National Institute of Agricultural Marketing is playing the active role in orienting agricultural extension personnel towards agricultural marketing. The institute is engaged in imparting training to the senior and middle level officers from various line departments of State Governments, Co-operatives, Boards, and Entrepreneurs etc. The training programmes are organized to facilitate acquisition of knowledge, development of skills and competencies in the field of agricultural marketing. The training programmes are delivered as Core Programmes, Awareness Programmes, Workshops, and Exhibition for different stakeholders.

During 2009-10, the institute has conducted 31 core training programmes of 3 to 7 days and 21 Farmers Awareness Programmes on Agricultural Marketing. Of the total core training programmes, 5 programmes were conducted in North-Eastern states. Core training programmes have been conducted in different streams of agricultural marketing like, project management and marketing of horticultural produce, Agricultural marketing management, agricultural marketing reforms, Post harvest management and marketing of horticultural produce, Food safety and quality management during post harvest operations, Geo spatial technology for agribusiness management, New dimensions of agricultural marketing, Quality management in agri food sector, training of trainers on commodity futures, Marketing of medicinal and aromatic plants, Risk management in agricultural sector, Agricultural marketing extension, Risk management and modern marketing practices, Post harvest and cool chain management, Role of IT in agricultural marketing, Contract farming, etc.

The participants in these programmes were officers of different line departments like Agriculture, Horticulture, Agricultural Marketing/ State Agricultural Marketing Boards, voluntary organizations, etc. The participants fro different states such as Assam, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan Maharashtra, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Tripura have participated I the training programmes conducted by NIAM.

To impart awareness on agricultural marketing among farmers, 21 Farmers Awareness Programmes have been conducted in different states. The subjects like, reforms in agricultural marketing, post-harvest management of agricultural/ horticultural produce, different schemes in agricultural marketing, accessing and using market information, improved marketing practices of agricultural produce, etc. were covered in FAPs to make farmers aware of modern agricultural marketing practices and take informed decision. The FAPs were conducted in Imphal, Assam, Rajasthan, Orissa, Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Nagaland, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

Farmers Awareness Programmes on Commodity futures were conducted during 2009-10. The primary rle of commodity futures trading is price discovery, price risk management and spot price stabilization. Price discovery and dissemination process strengthened   in the country after wide start of futures in agricultural commodities. Futures price in an indicator of likely spot price on particular future point of time and this indicator can be used effectively by farmers in production and market planning for their commodities produced . It is useful to producer because he can get an idea of the price likely to prevail at a future point of time and therefore can decide between various competing commodities, the best that suits him. Farmers, for instance, can get assured prices, thereby enabling them to decide  on the crop that they want to grow. Since there is transparency in prices, the framer can decide when and were to sell, so as to maximize his earnings.

Farmers of the country hardly know about the role, benefits and use of commodity futures/ futures price in their farming business. Thus creating awareness among farmers of the country regarding this useful market instrument was a challenging task. National Institute of Agricultural Marketing, Jaipur took the challenge with support and guidance from Forward Markets Commission, Mumbai, NIAM conducted 100 Farmers Awareness Programmes in different districts of 20 states with the help of networking  institutes, Before conducting farmer awareness programmes, the faculty of networking institutes was trained as master trainers at NIAM. The FAPs were organized in Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttarkahand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Orissa, Karnanataka, Weat Bengal, Mizoram, Tripura, Sikkima, Nagaland, Assam, and Manipur.