The Critical Role of Information in Agricultural Marketing

A farmer who grows tomatoes but has no idea what prices are being offered at the nearest mandi is in a weak position. Without reliable market information, they might sell at whatever a local trader offers – often well below the going rate. This isn’t just a personal loss; it’s a structural problem that has held back agricultural income in India for decades. Information – about prices, demand, supply, and market trends – is not just helpful in agricultural marketing. It is the very foundation of fair, efficient trade.

Why information matters in agricultural marketing 🔗

Agricultural marketing involves all the activities that move produce from the farm to the final consumer – procurement, grading, storage, transportation, processing, and distribution. For this system to function efficiently, all participants – farmers, traders, processors, and policymakers – must have access to timely and accurate data. Without it, poor decisions get made at every step of the chain.

The core challenge is what economists call information asymmetry – a situation where one party in a transaction knows more than the other. In Indian agriculture, this has historically meant that traders and middlemen had detailed knowledge of prevailing market prices, while farmers were largely in the dark. The absence of accessible price data can contribute to the exploitation of small and marginal farmers, who lack the bargaining power to push back.

Farmers frequently identify poor prices as their biggest marketing problem, yet they are often poorly equipped to identify solutions because the root cause – lack of information – is invisible to them. They know they are getting a bad deal; they don’t always know why or how to change it.

What kind of information do market participants need? 🔗

Market information in agriculture is multi-dimensional. It is not just about the price of a commodity on a given day. Farmers, traders, and policymakers each need different layers of data to make sound decisions.

Information needs of farmers 🔗

For farmers, the critical questions are: where to sell, when to sell, and at what price. This means they need access to current mandi prices across different markets, data on price trends over weeks and months, and information on demand levels. Marketing platforms that offer farmers insights into market trends, demand, prices, and quality standards enable them to make better decisions about what to produce and when to sell. Without such data, farmers tend to sell immediately after harvest – a period when supply peaks and prices crash – simply because they have no means to assess whether waiting might fetch a better return.

Information needs of traders and buyers 🔗

Traders need supply forecasts to plan their procurement. Knowing that a particular crop is arriving in large volumes from a specific region lets them plan logistics and negotiate contracts. Buyers from processing industries need quality standards and certification data to decide which markets to source from. Market information serves multiple stakeholders – it answers “where to buy”, “what variety”, “what prices prevail”, and “when to buy” – all essential for efficient procurement decisions.

Information needs of policymakers 🔗

At the government level, reliable and current data on arrivals, prices, and trade volumes is indispensable. A market information system is essentially a process of collecting, analysing, and distributing information, and when this data is refined further, it becomes the basis for policy-level decision-making. Policies on minimum support prices, procurement, export restrictions, and storage subsidies all depend on accurate market intelligence.

The problem of information gaps in Indian agriculture 🔗

India’s agricultural sector has made enormous strides in production – foodgrain output has crossed 300 million metric tonnes, and horticulture production stands at comparable levels. Yet, the challenge has been integrating this production with market systems, especially given the continuous shifts in consumer preferences and the need for transparency in agricultural trade.

Information asymmetry – the lack of timely and accurate market information – directly hinders farmers from making informed decisions, leading to distress sales, over-reliance on middlemen, and ultimately lower incomes. The problem is especially acute for small and marginal farmers who operate on less than one hectare of land and cannot afford to wait for better prices or travel to distant markets to compare rates.

AGMARKNET: building a national information backbone 🔗

The Ministry of Agriculture launched the Agricultural Marketing Information Network – known as AGMARKNET – as an ICT-based central sector scheme to link important agricultural produce markets across the country with State Agriculture Marketing Boards and Directorates. The platform, executed with technical support from the National Informatics Centre (NIC), has become India’s primary digital infrastructure for agricultural market transparency.

AGMARKNET connects over 3,000 APMCs and provides real-time updates on commodity prices, market arrivals, and price trends. The portal serves up-to-date information such as price trends of commodities, including daily mandi prices and the profile of each market. This data is made freely available to farmers, traders, government officials, and consumers alike.

How AGMARKNET reaches farmers 🔗

The platform does not limit itself to web-based access. The AgriMarket mobile app allows farmers to check market prices of crops in markets located within 50 km of their device’s location, making it highly practical for rural users. The Kisan Suvidha app supplements this with weather forecasts, agro-advisories, and pest management information alongside price data. SMS-based alerts ensure that even farmers in low-connectivity areas can receive market updates on basic mobile phones.

Survey data shows that 94% of farmers using AGMARKNET reported that the portal provides timely market information, while 92.67% cited pricing efficiency as a direct benefit. These figures point to a measurable improvement in how farmers engage with markets when given the right data.

Strategic alliances and data sharing 🔗

AGMARKNET has developed alliances with corporate and telecom players to disseminate market intelligence through SMS, voice mail, and mobile apps. Data collected by the portal is shared with private information providers at no charge, broadening its reach through platforms like IFFCO’s IKSL app, Reuters Market Light, and other agritech services. This public-private model has multiplied the portal’s impact well beyond what a government-only distribution channel could achieve.

Kisan Call Centres: personalized information in local languages 🔗

Not every farmer can navigate a digital portal or interpret price trend charts. The Ministry of Agriculture launched the Kisan Call Centre scheme on 21 January 2004 to provide answers to farmers’ queries through toll-free telephone lines, with a single nationwide number – 1800-180-1551 – allocated for the service. Operating from 14 locations across the country, KCCs cover all states and union territories.

What makes Kisan Call Centres particularly effective is their language reach. Queries are addressed in 22 local languages, with the primary aim of answering questions in the farmer’s own dialect. This is a crucial detail. A farmer in rural Odisha who speaks Odia but cannot read Hindi or English would be effectively excluded from most digital platforms – but not from a phone-based service in their native language.

How the KCC system works 🔗

Calls are handled at three levels. Front-line Farm Tele Advisors (FTAs) handle routine queries about crop management, weather, and market prices. If a query is too complex, it is escalated to Subject Matter Specialists (SMS) with domain expertise. At the third level, the knowledge management system draws on resources from ICAR and State Agricultural Universities for highly technical queries. For this system to respond effectively to agricultural challenges, information-based technologies must be strengthened, with modern ICT enabling better communication among researchers, extension workers, and farmers.

The scope of KCC services extends well beyond market prices. Farmers can get advice on crops, animal husbandry, fisheries, weather, plant protection, and government schemes – all from a single toll-free number. This positions Kisan Call Centres as a broad-based agricultural advisory service, with market information being one important component.

eNAM: taking information to the trading floor 🔗

While AGMARKNET and KCCs focus on information dissemination, the electronic National Agriculture Market – eNAM – was designed with the explicit vision of removing information asymmetry between buyers and sellers and promoting real-time price discovery based on actual demand and supply. Launched in April 2016, eNAM connects APMC mandis across the country into a single digital trading platform, allowing buyers and sellers to transact transparently without physical barriers.

The platform promotes better marketing opportunities for farmers by providing online access to more buyers and markets, enabling real-time price discovery, and ensuring transparency in the auction process – all of which depend directly on the quality of information flowing through the system. Trade on the eNAM platform crossed ₹78,424 crore in FY24, up 5% year-on-year, with a 124% increase over the previous five years – a strong indicator of growing farmer trust in digital, information-driven trade.

The broader impact: information as a policy tool 🔗

Information and Communication Technology can play a pivotal role in the efficient dissemination of agricultural market information, delivering fast, reliable, and accurate data in a user-friendly manner for practical use by end users. When this infrastructure is in place, it transforms the relationship between farmers and markets – moving it from one based on guesswork and dependence to one grounded in data and choice.

Reliable market information also supports better production planning. When farmers know which crops are in demand and at what price, they can adjust their cropping patterns accordingly – reducing the boom-and-bust cycles that lead to gluts one season and shortages the next. Challenges such as information disparities are acknowledged as critical impediments to agricultural marketing efficiency, and addressing them through platforms like AGMARKNET, KCCs, and eNAM represents a direct policy investment in farmer welfare.

The goal is not simply to make information available – it is to make it accessible, timely, and actionable for the farmer standing in their field deciding when and where to sell. That is what separates a functioning information system from a dormant one.

What do you think? With mobile internet penetration rising steadily in rural India, do you think digital platforms like AGMARKNET and eNAM are doing enough to reach small and marginal farmers – or are there still structural gaps that technology alone cannot bridge? And beyond price data, what other types of market information do you think farmers most urgently need to make better marketing decisions?

References

1. https://blog.lukmaanias.com/2025/05/20/agricultural-marketing-in-india/
2. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/22779787231209169
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_marketing
4. https://www.bajajfinserv.in/agriculture-marketing
5. https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/agmarknetpptx/255430956
6. https://www.academia.edu/38006234/Role_of_Government_in_Agricultural_Marketing
7. https://www.manage.gov.in/publications/eBooks/Agricultural%20Marketing%20in%20India.pdf
8. https://www.indiafilings.com/learn/agmarknet
9. https://services.india.gov.in/service/detail/agmarknet-portal
10. https://agmarknet.gov.in/downloadmobileapps.aspx
11. https://www.agriexam.com/kisan-call-centres
12. https://www.manage.gov.in/kcc/kcc.asp
13. https://www.enam.gov.in/
14. https://darpg.gov.in/sites/default/files/enam_0.pdf
15. https://blog.lukmaanias.com/2025/02/07/national-agriculture-market-enam/
16. https://themedicon.com/pdf/agricultureenvironmental/MCAES-06-161.pdf