Minister HK Patil (third from the left) and another at the seminar “The Act on Agricultural Marketing”, which took place on Friday in Vidya Vikas Educational Trust in Mysuru. | Photo Credit: Ma Sriram
Minister for Rights and Parliamentary Affairs HK Patil said on Friday that farmers in the country remain at the mercy and marketing practices that deprive them of fair prices for agricultural production.
Mr. Patil, who spoke at the seminar on the “Marketing of Agriculture”, dwelt on structural shortcomings in agricultural marketing and said that this led to the use of farmers at every stage and all were mute viewers.
Mr. Patil explained how briefly changed farmers in every step – he said from the farm to the market that 10% to 20% of the inconsistencies of what was recorded on the scale occurred in the actual weight. After the sale, farmers were forced to wait indefinitely because there was no culture of timely payments.
Brokers or commissions agents give farmers affection after purchasing and the final payment can be delayed for several weeks by leaving farmers in a state of uncertainty, he added.
He also emphasized the difference between what the consumer pays and what farmers receive, for the same production. Mr. Patil quoted the Bank of India, Mr. Patil said that the share of the farmer in the sale of agricultural production is only one third of what the consumers pay at the time of the purchase, the rest is pocket mediators and other intermediaries.
The Minister recalled that agricultural scientist Mrs. Swaminathan recommended a formula to which the minimum support price (MSP) should be determined 1.5 times above the complex cost of cultivation. “Although the MSP exists, it is not based on the Swaminathan Committee benchmark, which remains a major challenge in agricultural marketing,” he said.
The Minister called for the reforms and stressed that prosperity would only come when the farmers themselves were authorized to set prices for what they grew up. “As long as this role is denied, they will continue to change briefly, even though they work the most difficult,” he said.
The seminar considered a legal framework of agricultural marketing and the need for effective enforcement of laws to avoid neglect and restoring trust between cultivating and markets.
CS Patil, Director, Kilpar, Revaiah Odenara, Research Head, Kilpar, V. Kakeesh Gowda, Secretary, Vidya Vikas Educational Trust, were among those present at the seminar organized by the Karnataka Institute for Karnataka Frust Chustis.
Published – September 12, 2025 06:53
