- An agricultural produce market committee is a marketing board established by state governments of India. All agricultural acts are marketed through them.
- Agricultural Markets in most parts of the Country are established and regulated under the State APMC Acts. The whole geographical area in the State is divided and declared as a market area wherein the markets are managed by the Market Committees constituted by the State Governments. Once a particular area is declared a market area and falls under the jurisdiction of a Market Committee, no person or agency is allowed freely to carry on wholesale marketing activities.
- The monopoly of Government regulated wholesale markets has prevented development of a competitive marketing system in the country, providing no help to farmers in direct marketing, organizing retailing, a smooth raw material supply to agro-processing industries and adoption of innovative marketing system and technologies.
- Their responsibilities include:
- Ensuring complete transparency in pricing system and transactions taking place in market area;
- Providing market-led extension services to farmers;
- Ensuring payment for agricultural produce sold by farmers on the same day;
- Promoting agricultural processing including activities for value addition in agricultural produce; and
- Publicizing data on arrivals and rates of agricultural produce brought into the market area for sale.
- Setup and promote public private partnership (PPP) in the management of agricultural markets.