56 SOCIAL SCIENTIST
value of family labour however has been included in prime cost. Therefore, cost D can alternatively be defined as cost Aj exclusive of land revenue and cesses plus the imputed value of family labour.
Results and Discussion
The fixation of price on the basis of average cost per unit of output can be said to be appropriate only when there exists minimum inter-farm variation in the per unit cost of production. In cases where there is wide inter-farm variation in the per unit cost of production, the average would lose its statistical significance. Wide inter-farm difference in the per unit cost of production is noted in Table I. One may however argue at this juncture that the bulk of output may be produced within the limit of the estimated average cost per unit of output despite the existence of a wide range of inter-farm variation in the unit cost of production. About 64 per cent of output is noted to be produced in West Bengal within the estimated average cost and the remaining 36 per cent is noted to be produced above the average cost. One may argue in this connection that the remaining 36 per cent of total output may come from a handful of farm households and hence an announcement of administered price on the basis of this average cost with a view to protecting the maximum number of farm households seems to be justified. But examining the cumulative percentage of holdings at average cost of production as shown in Table I, it is observed that within the estimated average cost of production 64 per cent of output is produced by only 46 per cent of households. Even on the basis of percentage of area covered, average cost can hardly establish its claim as an appropriate basis of pricing as the coverage of area as noted to be around 55 per cent. The basis of average cost mentioned above, would leave out 54 per cent of holdings in West Bengal and would result in making their farming a losing proposition. Hence one may challenge its propriety as an appropriate basis of price fixation. It may, therefore, be necessary to think of other bases.
TABLE 1AVERAGE CObT PER QUINTAL OF WHLAI AND PERCENTAGES OF PRODUCTION, HOLDING AND AREA COVERED IN 1975-76
Burdwan Bankura Hooghly West Bengal
Cost per of wheat quintal (Rs) Maximum Minimum Average 639.10 53.00 108.73 404.80 43.82 117.10 564.85 85.16 136.99 639.10 43.82 120.16
Percentage Production 57.75 75.17 67.91 63.86
covered at
average Holding 45.45 57.69 44.83 46.06
cost (D) per
quintal of wheat Area 53.24 63.05 59.05 55.42