the minimum.
(iii) Lack of storage facilities : There is a lack of good storage facilities to the farmers to keep their produce safe. The storage facilities available in villages are very poor. About 10% to 20% of the produce is destroyed by rats.
(iv) Bad condition of rural transport: The transport
condition in rural areas is very bad. Most of .the rural roads are not metalled. These are useless in rainy season. Even the rich farmers are not interested in carrying their surplus produce to the mandis.
(v) Malpractices : In mandis, the farmers take the
services of brokers. The brokers and ‘arthatiya’ bargain through a coded language. The brokers are always in contact with the arthatiya. So, the brokers are always in favour of arthatiya when the price is fixed.
(vi) Lack of knowledge of the market: The farmers don’t have the knowledge of demand and supply of their produce in the market. They depend upon the information supplied by the intermediaries. This information is always in favour of mandis or market. As a result the
. farmers can’t get reasonable price for their produce.