Assignment No.

Topic: Agriculture marketing, problems in agriculture marketing and

measures for the improvement of agriculture marketing.

Subject:

Pakistan Economy

Submitted To: MISS NADIA KHAN Submitted By: BADAR MUNIR Roll No. 331 BBA 5th Evening

Department of Business Administration G.C University Faisalabad

Agriculture marketing, problems in agriculture marketing and measures for the improvement of agriculture marketing.

Agriculture Marketing:
Marketing can be defined as the commercial functions involved in transferring goods from producer to consumer. Marketing is not just the final transaction of receiving a check. The acts of buying supplies, renting equipment, paying labor, and advertising, processing and selling are all part of a marketing plan. Some say marketing is everything a business does. Agricultural marketing is where the producer, the processor, the distributor and the consumer meet. Agricultural Marketing as a process which starts with a decision to produce a saleable farm commodity and it involves all aspects of market structure of system, both functional and institutional, based on technical and economic considerations and includes pre and post- harvest operations, assembling, grading, storage, transportation and distribution. Agriculture is the major sector of the economy. It not only meets the food needs of the entire population but also supplements the foreign exchange resources through export of farm produce. It engages about 44% of labor force, provides livelihood to 70% of the population and contributes 23% share to GDP. Agricultural marketing includes the operations of collecting the produce, grading storing, transporting, and selling to the ultimate consumer. ''Since agriculture is fundamentally different from manufacture, therefore the marketing of agricultural surplus is beset with a number of complex problems. For example the agricultural goods are generally perishable and cannot be stored for a longer period of time. There are great variations in the quality of produce from year to year etc. The farmer is therefore, generally handicapped. He has to sell his produce at an unfavorable place at an unfavorable time and on unfavorable terms. In Pakistan there are four system of marketing the surplus agricultural produce. Sale in villages. The farmers sell more than 50% of the surplus produce to the traders and shopkeepers in their own villages normally below the market price.

Sale in markets. The second method of selling the surplus produce is in the scattered markets near the villages. Cooperative marketing. The fourth from of marketing is the cooperative marketing. In Pakistan, this system has failed and the farmers sell the goods to individuals traders or commission agents.

Problems in Agriculture Marketing:

Pakistan is basically an agrarian society in the olden days the agricultural produce was fundamentally barter by nature where farmers exchanged goods for goods and also against services. Trading of agriculture produce began for exchange of money and from trading to marketing of agricultural produce began although mostly it is a way of traditional selling. The marketing as a term is broader than traditional trading. 4Ps, the acronym for price, product, place and promotion is the core principle of marketing. In the case of agricultural marketing in Pakistan it is not exactly the marketing in the literal sense and we can call it as distribution handling and to go further we may call it as distributive handling of agricultural produce as there are number of intermediaries who are involved in marketing the agricultural produce. The main problems or defects in marketing system in Pakistan are as under: Low quality of produce. The production of agricultural goods is generally of low quality due to absence of grading, indifferent use of seeds, pests and deceases, deliberate adulteration etc. The agricultural produce like cotton, rice, do not enjoy good reputation in the foreign market. As such the cash returns to the producers are low. Costly transport facilities. The transport system which consists of roads, network, railways, air transport, ports and shipping services is not only inadequate but also very costly for the transportation of the bulky agricultural goods from one place to another. Marketing cots take a too high share of the final price. Lack of market knowledge. The frames mostly being illiterate do not have detailed market knowledge as to when how and where the goods are to be sold. They therefore do not get a fair return of their produce.

 Chain of middlemen. There is a long chain of middlemen or intermediaries who are engaged in handling of the farm produce from the grower on to the consumer. Each of these intermediaries take their own margin and thereby diminish the return of the cultivator. Multiplicity of charges. There are a number of unjustified charges which the farmer has to pay in the market. These charges like commissions, collie, masjid fund flood fund etc are a burden on the seller. The other charges like octori duties toll taxes are also paid by the farmer while transporting goods to the market. Lack of storage and warehousing facilities. There is no or inadequate storage facilities at the farm level or in the houses of the farmers to store the surplus produce. They therefore have to sell the produce immediately after the harvest which brings reduced prices. The warehousing facilities in the markets are also insufficient and expensive.

Measures for the improvement of Agriculture Marketing:

. Farm to market roads. The govt. of Pakistan should allocate huge sums of money each year in the budgets for the construction of farm to market roads. The construction of roads not only reduces marketing costs but also makes it easy for the farmers to sell their surplus in the regularized markets. Public Distribution: The public distribution system has a great role to play in the field of agricultural marketing. The objective of public distribution system is to procure produce directly through its outlets at fair price and to distribute throughout the state at fixed price. Provision of information. The Govt. should also provide information through television, newspapers, radio about current market prices of agricultural goods, crops prospects, factor influencing demand etc. The timely information provided by the Govt. can helps the farmers in receiving return of their produce. Establishing systems and grades. The Govt. through different media and market organizations stresses on the farmers to maintain standards and grades of agricultural produce. The establishment of reeds of the agricultural goods brings good return on their investment. Stimulates export and helps the Govt. in earning foreign exchange. Regulation regarding weights. The Govt. should set up marketing organization for implementing regulations regarding measuring weights, health and safety measures and checking unauthorized deductions by the purchasers. Construction of warehouses and rural god owns. Need of constructing warehousing and rural god owns through PASCO. The construction of god owns makes easy to store the goods, supply them when these are needed in the market. The storage facility helps in the stabilization of prices of agricultural goods. Setting up market organizations. There are various agencies both at the Federal and Provincial levels (Federal Agricultural Marketing Department, Marketing Intelligence etc.) which are entrusted with the grading of agricultural products, marketing research, survey etc. The Agricultural Price Commission (A .P. Com) considers a number of criteria including cost of production, domestic and world prices of goods. It also revises and fixes the support prices of important crops every year.

 Agricultural Marketing and Storage Limited (AMSL). The AMSL was set up in 1981, for catering the problems perishable commodities like fruits, vegetables, potatoes, onions. The Govt. should encourage such types of departments. Encouragement of cooperative marketing. Need of encouraging the selling up of cooperative marketing societies through the Cooperative Department. The primary objective of this is to promote orderly marketing and ensure reasonable prices for the produce of the farmers. These societies on papers do exist, but practically they are not functioning in its true spirit anywhere in Pakistan. Regularized markets. There are at present 316 regularized markets in Pakistan the present Govt. through devolution of power plan to local bodies must encourage the establishment of regularized markets in the rural areas. Awareness. Importers and potential investors from other countries are being encouraged to boost export and enhance investment workshops, seminars, conferences to create awareness about the Agriculture Marketing Information Services. Low interest rate Loan. Provide loans to the farmer at low rate of interest so that they will be freed from the clutches of local moneylenders who squeeze them. It is said that farmer in born into debt, lives in debt and dies in debt. Creating local outlet Creating local outlets at each village where the farmers sell their stocks directly to the consumers or the authorized buyers at fixed prices would help to a great extent. Marketing surveys In the first place the government has undertaken marketing surveys of various goods and has published these surveys. These surveys have brought out the various problems connected with the marketing of goods and have made suggestions for their removal.