Agroindustrial project analysi

TBE PROCUREMENT FACTOR8itomato crop is processed into products such as ketchup, tomatopaste, canned whole tomatoes, and tomato juice because consumerpreferences and demand for processed tomato products are greaterthan for the fresh produce. In addition, processing eliminatesperishability and allows the large U.S. summer crop to be soldthroughout the year.For some crops, the fresh and processed markets are complementaryrather than competitive. For example, tomatoes that aredamaged in appearance could not be sold fresh but could be processedfor tomato paste. This maximizes a crop's recoverable economicvalue.ANIMAL VERSUS HUMAN CONSUMPTION. An alternative use for someraw material is its conversion into animal feed. In some countriescorn, wheat, or soybeans are used in this way. It is nutritionally inefficient,however, to use grain calories and protein to producemeat: fewer calories and protein are available in the meat thanwere consumed in the grain because of losses in the biological conversionprocess. 7 Meat-processing agroindustries should be sensitiveto this nutritional deficit and recognize that governments mayhave to give priority to direct human consumption of grains, especiallyin the face of widespread caloric shortages.OPTIONS FOR MULTIPLE INDUSTRIALIZATION. Some raw material canbe used in several processed end products. For example, corn can beused to produce animal feed, oil, starch, margarine, mayonnaise,noodles, detergent, flour, or dextrose. Although one processor mayoften produce several of these various raw material derivatives, itcan find itself in competition for the raw material with a processorproducing a different derivative. The analyst can foresee this dilemmaby documenting and quantifying the alternative end usesof the raw material.COMPETING PROCESSING FIRMS. The most direct competition for rawmaterials is among processing companies in the same business, andthe competition can come from foreign as well as domestic pro-7. It takes about 4 pounds of grain to produce a pound of beef; the meatis a higher quality protein, but generally costlier and less available to thenutritionally needy segments of society. Furthermore, unless the caloric deficitsare met, the relatively expensive meat protein will be metabolized forenergy rather than growth requirements.