RA 00048.pdf - OAR@ICRISAT

to commercial sale. ONCAO sold to producer and
consumer cooperatives, stores, and approved
private traders. As with the other public sector
marketing agencies, it was the legal importer of
grain. Official prices were fixed for both purchases
and sales.
As of October 1980. ONCAD was disbanded
because of operational inefficiency and financial
irregularities. Its function as the provider of
agricultural inputs was taken over by a newly
created agency. SONAR (Societe National
d'Approvissionment Rural). Thus far its function
as a marketing agent for millet and sorghum (as
well as for other products) has not been replaced.
Commercialization of these crops is now officially
in the hands of the private sector.
Upper Volta
In 1971, OFNACER (Office National des Cereales)
was created and given a legal monopoly for the
sale of grain to consumers. In 1974, the agricultural
extension units (ORD—Office Regional de
Developpement) were given a monopoly for
purchasing for OFNACER. They subsequently
withdrew from this job because of insufficient
personnel and equipment. OFNACER now buys
either with its own agents, or through traders who
it specially licenses (agree). The buying campaign
opens after harvest, once the purchase and sale
prices have been fixed by the government. It buys
in selected areas, transports and redistributes the
grain. It has warehouses in all major centers from
which it is supposed to sell. In typical years,
OFNACER purchases about 2 0 % of the marketed
grain. Before 1971, grain trading was legally
entirely in the hands of private traders; since then,
although OFNACER has a legal monopoly, there
are no efforts made to enforce it. It buys where it
can in areas where the free market price is lower
than the official one.
The following general characteristics of government
grain trading are common to these five
countries. The government plays the role of a
wholesaler. Only in Upper Volta does it buy
directly from the producer. In general, there is at
least one intermediary between the producer and
the marketing agency—a cooperative, trader, or
extension unit. Grain that it purchases from the
middleman is transported to regional or central
warehouses and redistributed according to priorities
of the government or perceived need. Much
of this grain is destined for government employees
(especially urban).
Government price policy, except in Mauritania,
involves setting fixed, uniform producer and
consumer prices. Exactly how the prices are
determined is not clear. Each of the marketing
agencies has incurred large deficits since its
inception. No attempt is made here to assess the
successes and failures of these various schemes.
Private Sector Trade
In all of these countries the majority of commercialized
grain, i. e., 7 0 - 8 0 % , flows through the
private sector. A certain portion of this grain is
traded through transactions that take place outside
the markets, through "house-trading" (direct
contact between producers and consumers) or by
way of intermediaries who conduct business
independent of the market and are often linked,
one to the other, by special arrangements (financial
and other). The initial transaction often takes
place in the village; from there, the grain may
continue to bypass the market or enter it. Most
privately traded grain, however, does pass
through the market. Five major marketing chains
can be identified:
1. Direct from producer to consumer:
This involves the producer marketing his own
product, generally in small quantities, and the
consumer purchasing directly from him at the
market.
2. Producer to local trader to consumer:
The producer sells his grain in the market to a
local trader, who purchases from many producers.
He may store it for a time, and then sell it
to consumers, or turn it over the same day.
3. Producer to local trader to assembler to consumer:
This chain is the same as above, but involves
an assembler who purchases in bulk from
many local traders and retails the collected
grain elsewhere.
4. Producer to local trader or assembler to national
trader to the consumer:
In this chain, instead of retailing the grain, the
assembler sells it to a national trader (one who
assembles grain from many regions) who in
turn retails it.
5. Producer to local trader or assembler to national
trader to different regional traders to local
trader, to the consumer: This chain, the
longest, essentially moves the grain into a
large urban area, and back out to the rural area.
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