Branding and Marketing of Agri and Allied products make farmers profitable from 3rd – 7th july, 2023.

India is an agricultural powerhouse of the world. Diversified agricultural products are produced in India. Now a day’s consumers are health conscious and they are looking for exceptional quality fruits, vegetables and processed food along with safety. There is increase in demand for labelled products, which is a result of increased disposable income of Indian people. The present production and marketing structure in rural areas is mainly traditional and it deserves the focused attention of all the stakeholders. In order to examine the strategies for enhancing the income of farmers using branding as a tool. Branding adds value to products simply because consumers generally believe that known branded products have better quality or more attributes than unbranded products. Branded items are generally able to earn a higher price for the producer and can lead to brand loyalty. Branding at the firm/corporate level, is probably the easiest and most extensively of the branding methods available for the agricultural products. Farmers can work with modern retail formats to promote and sell their farm produce. This will help farmers to get reasonable price for their farm produce. If the products are properly labelled then it helps consumer in reducing the search costs, which leads to obtain a price premium. The development of branded food will assure consumers of its freshness, healthiness, quality and traceability. There exists a tremendous potential to exploit the situation for the benefit and upliftment of farmers.Profitability from the farms can be enhanced by helping farmers to improve their marketing practices and by expanding their market access. This will help to reduce price spread between farmers and the consumers. Keeping in view an on-campus training programme on “Branding, Marketing and Extension Methods for Promotion of Agril and allied products from 3rd – 7thJuly, 2023.In the training programme,27 extension officers from Telangana, AP, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andaman and Nicobar Islands belonging to the Depts of Agriculture, Horticulture, Sericulture and Animal Husbandry have participated. During the valedictory programme, The Director of EEI, Dr. M. Jagan Mohan Reddy has addressed the officers .While speaking on the occasion Dr. M. Jagan Mohan Reddy has opined that, this is the great opportunity for the extension officers to get lots of insights in to Branding, Marketing of Agri and allied products and the officers can motivate the farmers. The learning is continuous and demand driven and should reflect in the form of increasing income of the farmers at their respective areas. While giving feedback on the training programme, the trained officers expressed that, the practical visits made them learn the marketing strategies especially the farmers collectives through Farmer Producer Company where in the farmers will get profit and consumers will get fresh vegetables. The Perapalli FPCL is model for such intervention, uniqueness of Sam Agri for exporting Pomegranate to foreign countries is worthvisiting. The VH Agro foods company is working on scaling up entrepreneurial activity by naming and branding their produce having demand among the consumers. The programme was Coordinated by Dr.K.MadhuBabu, Professor, EEI