Farmer-friendly agri-business

ONE of the major ironies the agriculture sector keeps reeling in is the denial of fair price to the growers in spite of rising farm productivity. While we take pride in food self-sufficiency and increased output of vegetables and fruits, those who produce these remain at the bottom of our list of priorities.

We do acknowledge their contribution verbally and emphasise the need for remunerative price for the growers, but when it comes to ensuring it we just fail to deliver. The wholesalers and middlemen taking charge, the produce change hands as soon as it is out of the farmer's yard with everyone in the informal chain taking his slice of the pie. Most of all, the ubiquitous extortionists across the transport sector and at the wholesale markets extract their toll. All this leads the wholesalers and retailers to mark up the prices. Consumers pay through their nose as the growers have difficulty in recovering their production costs more often than not. With their limited staying power accentuated by lack of storage facility, they fail to hold on to any surplus, instead going for distress sales.

The deficiencies are pronounced in terms of policy outreach, provisions for storage and preservation, and an inclusive market infrastructure protecting the growers' interest. The major handicap for the farmers is that they are excluded from the value chain despite being the principal stakeholder as the providers of the goods. These anomalies will have to be redressed through the help of technology, information dissemination and a package of incentives.