ECONOMIC TRENDS

AGRICULTURAL MARKETING

Agricultural marketing in the past was brought with numerous mal- practices which were highly injurious to the interests of the farmers. The poverty and ignorance of the latter deprived the agriculturist of the full value of his produce. The existence of numerous middlemen and agents put the agriculturist to immense losses in the marketing of his produce. This state of affairs attracted the attention of the governing authorities which resulted in the enactment of the Central Provinces and Berar Cotton Markets Act of 1932. This enactment sought to regulate the trade in cotton, and was subsequently amended in 1937. The marketing of foodgrains was regulated under the Central Provinces and Berar Agricultural Produce Markets Act of 1935. These enactments were followed by the Madhya Pradesh Agricultural Produce Markets (Amendment) Act in 1954. After the merger of Vidarbha region, the Maharashtra Government decided to have a unified enactment for the various regions in the State, and passed the Maharashtra Agricultural Produce Markets (Regulation) Act in 1963. [For details see Chapter 6, Section II: Regulated Markets.] All the important markets in the district, viz., Wardha, Arvi, Hinganghat, Pulgaon and Sindi are brought under the purview of the Act. This has saved the agriculturist from the malpractices and incidental loss he had to incur. It is also believed that a fair and assured price for his produce should serve as an incentive to the agriculturist to increase production. It may be noted here that monopoly procurement of jowar and paddy by the Government has been introduced in the district since 1964. Under this system the Government purchases jowar and paddy on a levy basis at stipulated prices which are much lower than those in the open market. In this connection it may be mentioned that higher floor prices than the present one may, however, serve the purpose of increasing production and productivity.

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