Farmer-sellers and Markets: Understanding their Participation and Sustainability of Trade in Rural India

Abstract: The paper analyse the role of farmer-sellers in rural trade of the study area. Their socio-economic condition decides their nature of work participation in the rural markets. For the study, sellers are broadly classified into farmer-sellers and traders. The present categorization has been done keeping in mind the nature and type of market participation in the study area. It is observed in the selected rural markets that the share of farmer-sellers is large as compared to other type of sellers. Due to the agrarian nature of the study area and their higher proportion in the selected markets, they have been selected for the study and classified as farmer-sellers. The study is based on primary data collected through field survey in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. Thirty one rural markets have been undertaken for the detailed field work, whereas, fifty per cent farmer-sellers from each selected rural markets were interviewed.