Distributor's Prices margins for Cereals
IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING
This Chapter describes the basic elements of a proposed approach that can be used by develop
ment agencies and respective governments to initi
a t e l o n g t e r m m a r k e t s y s t e m d e v e l o p m e n t programme. This approach is only indicative and it should necessarily not be implemented without modification in different countries. Further, it should be regarded as an outline for action. We will therefore stress the importance of appropriately adapting the approach to fit local conditions and especially to reflect the needs of key individuals and institutions in a specific country.
A. Identifying the Needs
The key issue here is the extent to which there will be harmony in the criteria for determining priorities in a manner that will force sector wide trade offs. It is quite common to see in African countries that initiative for marketing improvements programmes can arise in a variety of ways.
A Minister of Agriculture may be convinced that marketing is a major constraint to the expansion of output of a given commodity and the improvement of producer incomes. The Municipality of a larger
city can decide that an old traditional market area in the centre of the city must be removed to reduce traffic congestion. There are usually wide differ
ences in perceptions of marketing problems and a variety of opinion on what must be done about them. Overlapping of competence usually is the origin of discrepancies on how to tackle common problems. And these perceptions again are due to the fact that the concerned individual or institution is involved with only a part of the total marketing system.
For example, if we assume that in a developing country, marketing problem(s) are being recognized by the government and some by a public institution, an establishment of a task force assistance team is necessary. The task force can spend sometime making a preliminary assessment of the local situ
ation. During that time, it should meet with local representatives (officials and technicians) to:
1. Obtain and discuss local perception of initial marketing problems and possible solutions.
2. Present and discuss the following basic ideas on how to approach marketing problem(s):
the importance of viewing the marketing system within context of a growing economy with specialization, urbanization and placing greater emphasis on the coordination and logistical functions of the market;
the need to orient the market reforms toward national socio-economic development goals;
the logic of diagnosing agricultural marketing problems and prescribing improvement pro
grammes within food system framework, pointing out some of the unforeseen difficul
ties that can result from narrowly conceived project;
the need to create a local institution capable of identifying marketing problems, planning action programmes and adapting these pro
grammes to changing needs;
3. Make direct observations of existing market
ing activities and visit with private sector entrepre
neurs regarding their problems.
4. Prepare a proposal for a marketing develop
ment programme and discuss it with appropriate local officials.
5. Assess the potential capacity and commit
ment of the government and the institutions to support the marketing research and action pro
gramme (including the human resource base, finan
cial base, role of existing institution within the country's overall institutional environment).
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B. How To Organize and Institutionalize the Programme
If it is decided to move ahead with some kind of marketing research and development programme, the resulting proposal must consider a number of organizational issues, including the scope and na
ture of the marketing programme, the institutional setting for this activity, procedures for local staffing etc. Questions relative to the scope and nature of the initial activity are: (i) Will the project have a narrow problem focus, such as a specific commod
ity? (ii) a specific marketing function (storage, transportation) an institutional focus (retailing, wholesaling, processing, assembly)? (iii) a policy focus (support prices, retail price control, quotas);
or a public service focus (market information, grad
ing)? or will the project focus on some combinations of the above? Other relevant questions include:
Shall the project deal only with food marketing or will it include distribution of agricultural inputs and consumer goods to rural trading centres? Will the primary focus be on internal marketing of basic foodstuffs or will this include export market devel
opment? Will the project be national in scope or centered within a particular geographic region?.
The task force unit should carry out the analysis and assist in the planning of programmes and poli
cies leading to development of a progressive and efficient agricultural marketing system. As part of the organizational work, a data base on food mar
keting and an approach to marketing system analy
sis that will not only identify opportunities for market improvement but also examine alternatives and make recommendation to the appropriate action agencies should be created. This should be a con
tinuing activity, not merely an effort to produce a report identifying problems and suggesting a set of recommendations. Figure 3 proposes an appropri
ate sequence of activities.
The key elements are: diagnosis, strategy, de
tailed design, promotion, implementation and re-evaluation. Members of the task force should be actively involved (at least as catalysts) at every stage. All stages are critically important. There should be a smooth flow from one stage to the next.
Timing, continuity and commitment are important.
The marketing system is dynamic. Each stage in the process offers opportunities for accumulation of knowledge about the marketing system.
C. How to Plan and Conduct the Research Proposal
In Figure 2, we have showed the relationships between national development goals, specific food system development objectives, food system devel
opment strategies and specific public instrument for implementing those strategies. While we can be fairly certain that the suggested strategies and instruments will have general applicability, it will be necessary to tailor the programme to the specific
Figure 3 - Sequencing of a Marketing improvement Programme Implementation
needs of each situation. Research is needed to identify the most urgent marketing problems and determine how best to implement the general reform strategies. The scope of the project will obviously determine the nature of the diagnostic research.
The research must be designed to describe the system, diagnose its weakness and identify oppor
tunities for improvements. A complete national or regional level study should include the following:
A statistical overview of the agricultural pro
duction-distribution system including histori
cal trends and projection of variables. Pro
duction, consumption, and demographic data must be organized as a framework within which realistic marketing investments and institutional change can be planned.
A diagnostic description of the existing food system for the rural and urban centres.
A diagnostic description of the production assembly systems for the major food com
modities.
A diagnostic studies of specialized industries in the food system; (transportation, packag
ing industrialized inputs such as seeds, fer
tilizers etc..).
A description and diagnostic evaluation of selected aspects of public sector involve
ment in the food system: (information serv
ices, credit policies, extension and training, price and income policies).
It is important that researchers make full use of previous marketing studies and available secondary data.
!f properly carried out, the diagnostic description of the existing marketing system should provide a reliable picture of the system's organizational struc
ture, operational characteristics, and barriers to desirable changes as seen by participants and fore
seen by technicians attempting to assess future consumer demand and farm production conditions.
During these preliminary studies, there should be a continuing dialogue among the task force mem
bers and between staff of selected public institu
tions officials and private sector leaders. As the preliminary study period draws to the end, attention should now focus on a set of interrelated diagnostic conclusions and a proposed strategy for a marketing improvement programme. At this point, it would be useful to discuss the proposal with key public sector officials and to hold a seminar involving both public and private sector representatives. The purpose of these activities is to gain support for a longer run market improvement programme and a set of spe
cific projects to achieve both short run and long run gains.
D. Integrating Research and Programme Implementation
We have suggested that, where possible, re
search, strategy formulation, programme design, promotion and implementation stages be closely integrated and carried out by a single task force.
The diagnostic research described earlier cannot be expected to provide final details on all the different kinds of problems and related solution that might have been uncovered. But the problem that origi
nally motivated public officials to finance a market
ing research and development activity must be dealt with adequately. A practical solution or alternative solution to that problem must be included in the report, along with suggestions for implementation.
It is also beneficial for researcher to be involved in the implementation of their suggested reforms.
A researcher will also more realism sf he expects to be partly responsible for putting his recommenda
tions into operation. His participation in the re
search, if properly accommodated, should make him a highly knowledgeable public servant on a given marketing issue. He must be in a strong position to visualize the problem solution, its implementation and carry it out. The second and longer term phase of work for the marketing research and development task force will probably include both implementation activities and further research and policy analysis.
!n addition to direct solution of specific problem that motivated the programmes, several other kinds of public programmes might be implemented. Market
ing training activities, market information pro
gramme preparation of grading standards and development of marketing extensive programmes, are ail examples of activities that might take priority in the second phase. Additional research will prob
ably be oriented toward further detailing the dimen
sions of problems uncovered in the preliminary study or to provide greater specificity and evaluation of reform recommendations. For example, it may be necessary to:
Prepare detailed feasibility studies for major public infrastructure investments such as wholesale market, storage, transportation and processing facilities;
Prepare plans for financing, construction and operations of approved public facilities;
Prepare similar projects for implementation by cooperations or other private sector mar
keting institution;
Develop plans for channelling additional credit resources toward the commercial sec
tor.
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VII. CONCLUSION
This study provides some analytical basis for the development of a comprehensive agricultural mar
keting strategy for a more efficient production dis
tribution system development, management and planning.
The objective was to present a general frame
work for an analytical approach to marketing re
forms in developing countries in order to enable the countries agricultural products to create additional demands and opportunities.
It is observed that the government's new agricul
tural development programme reforms can give potential improvement to the food marketing sys
tems. But this has to be done in collaboration with the government playing the role of planning and coordinating marketing activities.
The advantages of this new policies programmes are however lost at wholesaler-retails levels due to relatively underdeveloped marketing support infra
structure and its attendant tendency to depress demand while increasing food prices and cost of
marketing services in urban cities.
In this respect, a review of the current state of socio-economic characteristics in relation with food
marketing system was documented.
One has to recognize however that meaningful market reform is not an easy task. There is need for commitment both by policy makers and technicians.
Scarce resource allocation is a crucial problem but funds must be allocated in order to take into account not only physical,but institutional programme as well. That is, the approach proposed here focuses on issues such as communication, channel relation
ships rather than grain storage facilities for example.
Comprehensive marketing reform programme, like many other basic economic development activi
ties can only be achieved over a long period of time.
The results are not immediately apparent to the public, but the end results can be exiting if well implemented.
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