Question

The intermediaries survive by cheating the producers in rural areas?

Answer 1

In rural areas producers are in abundant, small and marginal farmers with low produce cant access the bigger markets (APMC etc) where they can get MSP for their produce. So the farmers end up selling the produce in local market where they fetch lower prices.

The major issue is size of the produce. With small farm produce you cant access bigger market. Producer groups with collective procurement can resolve the issue to an extend.