FAO under the project “Strengthening Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) in India Using Innovative Methods and Digital Technology” funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in collaboration with the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, organized a day-long workshop on Agricultural markets, Prices and Market integration in India - Conceptual and Methodological Issues in New Delhi, on 21^st August, 2017. The workshop provided a forum for discussion on concepts and methodologies of a set of relevant topics, which may help a better understanding of Indian Agricultural Markets and Prices to facilitate designing a system of effective monitoring and early warning on price volatility. The workshop was attended by officials from Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoAFW) and Department of Consumer Affairs (DOCA).

The workshop provided a forum for discussion on concepts and methodologies of a set of relevant topics, which may help a better understanding of Indian Agricultural Markets and Prices to facilitate designing a system of effective monitoring and early warning on price volatility. The workshop was attended by officials from Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoAFW) and Department of Consumer Affairs (DOCA).

The workshop was inaugurated by Dr. S. K. Mukherjee (Sr. Economic and Statistics Advisor, MoAFW), who underscored the dissemination of price information on market logistics and price dynamics is crucial for better price realization to farmers and application of information technology are instrumental in achieving these targets.  

In his keynote address, Mr. Ashok Dalwai (CEO, National Rainfed Area Authority) mentioned that successful agriculture by the farmer requires a significant amount of capital investment. This can be made feasible only by enhancing farmers’ income through helping them build own capacity by providing better infrastructures and government supports to post-harvest operations such as storing, marketing, and transportation. He suggested that some of the actionable points to achieve this objective would include Market integration, Controlling information asymmetry and Identification of lead market.

In the technical session, four eminent scholars presented the findings of research studies carried out on several important aspects of Indian Agricultural markets. The topics covered

• Identifications of Principal Markets for a few important commodities
• Determinants of Food Inflation
• Food Price Volatility
• Asymmetric Price Transmission
• Estimation of Market and Price Efficiency
• Price Discovery in Future Markets
• Market Integration with special focus on Pulses

The research studies produced very encouraging results. The group noted the need for further extension of some of the studies in order to make them applicable in Indian context, and a wider consultation on the topics among the stakeholders in near future.