What are the main constraints in transport and marketing of agricultural produce in India? (UPSC 2020)

Agricultural produce in India faces post-harvest bottlenecks that raise costs, cause losses and cut farmers’ share in consumer prices.

• Transport constraints: High logistics cost, poor rural roads, delays in loading/unloading, and limited rail-based cold chain/refrigerated vehicles damage perishables.
• Storage gaps: Scientific warehousing, pack houses and cold storage are inadequate and unevenly distributed, especially in many producing regions.
• Marketing constraints: APMC market fees, commissions, trader domination and opaque price discovery reduce competition; small farmers face distress sales.
• Policy issues: Weak reforms, sudden stock limits/export bans and poor access to finance further weaken bargaining power.

Better rural infrastructure, cold-chain expansion, market reforms, digital trading and farmer collectives are needed to make transport and marketing efficient and fair.