INTEGRATED PROTECTED AREA CO-MANAGEMENT (IPAC) - BIDS

Figure 5.1: Basic structure of SRF products marketing systems
Primary Market
Secondary Market
Mahajans
Suppliers
Collectors
Commission agents
Aratdars
Auctioneers
Wholesalers
Consumers
Retailers
Retail Market
5.2 Mapping the Value at Different Levels of the Value Chain
The core element of value chain mapping is to map the monetary value throughout the chain.
Value is something that can be measured in many ways. The most straightforward depiction of a
monetary flow would be to look at the value that is added at every step throughout the chain,
providing an overview of the earnings at the different stages. Other economic parameters are,
among others, cost structures, profit, and return on investment. It is important to recognize that
at the mapping stages of the value chain analysis sometimes accurate information about costs,
margins and profits at different levels within the value chain may not be adequately available. It
was revealed that only price information is adequately known at each level, and thus value
additions in terms of price are the core concerns of this brief study.
As already mentioned in the methodology chapter (Chapter 1), calculation of costs and returns is
found to be complicated for various reasons. The problem is compounded when there is no
systematic hierarchy among actors and when a single actor is concerned with multi-products.
For example, some Beparis sell, in addition to Choto Mahajans, directly to Boro Mahajans or
even Aratdars so that selling prices or value additions appear to be not systematic. Collectors
who work for others on wages do not have any working capital. Majhis get a share of profit in
addition to wage as collector when the price is fixed (either by bargains or unilaterally by
Mahajans or Aratdars).
As explained in Chapter 1, in normal situations, average selling prices of one actor should be
equal to average buying prices of the next actors in the hierarchy in turn. But some actors sell
directly to other actors through bypassing the immediate higher level actor. For example, some
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