ABSTRACT
Agricultural markets in India, as in most countries, are inefficient and imperfect, with temporal and spatial price variations. The producers’ share in the consumers’ rupee is low, except in a few commodities. In fact, under some circumstances, producers end up with net losses when traders make substantial profits from the same crop; this is the case with potatoes in some parts of India (Mitra and Sarkar, 2003). On the other hand, processors and/or marketers cannot always obtain timely, cost-effective and adequate supplies of quality raw materials. In the current environment of liberalization and globalization, the role of the state in agricultural marketing and input supply is being reduced, with increasing space provided to the private sector to bring about more efficiency in markets.
