Farmers Face Exploitation in Agricultural Marketing, Says Minister Patil

### Fast Summary
– Minister H.K. Patil addressed structural flaws in agricultural marketing during a seminar in Mysuru on Friday.
– Farmers remain vulnerable to exploitation by middlemen, facing discrepancies such as 10%-20% weight shortfalls and indefinite delays for payments.
– Brokers provide token advances,with final payments often delayed for weeks,adding financial uncertainty for farmers.
– According to RBI data cited by Mr. Patil, farmers recieve only one-third of the consumer price for their produce due to intermediary margins.
– He highlighted the need for Minimum Support Price (MSP) reforms based on M.S. Swaminathan’s advice to set MSP at 1.5 times above cultivation costs.
– The seminar emphasized legal enforcement reform and empowering farmers to set prices directly as essential solutions.

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### Indian Opinion Analysis
The issues highlighted by Minister H.K. Patil showcase persistent challenges faced by Indian agriculture despite ongoing policy interventions. From systemic exploitation in the marketing chain to delays in payment processing, the current setup heavily disadvantages farmers while intermediaries extract critically important value from their labor.

The disparity between farmgate prices and consumer costs resonates with calls for greater clarity and efficiency in agricultural markets, underscored further by longstanding demands to implement Swaminathan Committee recommendations on MSP calculation methods.

Reforming this sector is critical not just economically but socially; empowering farmers would likely lead to better livelihoods, reduced rural distress, and higher economic resilience against global fluctuations like crop pricing or climate shifts. Establishing fair practices through effective legal frameworks could pave the way toward equitable growth-a shared goal among policymakers and stakeholders alike.

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