by D.S. Thakur
Professor of Agricultural Economics
Regional Research Station, Bajaura

A truly farmer-oriented marketing system with efficient storage and transportation network is the need of the hour. The institutional marketing arrangements like market regulation, establishing new markets in strategic areas where they are not existing, internal or external investment funds, farmer-oriented rules and regulations, proper functioning and supervision of the markets to ensure remunerative prices to farmers and to provide necessary market facilities are more important for farmers or producer-oriented marketing systems.

The well known Anand Pattern Milk Producers Co-operatives of Gujarat are quoted as the best example of farmer producer-oriented marketing organisations. These co-operatives are organised, owned, operated, managed and controlled by the farmers themselves and their employees and staff including Managing Director, General Managers and others have to work as true servants of farmers. Being farmers'organisations, these co-operatives are truly sensitive to farmers' production and marketing needs. They provide all the technical inputs for production efficiently at low cost and market the farmers' produce efficiently at remunerative prices.

These co-operatives must be established to create producer-oriented marketing systems and to make farming market-oriented, more profitable, efficient and more sustainable in future.