A Study of Marketed and Marketable Surplus of Rice in Bihar: A Micro – Level Approach

A micro-level study was conducted in West-Champaran district of Bihar to assess the marketable and marketed surplus of rice. It has been observed that there were both marketable and marketed surplus on marginal farm households also, however, the marketable surplus increased with increase in size of land holdings with respect to quantum and proportion to rice production because it is main staple food crop which is grown for home consumption. But marketed surplus is less than marketable surplus on all the categories of households because farmers prefer to keep this foodgrain for consumption purpose and do not like to sell because agriculture is risk prone and there is no guarantee of good harvest in the next season. It is an urgent need to improve the risk mitigating arrangement in Bihar in general and in the study area in particularly for increasing marketed surplus of rice.