Marketable surplus
Topic: Agricultural Marketing, MSP, Buffer Stocks and PDS · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Marketable surplus is the part of farm output that is left after the farm family keeps what it needs. It shows what the farmer can sell.
Marketable surplus = Total output − (family consumption + seed + animal feed + payments in kind)
Payments in kind are wages or dues paid in grain rather than cash. A larger marketable surplus means more food reaches towns and more grain is available for the government to procure.
Example
A farmer harvests 50 quintals of wheat. The family keeps 8 quintals to eat, 2 for seed, and pays 2 to farm workers in grain (figures for illustration only). Marketable surplus = 50 − 12 = 38 quintals.
Don't confuse with
- Marketed surplus: this is what is actually sold. It can be larger than marketable surplus under distress, when a family in debt sells even the grain it needs and buys some back later at higher prices.
Related concepts
- Agricultural marketing
- Agri-value chain
- Middlemen
- Distress sale
- Marketed surplus
- Farm-gate price
- Farmer's share in consumer rupee