Estimating Marketed Surplus in Gujarat Agriculture New Vistas Explored by Munish Alagh

This book makes a bold attempt to answer the question: does agriculture in a market dominated business environment context as in Gujarat depend on Government sponsored efforts or does the individual networking and enterprise of the farmer count? The answer according to the author is that, for the Gujarati farmer the `trader' is all important as a `source of information' and as a buyer of his produce. Though Gujarat has a market based agriculture, incremental sale possibilities and factors like future trading are not very dominant. However, institutional credit sources like banks and cooperative societies are dominant. A regression study done by the author indicates that factors representing developed agriculture have a significant effect on the marketed surplus ratio. While the marketed surplus of farmers by size class depends on the size of the farm, per hectare surplus is not significantly different between small and large farmers but is lower for medium farms. Transport links and location of markets is also important.