RA 00048.pdf - OAR@ICRISAT

651
In ail of the above chains any one person
(trader) may be assuming more than one function,
and may be participating in more than one chain at
a time. Benefits from marketing generally accrue
at each step along the chain. The particular market
structure for each transaction determines the
division of the benefits between the participants.
The degree of concentration varies from market to
market and between regions.
Traders purchase mostly on their own account,
sometimes for the state. They are rarely specialized
in one sort of trade, but rather function as
conglomerates. In rural areas they are farmers as
well as commercial agents. In towns they also
operate stores and mills. The largest traders have
their own transportation and distribution networks.
All traders are potential, if not actual,
moneylenders.
When the state intervenes it assumes part or all
the chain between the producer and consumer.
Its effectiveness depends on how much it takes
over. The strongest benefits of the scheme
accrue to the people who deal directly with the
state agency and not necessarily to the participants
at the ends of the chain.
The two systems, private and public, interact in
several ways. In none of the countries does the
state control all grain trading, and in most cases it
does not even control one entire channel. Thus.
traders, producers, and consumers must decide
how to react vis a vis the state agency. In areas
where the marketing board operates, free market
prices reflect this increased competition. Traders
must behave so as to either minimize its effect on
their trade, or maximize the advantage they can
take from it.
Marketing Studies
The marketing studies of the late 1960s and
1970s focus on testing the hypotheses under
which the state marketing boards were justified,
evaluating their performance, and describing the
way in which the two market systems function
and interact. Those undertaken by economists
concentrate on assessing the competitiveness of
the marketing system and the effects of the
system on production, using the structure, conduct,
performance paradigm. Anthropologists
focus on the debt cycle and the social relationships
that are a part of trade.
Several reviews of the literature and annotated
bibliographies exist: Arditi (1975, 1978), Harriss
(1978) and CILSS (1977). The sheer volume of
works on this subject attests to the interest and
effort devoted to it. The most extensive research
in the region has been done in Nigeria, beginning
with Gilbert (1969), Jones (1972), and Hill (1971,
1972). These have been followed by numerous
studies on the trade of specific producers as well
as production studies that include a marketing
component. Research in other countries developed
along similar lines, though it has been
less extensive.
The CILSS (1977) study of marketing, price
policy, and storage of cereal grains in the seven
countries of the CILSS is an overview of the
specific marketing arrangements and policies of
the region. The point of the study was to diagnose
the problems in the area of marketing, including
an evaluation of the existing state interventions
and to suggest solutions. One of its major
conclusions and recommendations is that there is
a lack of, and thus need for, data about the
marketing behavior of individual farmers. Since
1977 researchers have responded to the plea by
Berg (1980) by concentrating on village-level
behavior, as opposed to just looking at national or
regional aggregates. The farming systems methodology
emphasizes the importance of the rural
economy as a system, each of whose parts plays
an important role in the operation of the whole.
Thus, while not always the primary focus of a
village-level study, marketing is now being looked
at as part of this larger system.
The marketing literature falls into two categories:
that which concludes by supporting the
aforementioned hypotheses, and that which refutes
them. The battle lines have been drawn
along ideological lines, with CILSS (1977) and Berg
(1980), and Harris (1978, 1979), respectively,
representing these polar interpretations. One
group of studies using an adaptation of the
"structure, conduct, performance" (SCP) 7 analysis
applied to price data concludes that trade is
basically competitive. The other, using a more
anthropological approach, interviewing farmers
and traders about their relationships, concludes
that trade is not competitive, and that the marketing
system aggravates the already marginal status
of the poorer groups in society.
7. For criticism of both the method of analysis and its
application to West African data, see Harriss (1979).