Kaushik Bora presented preliminary results from an exploration of data on marketed output and price variability in Panahar village at a seminar on March 9, 2016 at the FAS office. Kaushik Bora and Madhura Swaminathan conducted the study. The data were on the monsoon and winter (aman and boro) rice crops and the potato crop in Panhar village in 2009-10. The variables on which farm-level household data were presented included production per acre, the sale price realised by each household for each sale, the marketing agencies used, and the time of each sale. Kaushik also presented corresponding data (to the extent that they were available) on Bankura district and West Bengal.

Village-level aman and boro rice yields were higher than yields for the district and State as a whole, while potato yields were lower than district and State averages.

There were wide differentials with respect to productivity between and within size classes of household land holdings. The share of marketed output also varied sharply between and within the same size classes.

The data show huge intra-village variations in the sale prices realised by farmers for all three crops. The study examined these variations with respect to four variables, namely, the quantity sold per sale, the minimum support price, the marketing agency used, and the time of each sale.

These preliminary results point to certain further avenues of investigation, including a comparison of farm-gate prices in the village and retail prices in nearby markets, and more intensive study of marketing institutions in the village.