question_answer 4)

Explain the steps taken by the government in developing rural markets.

Answer:

Four major steps initiated by government to develop rural markets are as follows (i) Regulation of Markets The first step taken by the government was regulation of markets to create orderly and transparent marketing conditions. This policy benefited farmers as well as consumers. About 27000 rural periodic markets are still to be developed as regulated market places to realise the full potential of rural markets. Under this market committee consists of farmer, government agents and traders regulated will monitored the sale and purchase of the market. (ii) Infrastructure Facilities Government is trying to ensure the provision of physical infrastructure facilities like roads, railways, Warehouses, godowns, cold storages and processing units in the rural areas. This enables the farmers to bring their product to urban areas where they can earn huge profits. The existing infrastructure facilities are quite inadequate to meet the growing demand. (iii) Co-operative Marketing Government has initiated co-operative marketing in an effort for realising fair prices for farmers' products. The milk co-operatives of Gujarat and some other states have been successful in transforming the social and economic landscape of these states. However, co-operatives have been suffering from problems like inadequate coverage of fanner members, lack of appropriate link between marketing and processing co-operatives and inefficient financial management. (iv) Policy Instruments Government has initiated policy instruments like (i) assurance of Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for agricultural products (ii) maintenance of buffer stocks of wheat and rice by food corporation of India and (iii) distribution of food grains and sugar through PDS, These instruments are aimed at protecting the Income Of the farmers and providing food grain at a subsidised rate to the poor.