Agricultural Market Scenario and Economic Condition of Farmers in Barpeta District, Assam

Agricultural marketing occupies an integral position for overall development of agriculture. It determines the cropping pattern from a selection of crops and economic condition of farmers. Agriculture is the main economic activity of Barpeta district and more than 70% of the population in the districts depends on agriculture for their livelihood. Agricultural marketing comprises activities like supply of farm inputs to the farmers and movement of agricultural products from the farmers to the consumers. In this way, farmers obtain capital to maintain agricultural practice and livelihood. Existence of efficient agricultural marketing system is one of the important factors for development of agricultural activities in any area. An efficient marketing system facilitate optimization of resource use, output management, enhance farmers income, widening of markets, growth of agro based industry, addition to National income through value addition and employment generation. Therefore, market reform and improvement of marketing system ought to be an integral part of policy and strategy for agriculture development. Despite playing an important role for agricultural development, agricultural marketing has not been given a proper place in agriculture policy formulation. The present study attempts to explore the scenario of agriculture market, seasonal fluctuation of market, importance of agri-market and price in Barpeta district.