Agricultural marketing systems : a conceptual framework

The analytical framework employed views the market as an articulator of the integrated economy, consisting of multiple levels and sectors which complement one another while contributing to the division of labor necessary for exchange to take place. In this view, the market functions as an integrator of the entire economic process. Within this framework, the author reviews a variety of studies on such topics as: the locational approach, which focuses on spatial inter-relationships between markets and market evolution; studies on market periodicity; marketing chains and commodity flows; food systems and subsystems; market typology; itinerant market traders; pricing and marketplace trade; and individual commodities. Areas identified for future research include: how changes in marketing institutions might improve socioeconomic conditions in rural areas; the effect of marketing systems on income distribution; the flow of food, other consumer goods, and agricultural inputs within rural areas through a hierarchical set of trading arrangements; the relation between nutrition and marketing services and their combined effect on the welfare of consumers and producers; and how small-scale food retailing i both rural and urban areas can be improved through managerial and technological innovations. Objectives for future market development research are identified as: achieving an abundant and reliable supply of nutritious food at economical prices; facilitating a balanced production of foods and services that reflects consumer preference and production costs; increasing resource productivity in food production and distribution; stimulating productive and renumerative employment opportunities, increasing farmer income, and ensuring the development of equitable and competitive exchange relationships in agricultural markets; and discouraging the uneconomic uses and spoilation of natural resources and the environment. Appended are 51 references (1940-1979).