3.2.1. Agriculture Co-operative Marketing Societies

Under the cooperative marketing society the members of the society agree to sell their surplus produce to the society. As soon as the members supply the produce to the society, an advance is provided to carry on with their agricultural operations. The society collects the produce of all the members and also of the non-members of the villages in their area of operation, often processes the produce and then disposes it. The society decides the timing of sale depending upon market conditions of the commodity, thus preventing distress sale by individual farmers.

Co-operatives have diversified their activities into other areas such as constructing warehouses, providing credit facilities, processing of agro-products, etc. The agricultural cooperative marketing is generally featured by a four-tiered structure: viz Primary marketing societies at the base level, District/regional federations at the district level, State marketing federations at the State level and National Federation at the apex level. The National Agricultural Co-operative

Marketing Federation (NAFED) is the apex co-operative marketing organization in India.