An assessment of marketable and marketed surplus of major foodgrains of Nadia district of West Bengal

Producer’s surplus plays a key role in a country’s economic development, which stimulate the development of non-farm sector in various ways. Rice, lentil and gram being major foodgrains crop, are grown extensively in Nadia district of West Bengal. Study on compound growth rate of area, production and productivity reveals that the total foodgrain production has accounted at the rate of 1.24% in spite of deceleration in area at a rate of 1.00% mainly depending on the performance of yield registering a growth of 2.21%. Study on cropping pattern during the period of 2000-01, 2010-11 and 2014-15 indicate that the share of area under total foodgrain in all three period is observed to be below 50% and also the share of total pulse is estimated to be more or less 7%. Study on total retention shows that the lowest size group of farmers have retained minimum amount and gradually increase with the increase in farm size in rice, lentil and gram. The positive retention pattern is also observed in case of seed, feed and others for rice, lentil and gram. Marketed and marketable surplus is estimated in all three crops. The performance of the district in production of food grains is not satisfactory, but the district has made remarkable progress in production of cash crops, particularly high valued fruits and vegetables which is also reflected in the measure of marketable surplus of the crops taken under the study.