MEANING OF AGRICULTURAL MARKETING
Agricultural marketing are the activities involved in the flow of goods and services from the producers (fanners) to the final consumers. in other words, agricultural marketing involves all the activities required tomove farm produce from the producers (farmers) to the final consumers .
Marketing also includes the selling of farm input to farmers or purchasing of farm input, e.g seeds, fertilizers and disposal of agricultural produce to the final consumers or users.
IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURAL MARKETING
(i) Marketing helps to make products avail able throughout the year.
(ii) It creates employment opportunities for my peeple
(iii) It locates where there are surpluses of produce and brings them to where there are shortages.
(iv) Export of agricultural products provides foreign exchange (income) to the nation.
(iv) It helps in price determination.
(vi) It enables producers to know the taste of the consumers.
(vii) It ensures geod research into products preferred by’ consumers.
(viii) It helps in the provision of ulliastmcmre such as roads, electricity, pipe-borne water, etC.
Channels of Marketing Farm Produce
Channels of marketing farm produce refers tall the linkages or pathways through which farm produce have to pass through before they get to the final consumers. These marketing
channels include:
(1) The local market: A market is a place where sellers and buyers are in close contact. Products brought to the market by the sellers (producers) are sold to the buyers (consumers).
(2) Cooperative societies: Cooperative societies buy goods in large quantities and make them available to their members and other consumets for sale at reduced prices.
(3) Middlemen: Middlemen like the wholesalers and retailers form a link which buys goods from the prode (farmers) and sells to the emsumers.
(4) Commissioned agents: These agents buy goods or produce from peasant farmers and sell to marketing boards or eXporters.
(5) Exporters: Exporters buy produce from commissioned agents or big time farmers and export the produce to overseas buyers or consumers.
