Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB)

Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB) was launched by the State Government to promote agricultural marketing in the state. MSAMB plays an important role in developing and coordinating agricultural marketing system in the State of Maharashtra. Also, MSAMB has been developed to strengthen the interface with farmers and other beneficiaries and to provide international price trends of various agricultural commodities. This article explains about the Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB) in detail. Also, read about Agricultural Marketing Information Network (AGMARKNET)

Objectives

The objectives of the MSAMB are given below:

To co-ordinate the activities of market committees undertaken for the development of markets and market areas.
To execute the state-level plan for the development of agriculture produce markets.
To regulate and maintain the agricultural marketing development fund.
To advise the market committee with the object of ensuring improvement in the functioning.
To guide and supervise the market committee in the preparation and execution of the plan undertaken by them.
To take necessary steps for publicity on matters relating to the marketing of agricultural produce.
To provide loans to market committees for organising workshops, exhibitions, seminars on the subject relating to agricultural marketing and giving training to members and employees of the marketing committee.
To carry out any other function specifically relating to the marketing of agricultural produce.

Market Price

The daily arrivals and prices of agriculture commodities at Maharashtra and other states are available under the following links: State Price Information Through the above link, the applicant has to select the commodity type to view the commodity wise arrivals and prices at wholesale markets. Other State Price Information Through the above link, the applicant can view the commodity wise arrivals and prices at state-wise wholesale markets.

Financial Assistance

The Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board will provide financial assistance in the form of loan to undertake developmental programmes by APMCs (Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee). MSAMB insists to avail loans from banks through APMCs for their development programmes which include farmers hostel, hamal Bhavan, drinking water facility, compound wall, gate, internal roads, electrification, auction halls and platform, godowns, computers, weighbridges, trader's and commission agent's shops, etc. The loans are sanctioned as per the norms prescribed by MSAMB.

Documents Required

The following are the documents to be submitted along with the loan proposal:

Loan application in the prescribed form.
Value of mortgage property is to be equal to the sanctioned loan amount.
Indemnity Bond of all director.
Sanction from the competent authority for building plan and layout.
Loan repayment agreement.
Approval as per section 12(1).
Approval as per section 32(1).

Schemes under MSAMB

The schemes covered under the Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board are listed below:

National Agricultural Market (NAM)
Agricultural pledge loan scheme of MSAMB
Scheme for export of agriculture commodities by sea route
Maharashtra Rajya Bajar Samiti Karmachari Seva Nivrutti Vetan yojana

National Agricultural Market (NAM)

National Agricultural Market is a trading platform for agricultural commodities in India. This platform was proposed to create better marketing opportunities for the farmers to sell their products through a transparent price discovery system along with online payment facility for the buyers. To know more about National Agricultural Market (NAM) click here

Agricultural pledge loan scheme of MSAMB

Under the scheme, the farmer gets an agricultural loan to the extent of 75% of the product value in the market. The farmer is entitled to avail this facility up to a period of 180 days. As the prices of the commodity rise in the market, the farmer sells his produce in the market and repays the loan amount.

Subsidy scheme for export of agriculture commodities by sea route

This scheme is developed in order to increase the involvement of Cooperative Societies and Farmer Producer Companies in agriculture export.

Maharashtra Rajya Bajar Samiti Karmachari Seva Nivrutti Vetan yojana

Maharashtra Rajya Bajar Samiti Karmachari Seva Nivrutti Vetan yojana is pension scheme proposed for the market committee employees to provide financial support after retirement.

Export Promotion Program

MSAMB has initiated the program to export fresh vegetables, fruits, flowers from the Maharashtra state to the various countries with the help of farmers and their organizations. The guidance to the farmers and their cooperative societies will be provided in terms of post-harvest, per harvest, packing, precooling, cold storage and transportation. MSAMB has developed export facility centres along with the latest technology, fulfilling international standards, and specialised centres. These facilities can be useful for exports and farmers in the state. Note: The following are the products that can be availed from the farmer's co-operative societies for export as well as marketing.

Vegetables	Fruits	Processed Products	Flowers	Cereals and others
Chilli, Small Gourd, Okra, Drum sticks, French Beans, Bittergourd, Onion etc.	Grape, Mango, Pomegranate, Banana, Mandrin, Fig, Papaya, Custardapple etc.	Mango Pulp (Natural or Sweetened), OTS cans, Aseptic Packaging, Resins, Cashew nuts, etc.	Roses, Carnation, Gerbera, Lilium etc.	Rice, Maize, Red dried chilli, Tamarind, Jaggery, Tumeric etc

Activities

Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board consists of 150 acres of land which is being utilised for demonstration and training purpose. This land is classified into two farms known as and Gilbil Patti. The details of these farms are as follows.

Main Farm

The total area covered under the main farm is 100 acre which is used for aquaculture and irrigation.

Gillbill Patti

The total area under Gillbil Patti farm is 50 acre which is used for Horticulture training and horticulture cropping such as guava, sapota, mango, amla and acre coconut.