Visit to Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) Yard, Yeswanthpur

 Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) Yard

On 6th of May, 2016, 60 students of I year MBA visited the APMC yard situated in Yeswanthpur. The students went in two college buses accompanied by 4 staff members, Mr Murali, Mr Vijay, Mr. Tejas and Mr. Rakesh. The objective was to witness first-hand the workings of the market.

The APMC yard was established in 1955 in 8 acres of land catering to 699 villages in and around Bangalore. The APMC yard was established to provide an organized market place to farmers and to ensure that they are not exploited at the hands of unscrupulous buyers. It acts as both primary market (market for farmers and traders) and tertiary market (market for traders). 52% of the revenue is due to the primary market making it one of the biggest primary markets in the country.

The APMC yard is run by a team of elected representatives consisting of 18 members. The chairman and the vice chairman are elected directly by the member farmers while the other members are representatives of Government, traders, research institute. They meet every month to decide on the working of the yard, and other issues. The committee has 2 women representatives.

Mr. Kumara Swamy, Additional Secretary, led the students through the presentation about the working of APMC market. The session started with questions about what a market is, difference between market, market yard and market area. The session was very interesting and provided insight into the need of APMC to farmers, the bidding process for perishable goods, the e-auction service, the financial transactions, the working of raithara santhe, etc.

Students were surprised to know that the market deals with 112 commodities and around Rs. 5792 lakhs is the financial revenue. Student was also astounded to know that during peak season the yard handles around 83999 tonnes of goods. The yard has 25 supervisory, 43 administrative staff to handle the smooth working of the yard. Also the farmers are issued identity cards and the traders have to get license to trade in APMC yard. There are 1813 licensed traders, 1462 importers, 1289 exporters and 1001 retail traders. The farmers are provided with basic facilities like accommodations, canteens, toilet etc.

The sales happen through mutual understanding and also bidding process. The farmers, when not happy with the process can reject the bid at any time. The traders once they bid on an item have to purchase the goods or have to face penalty. Thus the market works in safeguarding the farmers interest. The APMC also have also have a revolving fund kept aside to procure perishable goods from farmers when price crashes due to over production.

The students also took active participation by asking questions about the fluctuating price of vegetables, future plans of APMC, how commission rate is different from the market fee collected here in APMC yard, the dispute settlement between traders and farmers if arises. The chairman was patient in clearing all the doubts and further encouraged the student to visit the Yelehanka raithe santhey to know how small farmers are selling directly to consumers in an organized way benefiting both the parties. The price at the santhey is fixed @ 20% lower than other retail markets and 20% higher than the wholesale market.

The visit ended with the walk through the yard and the plan to visit Yelehanka raithe santhey soon.

On 6th of May, 2016, 60 students of I year MBA visited the APMC yard situated in Yeswanthpur. The students went in two college buses accompanied by 4 staff members, Mr Murali, Mr Vijay, Mr. Tejas and Mr. Rakesh. The objective was to witness first-hand the workings of the market.

The APMC yard was established in 1955 in 8 acres of land catering to 699 villages in and around Bangalore. The APMC yard was established to provide an organized market place to farmers and to ensure that they are not exploited at the hands of unscrupulous buyers. It acts as both primary market (market for farmers and traders) and tertiary market (market for traders). 52% of the revenue is due to the primary market making it one of the biggest primary markets in the country.

The APMC yard is run by a team of elected representatives consisting of 18 members. The chairman and the vice chairman are elected directly by the member farmers while the other members are representatives of Government, traders, research institute. They meet every month to decide on the working of the yard, and other issues. The committee has 2 women representatives.

Mr. Kumara Swamy, Additional Secretary, led the students through the presentation about the working of APMC market. The session started with questions about what a market is, difference between market, market yard and market area. The session was very interesting and provided insight into the need of APMC to farmers, the bidding process for perishable goods, the e-auction service, the financial transactions, the working of raithara santhe, etc.

Students were surprised to know that the market deals with 112 commodities and around Rs. 5792 lakhs is the financial revenue. Student was also astounded to know that during peak season the yard handles around 83999 tonnes of goods. The yard has 25 supervisory, 43 administrative staff to handle the smooth working of the yard. Also the farmers are issued identity cards and the traders have to get license to trade in APMC yard. There are 1813 licensed traders, 1462 importers, 1289 exporters and 1001 retail traders. The farmers are provided with basic facilities like accommodations, canteens, toilet etc.

The sales happen through mutual understanding and also bidding process. The farmers, when not happy with the process can reject the bid at any time. The traders once they bid on an item have to purchase the goods or have to face penalty. Thus the market works in safeguarding the farmers interest. The APMC also have also have a revolving fund kept aside to procure perishable goods from farmers when price crashes due to over production.

The students also took active participation by asking questions about the fluctuating price of vegetables, future plans of APMC, how commission rate is different from the market fee collected here in APMC yard, the dispute settlement between traders and farmers if arises. The chairman was patient in clearing all the doubts and further encouraged the student to visit the Yelehanka raithe santhey to know how small farmers are selling directly to consumers in an organized way benefiting both the parties. The price at the santhey is fixed @ 20% lower than other retail markets and 20% higher than the wholesale market.

The visit ended with the walk through the yard and the plan to visit Yelehanka raithe santhey soon.