Mysuru:  The time has come to stop fleecing of farmers of their produce by the Agriculture Marketing agents, said Director for Agriculture Produce Marketing (APM)M.B. Rajeshgowda.

He was speaking after inaugurating a two-day national conference on ‘Emerging Trends in Agribusiness Management in India-2018,’ organised by the Institute of Development Studies, University of Mysore at Rani Bahadur Auditorium, here on Mar.9.

These days the agriculture production is coming down and hence just as much importance is given to agriculture produce, the same importance must be given to agriculture production, he said. The farmers are faced with the challenge of finding markets for their produce and by the time their produce reaches the market, they become victims to the fleecing of the agents. Though the Agri Marketing centres are meant for creating a meeting point between farmers and agents, the latter still end up controlling the prices. Hence, there is a fluctuation in prices and farmers are duped. To stop this, warehouses as agri-markets have to be setup, he said.

If we have modern warehouses with all facilities then it is possible to reach quality products to the consumers. Plans are afoot to setup such warehouses in the rural areas. There is a need for public-private partnership (PPP) model and contract farming would be a boon for the agriculture market, said Rajeshgowda.

Once such warehouses are setup, then the farmers can fetch good prices for their produce, he added.

The organisers said that agribusiness is defined as the total output arising from farm production and product processing at both pre and post-farm gate levels. In developing countries like India, the agri-business sector encompasses four distinct sub-sectors, such as agriculture inputs, agriculture production, agro-processing and marketing and trade. All these add value or utility to the goods.

University of Mysore In-charge Vice-Chancellor Prof. C. Basavaraju, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)  Assistant Commissioner Dr. D.B. Natesh, UoM Registrar (Evaluation) Prof.J. Somashekar and Syndicate Member M.S.S. Kumar were present.