Solution

The small and marginal farmers were the one who were selling their product by taking help of middlemen and losing profits to those middlemen. They were not receiving appropriate price for their product. Hence, it led to the creation of alternative channel. The features of these channels were that farmers can sell directly to consumer and get higher price in comparison to selling through middlemen. Some of these examples are Hadapsar Mandi in Pune, Uzhavar Sandies in Tamil Nadu, Rythu Bazars in Andhra Pradesh and Telengana and Apni Mandi in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Apart from this, another alternative channel was sale of produce to national and international companies on contract basis. Payments were made in advance for products at pre-determined rates. The use of these channels helped farmers in raising income.