The marketable surplus in small farm ecology: An estimation from agro-ecological and socio-economic factors

Agriculture in India presents the world’s largest private sector investments for 125 million farm families, and most of which are being organized in a natural set of with both bliss and risk offered by climate, market and technology itself. The agriculture of west Bengal is enormously dominated by small, marginal and fragmented holding as well. To generate marketable surplus especially from small and fragmented holding is really a difficult proposition. The task has gone further complicated with the rise of input prices and risk in accessing uncertain market prices of the market produces. For the mere survival of the rural mass, 90 per cent of the rural mass ,does not have any fixed income; the small farmers have to have generate some marketable surplus after meeting their subsistent requirement. The present study “The Marketable surplus in Small Farm Ecology: An Estimation from Agro-ecological and Socio-economic Factors” is envisaging an objective estimation of the level of marketable surplus as the dependent variable in respect of an 18 number of socio-economic and techno-managerial factors. The study reveals that, the variables Education (x2), Family Size(x3), Income(x4), Size of Holding(x5), Economic land(x6), Irrigation Index(x7), Electricity Consumption(x8), Market interaction(x10), Group Interaction(x11) and Risk orientation(x18) have significant bearing on generating marketable surplus by the farm entrepreneurs of the research locale, village Bhanderkola of Bongaon block in the district North 24 Parganas, West Bengal. All the independent variables have undergone step-down regression analysis to isolate the factors having critical contribution for generating ,marketable surplus and these are Education (x2), Family Size(x3), Income(x4), Size of Holding(x5), Irrigation Index(x7), Orientation towards Competition(x14), Marketing Orientation(x15), Decision Matrix(x16), Idea Exchange Index(x17) and Risk orientation(x18). Entrepreneurship analysis in small holding can also be replicated to conclude whether agriculture or fishery or cattle enterprises can be comparable with each other or can these enterprises be complemented to develop a complex model for agri-preneurship, so as to attain a profitable venture for farmers which could be socially as well as ecological resilient.