Most of the commodities produced by farmers are essential for our daily life. While  in rural areas, agriculture and livestock are the main source of such commodities, there exists a sort of relationship between rural producers and urban consumers. What is the nature of this relationship? How urban consumers react to the particular conditions and the fluctuations in prices which are more dependent on farmers’ plight than any profit motive that is inherent in middlemen? These are some of the vital questions addressed by the Indian farm sector today.

Grains, vegetables, sugar, jaggery, milk and other agricultural commodities are some of the much needed products as far as an urban consumer is concerned. Although urban consumers are paying for these commodities, the main beneficiaries of profit are the middlemen. Farmers are not getting adequate profit compared to their toil and cost of production. While both the urban consumers and rural producers are dependent on each other, both seem to be equally exploited by the middlemen and when farmers resort to agitation for better prices for their produce the urban consumers suffer.

‘No milk’

The recent “no-milk supply” agitation in southern Maharashtra caused inconvenience to people in Pune and Mumbai and some parts of Karnataka. The milk supplied by farmers is being distributed under various brands in these places by various diaries.

The specialty of the agitation was that the demand for higher price of milk was voiced with the condition that the price of milk supplied to urban consumers should not be increased. Another condition was that the urban consumers should not suffer pangs of the higher price paid to farmers. The condition indicates that the rural producers-cum- farmers are considering interests of urban consumers also.

Are urban consumers equally conscious of farmers’ plight and behave in the same way as farmers do while selling their products? Various products for daily use like toothpastes, soaps etc. produced by corporate companies are purchased by consumers at the price quoted by the concerned companies. Prices of such products are high because the companies add the cost of advertisements, which they produce involving celebrity actors and actresses who charge even crores of rupees, in the cost of production.

This huge cost and considerable margin of profit is calculated while fixing the prices of the consumer products. The producers of these items do not consider the consumers’ capacity to pay, while rural producers do consider the hardship urban consumers will have to suffer if prices of their products are increased.

Even urban producers do not consider consumers’ capacity to pay while fixing prices for their products or services. Doctors, advocates, engineers and even school and college managements have fixed their admission rates without considering the plight of their “consumers.”

No access

Consumers do not have any access to them unless their fixed charges are paid. Doctors, for instance, do not allow their patients to enter their cabin unless their fees (which go on increasing) are first paid in advance. But when doctors, advocates or their wives go to the market for purchasing vegetables and do they pay the price as demanded by a farmer?

Again when rates of commodities like onions, potatoes, sugar, jaggery and other agricultural commodities are increased, urban consumers get perturbed and a sort of commotion is created. But do they react in the same way when prices are of commodities produced by corporate sector or of services provided by doctors and advocates are periodically increased?

In fact prices of agricultural commodities are increased by middlemen without any consideration of consumers’ interests. While middlemen get the benefit of profit, farmers are not receiving fair price for their commodities and that is one of the main reasons for farmers agitations these days.

Urban consumers are therefore expected to consider farmers’ plight and should have a fair and sympathetic approach while purchasing agricultural products. They should also have an understanding of the farmers’ approach, while agitating for their demands.