Marketing information and Extension Services:

Agricultural Marketing Information comprises of collection, analysis, compilation and

dissemination of agricultural marketing related information to the farmers for modern market
oriented farming by improving the quality and productivity of the produce. To improve this
entire system Directorate of Marketing and Inspection under Ministry of Agriculture and
Farmers Welfare, Government of India. Govt. of India has started supplying of information on
the website namely www.agmarknet.gov.in.
Services provided on Agmarknet website:
 Price and arrivals: Commodity wise, market wise reports are available for each
commodity state wise and district wise
 Price Trend: Daily and weekly price trends are available with comparisons between
prices of previous periods.
 Commodity Profile: This tab gives information about agricultural marketing practices
and post-harvest profile of commodities
 Marketing Boards: The website directs the users to state agricultural board websites of
different states which can give the commodity profile in different states
 Market Profile: Mandi profile of different mandis across districts and markets

Fig: Cotton prices state wise monthly analysis for August, 2017

Govt. and semi govt. organizations providing services on marketing information

and extension
 S. No. Organization and Website Services Provided
1 Directorate of Marketing and  To promote grading of agricultural
Inspection (DMI) produce under the Agricultural Produce
Website:www.agmarknet.nic.in (Grading & Marking) Act, 1937.
 To facilitate the construction of
marketing infrastructure of agricultural
produce.
 To render advice on statutory
regulation, development and
management of agricultural markets by
states/U.Ts.
 Marketing research, surveys and
planning.
 To train personnel in agricultural
marketing
2 Agricultural and Processed Food  Promote export of agricultural
Export Development Authority commodities and it’s products to foreign
(APEDA) countries.
Website :www.apeda.com  Adopting standards and specifications
for the purpose of export of schedule
products.
3 National Horticulture Board  To develop post harvest infrastructural
Website:www.hortibizindia.nic.in facilities for horticultural commodities
4 Ministry of Food Processing  Grant and support for food park
Industries (MOFPI) component which in turn also help in
Website : www.mofpi.nic.in setting up of Agri Export Zone.
5 National Agricultural  To act as a nodal agency for
Cooperative Marketing implementing the market intervention
Federation of India Ltd.(NAFED) scheme.
Website : www.nafed-india.com
6 Agricultural Produce Market  For better marketing of agricultural
Committees (APMCs) produce the APMC provide the
following facilities
 Facilitates drying of produce. Providing
grading, weighing and storage facilities
of produce, brought to APMC
complexes

Alternative Marketing Systems:

Cotton Marketing
 It is axiomatic that from the point of view of the farmer, marketing of the produce is
equally important as his efforts to produce more by efficient use of the resources per unit time
and unit area.
 Marketing, thus, occupies a pivotal place in the scheme of things relating to any
commodity, because it is the process by which the commodity acquires its monetised value.
 Cotton is par excellence one of the most important commercial crops and occupies a
significant place in the agro-industrial economy of the country.

I. Exports
India exports medium-to-long staple cotton (25 to 32 mm length) to China, Bangladesh
and several Southeast Asian countries. India likely will continue to import extra-long
staple (ELS) and quality long staple cotton (28-34 mm) with occasional imports of
medium or short-staple cotton (below 22 mm) when international prices are favourable.
The United States is the leading supplier of cotton to India over the past few years. Indian
mills importing U.S. Pima and upland cotton recognize its quality and consistency and
are ready to pay a premium over competing origins. However, U.S. cotton faces
competition from suppliers like Egypt and Australia due to occasional freight advantages
and shorter delivery periods. Due to warm weather conditions and cultural traditions,
cotton is typically the preferred fiber in India. However, poly-cotton blends are popular
due to their durability and ease of maintenance.
The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (Texprocil)
Since its inception in 1954 as an autonomous, non-profit export promotion body,
TEXPROCIL has become the international face of Indian Cotton Textiles successfully
facilitating exports. For the foreign buyer, it has opened the entire range of Indian cotton
yarns, fabrics and made-ups and has become the one-stop source for it.
II. Direct Marketing

Direct marketing involves sale of cotton by producer to the consumer / miller directly
without any middleman. It enables producers and millers and other bulk buyers to
economize transportation cost and improve price realization. The Direct Marketing
system enables the farmers to meet specific demands of wholesalers or traders from the
farmer’s inventory of graded and certify produce on one hand and of consumer according
to consumer’s preference on the other hand helps the farmers to take advantage of
favourable prices.

Benefits

 It increases price realization of the producer.

 It minimizes marketing cost, transportation cost.

 It encourages distributional efficiency.

  It satisfies the consumer through better quality of produce at reasonable price.

 It encourages direct interaction between producers and consumers.

 It encourages the farmers for retail sale of their produce, thus their involvement in
marketing process and help in discovering the demand of markets for future
market oriented planning.

III. Contract Farming

Contract farming is an agreement between buyer and producer for the purchase of
produce at mutually agreed price under forward agreement. In such arrangement, the
purchaser, may be exporter or processing unit, generally provides inputs, technical
knowhow and financial support. Thus sharing the risk by both the, buyers and sellers.
“It is an approach that can contribute to increased income to farmers, avoidance of risk
of adverse price fluctuation, and higher profitability to sponsors”.

IV. Cooperative Marketing

Cooperative marketing is any agreement to combine marketing efforts, and thus it can
appear in many forms. Complementary companies, as well as direct competitors, can
create effective and mutually beneficial cooperative marketing campaigns. 

At present, the cooperative marketing structure comprises 2,633 general purpose

primary cooperative marketing societies at the Mandi level, covering all the
important mandies in the country, 3,290 specialised primary marketing societies for
oilseeds, etc., 172 district Central Federations and the National Agricultural
Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd., (NAFED) at the national level.
NAFED is the apex cooperative marketing organisation dealing in procurement,
distribution, export and import of selected agricultural commodities.

Benefits

 Increases bargaining strength of the farmers

 Direct dealings with final buyers

 Provision of credit

 Easier and cheaper transport

 Market intelligence

 Influencing market prices

  Provision of inputs and consumer goods

V. Forwards and Futures Market

Forward and future markets are important tools of price stabilization and risk
management. Extension of future markets to all major agro-commodities was reflected
in the National Agricultural Policy of Government of India.

The Forward Markets Commission (FMC) was the chief regulator of commodity

futures markets in India. As of July 2014, it regulated Rs 17 trillion worth of
commodity trades in India. It is headquartered in Mumbai and this financial regulatory
agency is overseen by the Ministry of Finance.

Benefits
 Protect against price fluctuations
 They enable the buyer or seller to make proper arrangements for finance
 Investors can plan their future investments
 Cash crunch does not arise owing to these markets
 Forward and futures markets helps in large transactions
 Forward and Futures markets reduce risks for financial companies

VI. CCI to directly procure cotton from farmers in Rajasthan (Source: Economic

Times, Aug 13 2018)
 The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) will procure the fibre directly from farmers in
Rajasthan at the minimum support price (MSP) and make the payment to their accounts in the
upcoming cotton season. Rajasthan is the first cotton-growing state in the northern region to
make direct transaction compulsory for procurement at MSP. 
The central government had recently raised the MSP on medium-staple fibre cotton by
28% to Rs 5,150 per quintal and long-staple by 26% to Rs 5,450.