Vegetable Marketing

Cantonment Vegetable Market,

Belgaum

- A Window to a Great Opportunity

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Exploring the Vegetable Market of BelgaumMannat ’06 threw upon us a big surprise by leaving us on the streets of the

vegetable market, to explore!!! I began walking along the shops wondering

what I was supposed to do for one hour. I just approached the agents to

know about the way this market functioned. As I moved to some more

shops, I realized people welcomed us and gave information. It was a nice

experience being noticed, felt very special (yes sometimes felt like a chimp

on the streets…). Jokes apart, this exercise was a great learning experience.

What is cantonment market all about?

Cantonment market in Belgaum is a platform where farmers sell their

olericultural produce with the help of the agents (middle men). It’s a routine

for these farmers to come every morning and sell their produce. Irrespective

of who the middle man is, they have to pay him an 8% commission for the

price they earn.

Agents???

Agents (middlemen) are the key players in this market. They help farmers

get customers to sell their produce. In return this farmer pays him 8%

commission on whatever he earns. Apart from this, the farmer also has to

pay the agent Rs.2 per bag of produce as the labour charges. Whether the

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farmer earns a profit or not, the agent gets his commission. The rate of

commission is uniform for all the agents and no one can violate it.

How the prices of vegetables are fixed?

The prices of the vegetables depend on the supply and demand. If the

demand for the vegetables is high then the prices of the vegetables shoot up.

The prices fall down if the demand is too low. Similarly if there is a market

glut (excess supply), the prices fall down. Some times if the supply of a

particular vegetable is very low then the prices soar high. The other factors

influencing the pricing are season, quality, market trend etc. The seasonal

varieties tend to have a high price. The exotic...