Getting marketing into farming systems research : a case study from western Sudan

The anthropologist"s contribution lies in an emphasis on direct observation and behavioral analysis of farmer strategies for adapting to macro-level market conditions. How such observation may contribute to FSR is illustrated using the partial budget analysis procedure advocated by CIMMYT. Partial budget analysis is a type of marginal economic analysis which analyzes not the profit or loss to the farm as a whole, but the net increase or decrease in farm income resulting from the adoption of a new technology. The analysis, described herein, consists of: (1) calculating average net benefits for each agronomic treatment, estimating variable costs and subtracting them from gross field benefit to obtain the net benefit; (2) selecting a recommended treatment using marginal analysis; and (3) checking the suitability of the recommendation with respect to yield and price variability. The procedure is critiqued with reference to a case study of farmer marketing strategies in the el-Obeid area of Western Sudan. The paper concludes that an anthropologist"s concern with understanding farmer marketing strategies can tie together the micro-level, technical concerns of agriculturalists and the macro-level, institutional concerns of agricultural economists.