This paper highlights the agricultural marketing issues like its structural aspects, current concerns and competitiveness relating to the Indian farmer in the present scenario. This study shows that the state keeps a watch and monitors the market conduct through several mandatory regulations. This paper examines the trade policy for major farm products, price policy instruments and direct market intervention and marketing system improvements, in order to inject vibrancy and competitiveness in the agricultural sector. It concludes that the markets have failed to give remunerative prices to the farmers both at input and output pricing. It also emphasizes that there is an urgent need to curtail the domination of private sector, especially the urban markets which are cheating the farmers, in order to put an end to the numerous suicidal deaths.

In a fast growing economy, the agricultural marketing system provides strong linkages between farm and non-farm sectors. Apart from performing physical and facilitating functions of transferring the goods from the producers to consumers, the marketing system also performs the function of discovering the prices at different stages of marketing and transmitting the price signals in the marketing chain. The performance of the marketing system has remained under continuous scrutiny and the government has taken several measures to influence the structure and conduct of agricultural produce markets. The agriculture produce markets function can be divided into six components, viz., (a) regulatory measures (b) marketing infrastructure (c) administered price regime (d) direct entry of public agencies (e) export and import regime and (f) macroeconomic policies.

Agricultural Marketing: Stop Cheating the Farmer, agricultural system, price measures, competitiveness domination, economy, emphasizes, facilitating, agricultural markets, direct farm, import, improvements, Indian influence, linkages, macroeconomic