Before independence, farmers were often forced to sell their produce…

Before independence, farmers were often forced to sell their produce at low prices. Which of the following statements explain this?

(A) They did not have proper storage facilities to keep back their produce for selling later at a better price.

(B) They had full information on the prices prevailing in markets.

(D) They sold their produce through strong cooperative marketing societies.

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 3

The correct answer is Option (3) → (A) and (C) only

Before independence, farmers had no storage, little price information and dishonest traders. So they had to sell cheap.

(A) They did not have proper storage facilities to keep back their produce for selling later at a better price. — Correct. Without storage, they had to sell at once.

(B) They had full information on the prices prevailing in markets. — Incorrect. They lacked price information, which forced them to sell low.

(C) They suffered from faulty weighing and manipulation of accounts by traders. — Correct. Traders cheated them in weighing and accounts.

(D) They sold their produce through strong cooperative marketing societies. — Incorrect. Cooperative marketing was a later government measure, after independence.

NCERT (2026-27): “5.4 Agricultural Market System … Prior to independence, farmers, while selling their produce to traders, suffered from faulty weighing and manipulation of accounts. Farmers who did not have the required information on prices prevailing in markets were often forced to sell at low prices. They also did not have proper storage facilities to keep back their produce for selling later at a better price. … Therefore, government intervention became necessary to regulate the activities of the private traders. …”