Let’s start clean and neutral.

Classical theory says:

Price is discovered when predictable supply meets predictable demand.

Micro-enterprise reality says:

Surplus is accidental.
Demand is silent.
Time is ticking.

So the textbook logic collapses.

When Radha suddenly has two extra bottle gourds, there is:

•    no declared demand,
•    no comparable price reference,
•    no bargaining power,
•    and no time buffer.

This is not a “market.”

This is a clearance situation.

Price discovery here doesn’t follow economics; it follows urgency.

What actually happens on the ground?

•    In Sphere 1, price is socially negotiated — “jo theek lage,” sometimes even barter.
•    In Sphere 2, price is referenced — “kal haat mein kya bhav tha?”
•    In Sphere 3, price is imposed — trader, aggregator, or haat sentiment decides.

So the producer isn’t discovering price.

She is accepting a price.

👉 Key insight:
Where surplus is unpredictable, price cannot be discovered—only settled.

And because each surplus event is treated as a one-off, learning never accumulates. No memory. No benchmark. No confidence.

My opinion (straight talk):

We must stop pretending that demand–supply curves work for micro livelihoods. 

What works instead is price anchoring, not price discovery. 

Even a loose “safe price band” agreed within SHGs or habitats gives more power than blind negotiation.

If NRLM can institutionalize reference prices for tiny surpluses—not MSP, not procurement, just shared anchors—loss anxiety drops sharply.