Agricultural Market System and the Problem of Farmers in West Bengal (original) (raw)

Agriculture has been playing a key role in the Indian economy, contributing approximately 18% of India's total GDP. Agriculture being the main livelihood of more than half of the Indians and around 70% of the rural households, its full potential needs to be unlocked by reforming the agricultural market. Over the years, the APMC act has been into the scenario and solved many purposes, but with inadequate infrastructure and management issues, it failed to provide fair prices to the farmers' products throughout India. In some states, the government market system is so weak and flawed that the farmers avoid the system entirely. With the introduction of the new farm law (FPTC act 2020), Indian farmers can now realise the liberation of the agricultural market to get competitive prices for their products. This paper tries to look into the agricultural market system from both perspectives as the development process is not one-way traffic; instead, it has to be interpreted in the daily social relationships between the planners and executors and people who will benefit. This study has been conducted in two districts of West Bengal, focusing mainly on the problems of the existing Mandi system and how the new farm law can be helpful on the better price realisation among farmers leading to the overall development of India's agricultural market system.