E-Commerce and Policy Initiatives: Transforming Agriculture in India

Ranu Gupta*
Research Scholar
School of Commerce &Management
Vardhman Mahaveer Open University, Kota,
09928871981
ranu1.gupta@gmail.com
Prof. Pawan Kumar Sharma**
Director
School of Commerce and Management
Vardhman Mahaveer Open University
Kota, Rajasthan-324005

Abstract

Agriculture is the main pillar of the Indian economy. FICCI in its report says that about 65

percent of the Indian population depends directly on agriculture and it accounts for around

22 percent of India’s GDP. Electronic commerce (or e-commerce) helps businesses to cut

costs and cycle time, raise efficiency and provide more information, choice and value to

consumers. During recent years, e-commerce has found its way to the Agribusinesses in

India. The internet continues to become more popular among people who deal with

agricultural business of any type. While technology availability has increased and its access

has become easier, the demographic transition is also characterized by greater willingness

to use technology among farming community. But farmers, on the other hand, face

unprecedented challenges like unpredictable weather, non-availability of good quality seeds

and fertilizers and un-reliable avenues to sell their crops after the harvest. This research

article discusses scope, opportunities, challenges, benefits and adoption of e-commerce in

Agribusiness in India. Furthermore, it explains the various policy initiatives taken by

Central, state governments and private organizations studied from secondary data available

and suggested recommendations for continuous enrichment for agriculture. We really need
to implement modern technology to gain competitive advantage and avoid isolation from

mainstream businesses.

Keywords: Agriculture, Indian Economy, Agri-business, E-Commerce, Online Shopping,

Internet Technology, policy initiatives.

Introduction
Agriculture in India is the core sector for food security, nutritional security, sustainable

development & for poverty alleviation. It contributes approx. 18 % of GDP. To be successful,

farmers must have good knowledge about the latest farming technologies. Further, the

globalization affects adversely to Indian farmers, as they have competition with the farmers

of developed countries. To cope with the challenges posed by the globalization of

agribusiness, the farmers have to produce the quality product at competitive prices. Thus, the

farmers need to be well trained and informed in the management of natural resources and

production of agricultural commodities. E-agriculture plays an important role in addressing

these challenges and uplifting the livelihood of Indian farmers.

E-Commerce is India’s fastest growing and most exciting channel for commercial

transactions. Indian e-Commerce is growing at an annual rate of 51%, the highest in the

world, and expected to jump from $30 billion in 2016 to $120 billion in 2020. In the world,

India is the third largest base of internet users of around 120 million. Growing smartphone

penetration in the rural regions of India is encouraging the growth of m-commerce models to

focus on agri-business and can revolutionise the Indian agriculture. Almost all the farmers

now own a mobile phone out of which 40% are smartphones with internet connections.

Agribusiness firms, like the rest of the economy, face the challenge in changing their business

model and practices to account for the rapid growth of e-commerce. E-commerce allows

firms to tap new and old suppliers through innovative channels and provides firms with the
ability to lure new customers and procure old customers in new ways. The ability of the

Internet to reduce transaction costs through improvements in transaction, information, and

negotiation functions of the supply- chain is associated with higher probabilities of e-

commerce adoption amongst agri-business firms.

E-commerce is changing all the spheres of human lives, and agriculture cannot be an

exception. An investment of over US$18.8 billion is earmarked for the ‘Digital India’

program to transform the country into a digitally empowered knowledge economy. Under this

program, the government has set a target of providing broadband connectivity to 250,000

villages. The program aims to offer a one-stop shop for government services, using mobile

phones as the main delivery mechanism.

The Government is also paying attention by bringing some policy level changes to further

accelerate the growth of agriculture sector. Recently, the incubation arm of ICRISAT

announced their plans to set up a Rs.100cr fund to help small entrepreneurs from the agri-

business. Farmers are being provided with knowledge-based information through various

mobile apps, toll-free numbers, internet sites, and other means. Farmers’ Portal

(www.farmer.gov.in), Kisan Call Centers (KCC) and mKisan Portal (www.mkisan.gov.in)

are some platforms currently active in India. Seasonal and specific advisories are being

provided on registered mobile-phones through SMS in the farmer’s local languages. The

information includes seasonal pests, market prices, and their control measures, weather

reports etc. Central, state governments and private organisations have taken ICT measures for

agriculture extension which include ITC- e-choupal, Kisan Kerala, Aqua, Rice knowledge

management portal, Mahindra Kisan Mitra, IFFCO Agri-portal, e-Krishi, Village knowledge

centers (VKCs)- M.S Swaminathan research foundation (MSSRF), village resource centres

(VRCs)- Indian Space research organisation, etc.

Farmers are open to adopting information technology, even if they have done it more slowly

than the overall population or other industries. USDA’s annual national Agricultural

Resource Management Study showed 29 percent of farms had Internet access by 1999 and

about 15 percent of those had conducted some business (E-Commerce) over the Internet,

mostly to purchase crop inputs (Morehart and Hopkins 2000). The current electronic markets

have features that differ significantly from those early efforts: reasonable hardware costs; the

open access nature of the Internet; and the usually increasing low (and declining) cost of

access.

Conceptual Framework

E-commerce plays a role in agribusiness both as a new market place and as an information

resource. Different interest groups that can be categorized from a farmer’s viewpoint,

including services, factors of production and inputs, outputs, have developed numerous

applications. Services, Inputs, and production factors are generally purchased via the Internet

at a fixed price, whereas outputs are often traded through at auction. This is because mostly

outputs are perishable and therefore the market price is more sensitive to supply and demand.

Participation in e-commerce requires that both buyers and sellers have Internet access and

can use the required hardware and software effectively. At the level of business–to–business,

B2B transactions such as buying, selling, trading, delivering, and contracting, common

agribusiness seem to be natural targets for conversion to e-commerce. The development of e-

commerce in agriculture is of course strictly linked with the adoption of the Internet mainly

by the farmers.

Indian Agricultural market is dominated by the existence of unregulated and unorganised

agricultural mandies with the presence of a large number of middle-men and widespread

prevalence of malpractices. Lack of proper transportation facilities and infrastructures such as

rails and good quality all-weather roads, absence of proper warehousing facilities in the
villages, ignorance about the market prices of their products are some of the important factors

for exploitation of farmers from middle-men. They are forced to sell their products to these

middle-men at the farm gate at throwaway prices.

During recent years, e-commerce has found its way to the agricultural sector in India. Where

technology availability has increased, and its access has become easier, the demographic

transition is also characterised by greater willingness to use technology among the farming

community. E-commerce is considerable with timely distribution of agriculture information,

consultation and monitoring, a response from experts, training and education, early

forecasting of price, early warning and improvement measures, information about marketing

of various commodities, expansion of the use of e-commerce, and farm business and

management.

Empowering farmers through e-commerce can prove beneficial in aspects such as-

a. Exchange information will reach larger masses in spite of larger limitations, literacy level

and local languages.

b. Promoting agricultural products to larger masses.

c. Improved farming techniques and best practices that reduce cost of inefficiency and

enhance the yield.

E-commerce has a reach to a large population as the number of netizens in India is increasing

at a fast pace. Using e-commerce effectively in promoting agriculture output, the gap

between the farmer and the customer is reduced. The supply chain of agricultural products

can be strengthened, and one can keep track of this. The fact that agricultural products require

accurate, the distribution of the producer (farmer) and buyers (Traders and consumers), well-

timed information over a large geographical area has made agricultural sector lucrative field

for e-commerce intervention. There is a potential need for developing an e-commerce

framework that is well initiated by many organizations.

Objectives of this study

1. To study E-commerce practices in agriculture in India.

2. To study the policy initiatives in e-Agriculture by the different (Government and non-

government) organization in India.

3. To identify benefits and challenges of e-Commerce Applications and various

initiatives for farmers.

Transforming Agriculture in India with the help of digital technologies:

 Information Technology and Farming seem to be the most distantly placed knowledge

sets in the world. Farming is the most primitive and most basic of the jobs and IT

related being the most advanced.

 The information of policies and programs of government, institutions through which

these schemes are implemented, schemes for farmers, Institutions providing new

agricultural inputs (high yielding seeds, innovations in agriculture and fertilizers etc.)

and training in new techniques are disseminated to farmers through Information

technology to ensure inclusiveness and avoid digital divide.

 Access to price information, agriculture information, national and international

markets, and increasing production efficiency and creating a ‘conducive policy

environment’ are the beneficial outcomes of e-Agriculture which improves quality of

life of farmers.

 The Management of Soil, Water, Seed, Fertilizer, Pest, Harvest and Post-Harvest is

the important components of e-Agriculture where technology aids better information

and alternatives to farmers. It uses a host of technologies like Remote Sensing,

Assessment of speed and direction of Wind, Computer Simulation, Soil quality

assays, Crop Yield predictions and Marketing.

  In India, there have been numerous initiatives taken by State and Central

Governments to meet the various challenges for the agriculture sector in the country.

 The E-Agriculture is part of Mission Mode Project(MMP), in which NeGP (under

National E-governance Plan) is an effort to consolidate the various learnings from the

past, integrate all the diverse and disparate efforts currently underway, and upscale

them to cover the entire country.

 The MMP is to be operationalized by Department of Agriculture and Cooperation

(DAC), and aims to provide services, such as:

o Information to farmers on seeds, fertilizers, pesticides

o Information to farmers on Govt. Schemes

o Information to farmers on Soil recommendations

o Information on crop management

o Information on weather and marketing of agriculture produce

o Government steps to provide e-aid to farmers

Information Technology and Government Initiatives for Agriculture

 Gyandoot project (Madhya Pradesh);

 Wired Village project (Maharashtra);

 Information Village project of the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF)

(Pondicherry);
  iKisan project of the Nagarjuna group of companies (Andhra Pradesh);

 Automated Milk Collection Centres of Amul dairy cooperatives (Gujarat);

 Land Record Computerisation (Bhoomi) (Karnataka);

 Computer-Aided Online Registration Department (Andhra Pradesh);

 Online Marketing and CAD in Northern Karnataka (Karnataka);

 Knowledge Network for Grass Root Innovations – Society for Research and

Initiatives (SRISTI) (Gujarat);

 Application of Satellite Communication for Training Field Extension Workers in

Rural Areas (Indian Space Research Organisation);

In addition to the above, a few non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have initiated ICT

projects such as:

 Tarahaat.com by Development Alternatives (Uttar Pradesh and Punjab);

 Mahitiz-samuha (Karnataka);

 VOICES – Madhyam Communications (Karnataka);

 Centre for Alternative Agriculture Media (CAAM);

National Policy for Farmers, 2007:

 The Government had constituted National Commission on Farmers in 2004 and State

Government; the “National Policy for Farmers, 2007” has been formulated and

approved by the Government of India. It has important provision for use of new

technology, which can help enhance productivity per unit of land and water.
 Biotechnology, information and communication technology (ICT), renewable energy

technology, space applications and nano-technology to provide opportunities for

launching an “Evergreen Revolution” capable of improving productivity in perpetuity

without harming the ecology.

 Under National Telecom policy, 2012 major focus has given to improving the

broadband penetration. It mentions mobiles as an instrument of socio-economic

empowerment for citizens

National mission on agricultural Extension and Technology: 

 Bharat Nirman: It has registered the increased teledensity in rural areas. On this

basis farmers are provided ‘m’ service, giving them right information at right time.

 Universal service obligation fund (USOF) already launched wireless broadband

Scheme in 2009. Bandwidth from NOFN will be eligible to give wide range of

services to rural India.

 Pilot project scheme for Mobile value added services (m-VAS)for rural women’s

Self-help group (SHG) is also part ofUSOF’s Sanchar Shakti programme.

 Bharat Nirman Kendra, shall be a single window for providing the information on

the NAREGA and shall provide feedback on the quality of implementation of the

program.

 Farm Credit service is being harnessed like Smart Cards, Internet Kiosks and cell

phone messaging. 

 Kisan credit card: It uses the ICT to provide affordable credit for farmers in India. It

was started by the Government of India, Reserve Bank of India(RBI), and National

Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development(NABARD) in 1998-99 to help farmers

access timely and adequate credit.

  Kisan Choupal in collaboration with Krishi vigan Kendra is a successful model in

Bihar. The dialogue/ Discussion/ problems solving is facilitated with help of

Information technologies, showing technical videos to farmers, movies, etc. at the

beginning of the choupal.

 Kisan Call centre: An expert advisory system and the farmers need to call the toll

free number 1800-180-1551 to seek expert advice on different matters related to

agriculture and allied sectors.

 Kisan SMS Portal: Here farmer keeps getting SMS messages providing information

or delivering service or giving advisories on his mobile from experts, scientists and

officers at various level. Messages are customized based on farmer’s preferences in

the language chosen by them. It sends messages relating not only production aspect

but also marketing of produce, weather forecast, soil testing, etc.

 The Sandesh Pathak application, developed jointly by C-DAC Mumbai, IIT-

Madras, IIIT Hyderabad, IIT Kharagpur, and C-DAC Thiruvananthapuram will

enable SMS messages to be read out loud, for the benefit of farmers who may have

difficulty in reading. When they receive an SMS message either containing

agriculture-related advice or some other thing, this app will read aloud the content.

The app is part of the project launched by the Indian Government to help farmers read

messages which may be of the following types: advice to solve farming problems-

insect, disease, fertilizer or weed management; information on weather- such as

forecasts; and updates on latest technology- for improving yield and much more.

Village Knowledge Centre (VKC): It serves as information dissemination centre providing

instant access to farmers to latest information/ knowledge available in the field of agriculture,

starting from crop production to marketing.

Village Resource Centres (VRC): These are connected to Knowledge/Expert Canters like

Agricultural Universities, Skill Development Institutes and Hospitals. Over 6500 programs

conducted by the VRCs in the areas of, Agriculture/horticulture, Fisheries, Livestock, Water

resources, Tele health care, Awareness programs, Women empowerment, Supplementary

education, Computer literacy, Micro credit, Micro finance, Skill development/ vocational

training for livelihood support etc.

More advanced use of ICT in farming

 Irrigate via smart phone: Mobile is playing a big role in monitoring and controlling

crop irrigation systems. With the right equipment, irrigation systems can be controlled

from a phone or computer instead of driving to each field. 

 Moisture sensors in the ground can communicate information about the level of the

moisture present at the certain depth of the soil.

 GPS mapping for input to the field using variable rate technology, which helps the

farmer in accessing the need of fertilizer, soil, yield, moisture, maps for field

drainage, etc.

o Various farmer friendly applications (apps) are being launched by companies,

which help farmers in discovering prices for their products, delivering their

product, getting soil report, etc.

o Webcams to monitor the crops and to take the scientists’ expertise to address

problems without taking them to the field.

E-commerce Initiatives in Agriculture in India

Ministry of Agriculture had formulated a model law on agricultural marketing to bring about

marketing reforms in line with emerging trends. This model act enables the establishment of

private markets/yards, direct purchase centres, consumers/farmers markets for direct sale, and

the promotion of public-private partnership (PPP) in the management and development of

agricultural markets in the country. It also provides exclusive markets for onion, fruits,

vegetables, and flowers. There is provision for constitution of State Agricultural Produce

Standard Bureau for promotion of grading, standardization, and quality certification of

Agricultural Produce. So far, 15 States and 5 Union Territories have amended their

Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act to derive the benefits of market

reforms.

1. e-National Agriculture Market - National Agriculture Market (NAM) is a pan-India

electronic trading portal, networks the existing APMC Mandis to create a unified

national market for agricultural commodities. This Portal provides a single window

service for all APMC related information and services and includes commodity

arrivals & prices, buy & sell trade offers, provision to respond to trade offers, among

other services.

2. DestaMart and DestaTalk- DestaMart provides Agri-inputs to agri storeowners,

DestaTalk targets the farmers by providing information related to the agriculture

sector. DestaMart, an e-commerce platform, the company aims to provide Agri-input

supplies, seeds, pesticides and fertilizers to the rural market.

3. E-Chaupal- E-Chaupal is a business platform consisting of a set of organisational

subsystems and interfaces connecting farmers to global markets. It has been initiated

by International Tobacco Company (ITC). It consists of three layers each of different

level of geographic aggregation and characterised by three key elements. The

infrastructure (physical or organisational) through which transaction takes place.

a. The entity (person or organization) orchestrating the transactions, and,

b. The geographical coverage of the layer.

The first layer consists of the village level kiosks with internet access (e-chaupals),

managed by an ITC trained local farmer and within walking distance (I5kilometers) of
 each target farmer. Each cluster of five villages gets an e-Chaupal, which is justified

by sparse population in rural India. The second layer consists of brick and mortar

infrastructure called hubs managed by the traditional intermediary who has local

knowledge/skills called a Samayojak and within the tractorable distance (25-

30kilometer) of the targeted farmer.

4. AGMARKET was the first e-governance project, which was set up in the year 2000

to strengthen India’s agricultural marketing system. It has emerged to be a key

national portal. It maintains and publishes from its well-maintained database,

information relating to daily minimum and maximum modal prices for about 300

commodities and their over 2,000 varieties in many regional languages.

5. Agricultural Commodities Exchanges - To introduce future trading in agricultural

commodities in India, in 2003 two-commodity exchanges have been introduced for

future trading. They are, National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited

(NCDEX) and Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited (MCX). These

exchanges are majorly dealing in agricultural commodities. They are involved in

forward trading to mitigate price risks of the farmer.

6. Big-Haat an agri-commerce start-up aims to help farmers reap the benefits of e-

commerce and save time, money in the process. It was started in January 2015 by

Sachin Nandwana, S Kumar and Raj Kancham. They aim to empower farmers by

providing them with quality agro-inputs and accessories through a marketplace

platform.

7. Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) is world’s largest

fertilizer cooperative federation with over 40,000-member cooperatives, has

 announced its plans to garner massive cooperative market via the creation of e-

commerce platform - iffcobazar.in.

8. RML free Mobile application provides highly engaging content formats like

podcasts, imagery, videos in the form of advisory and innovative features like the chat

with agri experts and leads farmers to build a social community on the app and to be

the pre-eminent digital platform to engage Agri-communities and Agri-stakeholders.

This application has features like 6 Day Taluka level weather forecast, historical

updates on 6crop market combinations, warning/alerts protection from unpredictable

weather, direct connect with traders at the district level. Also, understand the demand-

supply trend, timely inputs from sowing to harvesting, increased productivity,

policies, subsidies, schemes, health and financial information, key agricultural related

updates, actionable agri-information, improved standard of living, interaction with

farmers at the district level, share and gain knowledge about different agriculture

practices.

9. “I Say Organic” (ISO) portal set up in 2012; a Delhi based organic food retailer

envisages making organic produce a norm rather than an exception in the country.

The Stock is sold through the ISO website on a daily-basis. Customers may choose on

delivery either by cash or card or to pay online.

10. Established e-commerce platforms such as amazon, AskmeGrocery.com, I order fresh

endeavours to bring natural and delicious food, handpicked from farms and local

producers around the city. Snapdeal, the sale of fresh fruits and vegetables is a logical

extension. Freshfalsabzi, peppertap, localbanya and big basket have jumped into the

bandwagon although their operations are restricted to a few cities only.

 11. Some exclusive Agricultural portals are also available such as:

• Haritgyan.com

• Krishiworld.net

• TOEHOLDINDIA.com

• Agriwatch.com

• ITC‟s Soyachoupal.com

• Acquachoupal.com

• Plantersnet.com, etc.

Benefits of E-commerce and Information Technology

The benefits of e-commerce and Information technology for the improvement and

strengthening of agriculture sector in India are-

 Timely information on weather forecasts and calamities,

 Better and spontaneous agricultural practices,

 Better marketing exposure and pricing,

 Reduction of agricultural risks and enhanced incomes,

 Better awareness and information,

 Improved networking and communication, community involvement in agriculture.

 Facility of online trading and e-commerce,

 Better representation at various forums, authorities and platform, etc.

 Improved decision making through the exchange of knowledge from various countries

and organization and more aware of factors to consider before making their decisions.
  Good planning through keeping track of crops, predict yields, when to plant, what to

plant, to intercrop or focus on just one product, or determine the current need of the

crops.

 Agricultural breakthroughs- Sharing information to help everyone progress is made

much easier.

 Agriculture for everyone –Growing one’s own sustainable garden of herbs, fruit trees,

and other agricultural produce can be possible in a smaller scale.

Challenges to Agriculture Sector in India

The major challenges are-

 Insufficient agricultural infrastructure and support facilities,

 Insufficient institutional capacity to deliver farmers specific services,

 Lack of awareness regarding suitable agricultural methods among the farmers,

 Agricultural content development and its upgradations,

 Ownership issues of the public and government generated data,

 Inadequate use of Public-Private Partnerships in India,

 Lack of “Common Platforms” for the farmers in India,

 Absence of an “Agricultural Think-Tank” in India,

 Insufficient use of ICT for agricultural purposes, etc.

  Facing a rising demand for food grains and may not be fully met by the supply side.

The situation is becoming more alarming due to the alternative uses of food crops for

bio-fuels

Conclusion

With the new extension of Information Technology initiatives like Krishivihar, i-Kisan,e-

kutir, e-Sagoo, ICT models- AGROWEB, Agropedia, AgrInnovate, etc., Indian agriculture

has come to a long way and established several records regarding production and

productivity. About 58 percent of the total population is dependent on agriculture in India,

among them about 80 percent are marginal and small farmers category. They have regular

demand of Agri-inputs, but they are buying forcefully from the retailers due to credits or

loan. Online retailing of Agri-input is futuristic and very much relevant. The farmers are

facing serious problems that are related to agricultural marketing and supply of inputs and

services. The main problems reported are:

 There is still the inadequate supply of quality seeds, pesticides, farm implements and

other services at right time and reasonable price by Agricultural Department and other

agencies of State Government are not ensure.

 There is an inefficient and unreliable delivery of farm inputs and Agri-services at

higher prices.

 There is lack of adequate and timely credit to farmers, guidance and support from

agriculture department on agri inputs and their prices.

 Lack of publicity of Governmental Subsidy schemes related to farm inputs among

rural poor, particularly illiterate farmers.

  There is lack of sufficient number of Agribusiness and Agriclinic centres in the

country thereby farmers cannot access farm-input timely at reasonable prices.

 Mostly dealers of agricultural inputs do not display rates of agricultural inputs.

 Farmers are not getting inputs like bio-fertilizers, improved seeds, organic certificates

etc.

 Inadequate transportation facilities and high costs.

 Price variation of farm inputs and lack of storage facilities and problem of security of

farm inputs.

Suggestions

 Agriculture, the backbone of India, is fast losing its hold, and quick adequate

measures need to implement. The bane of Indian agriculture is not lack of technology,

R&D effort; but the inefficiencies and inadequacy in the dissemination of relevant

information to the farming sector.

 The implementation of these following recommendations can help to improve

agriculture output and rural livelihoods:

 Information Technology and Farming seem to be the most distantly placed knowledge

sets in the world. Farming is the most primitive and most basic of the jobs and IT

related being the most advanced.

 Research and Innovation: Technical information systems in agriculture need to

incorporate local knowledge integrate into regional and international systems and
 maintain links to policy makers. More investment in infrastructure and skilled human

resources is needed for such systems.

 Foster awareness to use and maintain e-commerce into formats and languages

relevant for rural areas.

 Support technical innovations for rural connectivity such as wireless broadband

connections or solar-powered systems.

 Existing channels for technical information (e.g. extension services, radio stations)

should be integrated with new communication technologies, which are accessible to

farmers.

 The pressure of population dependent on agriculture should be reduced and

minimised the concept of “Disguised Unemployment”. A “Labour Intensive

Industrialisation” has the potential to provide new avenues of employment to rural

areas in India.

 Agro-industries must be promoted which offer rural population new avenues of

employment. Many e-commerce enterprises do not accept deliveries to semi-urban

and rural areas. Transport and delivery are their main challenges.

 Institution and capacity building, empowering farmers through investment in their

capabilities, etc. are the kind of initiatives needed.

 Agriculture and computer education should be a subject in school curriculum.

 Development of digital libraries in rural areas can provide adequate learning

environment, imparting literacy and agricultural technologies to rural communities.

 Governments should formulate clear policy, the public and private sectors, can use to

engage in e-commerce. Since women’s access to e-commerce is very limited in rural

areas so it should include gender-specific considerations. Youth are often ICT savvy

and their input should be included in strategies and projects.

 India needs to shift at a higher pedestal of Green Revolution. It needs new

technologies, new institutional responses, new organisational structures, collective-

expertise and an ideal public-private partnership base in India. India needs creative

and imaginative solutions that increase agricultural productivity, farm incomes, and

food production etc.

 In India, it is necessary to change the attitude and mind-set of the farmers and need to

win their confidence and make them aware of the benefits of e-commerce in

agriculture.

 Farmers, transporters, buyers, traders, etc. should support e-commerce in order to

ensure more equitable, timely and collaborative access to markets for small holders.

 A mechanism is required to bring quick relief to all those impacted by natural

disaster. It may be better to conduct the relief transparently as an emergency social

program. The government should create a database to identify farmers and

corresponding Aadhar seeded bank accounts. In case of a natural disaster, identified

by weather data, and the government should then transfer a specified sum of cash

immediately into these accounts.

 Institutional arrangements such as contract farming, cooperatives, and producers’

organizations that provide farmers easy access to markets, distribute price risks,

reduce marketing and transaction costs can go a long way in pushing high-value
 agriculture. The removal of restrictions to buy-sell agriculture produce can

revolutionise fruits and vegetable production, particularly at small farms.

 There is a need for paradigm shift from price-centric direct intervention to non-price

policy instruments. The aim should be to create enabling a market environment for

produce higher price realization for farmers. Many steps necessary to achieve this are

related to the reform of the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees Acts in the

states. With the corporate sector keen on investing in agribusiness to harness the

emerging opportunities in domestic and global markets, there is a need to apply the

Essential Commodity Act more judiciously to make private investments in the

marketing and storage infrastructure more attractive.

 Demand-side factors are highly favourable for diversification towards high value

horticultural and livestock products and attribute-based products. There is a need for

measures to expand cold storage facilities and provide market finance to farmers. We

must pay attention to veterinary services and vaccination to avoid the disease

outbreaks and sustain the growth of the livestock. Above all, policies for the

development of food processing industry will go a long way towards creating demand

at lucrative prices for high-value commodities. Turning food-processing industry into

the major export industry can also create vast employment opportunities for workers

since it is a labour-intensive industry.

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