Distress selling, a persistent challenge faced by Indian farmers, caused by limited access to market, information asymmetry, financial pressures and exploitative practices in the output market. By utilising the unit level data of the NSSO’s 77th round on Situation assessment survey of agricultural household’s, present study analyses the extent, distribution and proximate determinants of distress selling across different marketing channels of paddy growers in India. A logit regression model was utilized to identify factors contributing to the prevalence of distress selling in the country. Findings reveal significant variations in distress selling across farm categories, marketing channels, highlighting the influence of education and support price awareness. The price spread across different market channel is large and majority of the smallholding farmers facing the problem of distress sale. Insights from this research provide critical implications for policymakers to design targeted interventions aimed at improving market access and ensuring equitable price realization for paddy farmers.
Distress selling, Paddy growers, Marketing channel, Output market, Price spread
