Getting Agricultural Markets Right

Ashok Gulati (Ed.), Raya Das (Ed.), Tirthankar Patnaik (Ed.)

About the Book

Farmers in India are vulnerable to price fluctuations due to price-production cobweb pattern, climatic vagaries and lack of post-harvest infrastructure. Small farmers with less than 2 ha. of land, who form the 86 percent of Indian farmers, are particularly vulnerable to these risks, often leading to distress sales. This book presents a comprehensive analysis of India’s agricultural marketing system through 14 chapters. It begins with an overview
of the evolving marketing landscape and the role of agricultural commodity derivatives in price risk management. Subsequent chapters examine the market structures and efficiencies of various commodities categorized based on government intervention: regulated crops (rice, wheat, sugarcane), semi-regulated crops (maize, cotton), and non-regulated crops (turmeric, potato). For each commodity, the book evaluates spatial and temporal marketing efficiency, the value-chain structure in major producing states, and the role of commodity futures and alternative marketing channels including FPOs for better price discovery and risk management. The book also underscores the transformative potential of technology and innovation in agriculture. Case studies on agri-tech start-ups, blockchain applications, and digital trading platforms like e-NAM illustrate how these tools can enhance market access, reduce transaction costs, and improve price realization for farmers.

About the Author/ Editors 

Dr. Ashok Gulati is currently Distinguished Professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), New Delhi. Prior to this, he was a Chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), Government of India (2011-14). He is currently a Member of the Eleventh Audit Advisory Board of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, and an Independent Director of the Board of Directors of Kotak
Mahindra Bank Limited (KMBL) and Godrej Agrovet Limited. He has 20 books to his credit on Indian and Asian Agriculture, besides numerous research papers in national and international Journals. He did his M.A. and Ph.D. from Delhi School of Economics.

Dr. Raya Das is currently a Fellow at ICRIER, New Delhi. Her research focuses on public policy in agriculture, with special emphasis on agricultural markets, credit, land relations, technology adoption, and the livelihood sustainability of farmers. In these domains, she has published 11 peer-reviewed journals, one book, working papers, policy briefs, and op-eds. Dr. Das earned her Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, with a thesis titled “Agrarian Dynamics and Organisation of Production in West Bengal.” She also holds an M.Phil. from the Centre for the Study of Regional Development,
JNU on “Variation in Productivity, Farm Income and Subsistence among Agricultural Households in India,” based on the Situation Assessment Survey of Farmers 2012–13.

Dr. Tirthankar Patnaik is Chief Economist at the National Stock Exchange of India. He has over two decades of experience in the Indian capital markets, academic research, credit research in macro and sector strategy, quantitative finance, and consumer banking. At the National Stock Exchange, he leads research efforts in macroeconomics, financial markets, corporate governance & ESG and market microstructure. Tirthankar has a PhD from the IGIDR, Mumbai, where his area of research was high-frequency finance and market microstructure. He also has an MSc in Statistics, and a BSc in Mathematics, both from the University of Madras.

Contents In Detail

1. Introduction Ashok Gulati, Raya Das, Tirthankar Patnaik Dynamics of Agriculture Marketing in India: Role of Macro Policies and Institutional Reforms
2. Raya Das, Ashok Gulat
3.  Getting Agriculture Derivatives Markets Right
   Harsh Wardhan, Ashok Gulati
4.  Getting Rice and Wheat Markets Right
   Raya Das, Ashok Gulati 
5.  Getting Sugarcane Markets Right
   Ranjana Roy, Sabarni Chowdhury, Ashok Gulati
6.  Getting the Maize Markets Right
   Ranjana Roy, Harsh Wardhan, Sabarni Chowdhury, Ashok Gulati
7.  Getting Cotton Markets Right
   Raya Das, Harsh Wardhan, Bidisha Chanda, Ashok Gulati
8.  Getting Potato Markets Right
   Raya Das,  Ranjana Roy, Ashok Gulati
9.  Getting Turmeric Markets Right
   Raya Das, Bidisha Chanda, Ranjana Roy,
   Ashok Gulati
10. Deepening Farmers’ Engagement in  Commodity Derivatives through FPOs
    Niraj Shukla, Priya Arora, Ashok Gulati
11. Role of Innovations in Getting Markets
    Right
    Manasi Phadke, Bhusana Krandikar, Ashok Gulati
12. Transforming Agricultural Trading and Commerce in India Role of e-NAM and the potential of Digital Trade
    Raya Das, Bidisha Chanda, Gowri Krishna, Ashok Gulati
13.  Augmenting Farmers’ Income through
    Block Chain
    Sanjeev Vohra, Raya Das, Bidisha Chanda, Ashok Gulati
14. How to Get the Agricultural
    Markets Right – The Way Forward
    Ashok Gulati, Raya Das, Tirthankar Patnaik.