| Abstract: |
"There are some apparently successful cases of collective marketing with
staple food commodities (grains and root crops), but these are less common
than cases involving higher value agricultural products. These can be
attributed to the benefit/cost ratio to participants being generally higher
for collective marketing of the higher-value crops. Some of the costs are
‘hidden', in the sense that they are borne by individuals in time spent in
attending meetings, and not shown in the financial statements of the
enterprises concerned. Examining a series of cases, the paper advocates an
approach to the marketing of staples which involves analyzing the value chain
and identifying those activities which on the one hand, best lend themselves
to individual initiative, and those where on the other hand, group approaches
are more likely to prosper. Dual purpose food marketing involving village
storage in anticipation of both external market opportunities and local lean
season shortages usually falls into the former category. Collective
initiatives have a higher probability of success when they complement
agricultural intensification and involve bulking substantial quantities of
produce for quality-conscious commercial buyers. Prospects for successful
collective marketing are moreover greater where there is a history of
collective endeavor, where focused on simple activities like bulking and
distribution of inputs, where primary groups are small and homogenous in terms
of interests and objectives, where they can establish lasting relationships
with strong trade counterparties, where supported by effective training
(especially re attitudes, numeracy, and business skills), where they can
access effectively managed storage and inventory credit services, and where
there is framework of law enforcement. The immediate poverty alleviation and
programmatic priorities of funding agencies often undermine the effectiveness
of promotional activities in support of collective marketing. This problem may
be addressed by instituting systems of independent review and peer review
processes, and involving open discussion of pros and cons of individual and
collective approaches." authors' abstract |
| Keywords: |
Collective marketing, Producer organization, Staple food, Village storage, Inventory credit, Microfinance, Disbursement-driven, |