The importance of fruits and vegetable marketing
to developing countries
In many countries, and
virtually every less developed country, agriculture is the biggest single
industry. Agriculture typically employs over fifty percent of the labour force
in less developed countries with industry and commerce dependent upon it as a
source of raw materials and as a market for manufactured goods. Hence many
argue that the development of agriculture and the marketing systems which
impinge upon it are at the heart of the economic growth process in LDCs, in
LDCs the consumer frequently spends in excess of fifty percent of the
household's income on basic foodstuffs - much of which is inadequate both in
quality and nutritional content. By contrast Americans spend approximately
twelve percent of their total disposable income on fruits and vegetable. In
Western Europe the figure ranges from about sixteen to nineteen percent of
disposable income. Furthermore, whereas in developed countries the poor are
relatively few in number, and therefore it is economically possible to
establish special food distribution programmers to meet their needs, the scale
of poverty in most LDCs is such that the commercial marketing system must be
relied upon to perform the task of fruits and vegetable distribution to poor
and not-so-poor alike. This being so, it is imperative that the marketing
system performs efficiently.
The potential
contribution of fruits and vegetable marketing, towards attempts to improve
rural incomes in developing countries. The inequality of incomes between the
rural and urban areas draws people away from fruits and vegetable production
and places great stress upon the infrastructure and social services of a country's
towns and cities.
Another development
which has in recent times increased interest in marketing practices is the
trend, in many developing countries such as Tanzania, Uganda and other, towards
market liberalization as part of economic structural adjustment programmers.
The view that direct and indirect government participation in production and
distribution had brought about structural distortions in economies has become
widely accepted. Measures intended to correct these distortions include a
return to market prices for all products and resources, the encouragement of a
competitive private sector and the commercialization, and sometimes privatization,
of all or some of the functions of marketing parastatals. All of this requires
a better understanding of marketing practices and processes within the country
implementing economic structural adjustment programmers, in general, and within the fruits and
vegetable marketing parastatals affected, in particular.
The most traded
vegetables are tomatoes and onions. Developing countries account for virtually
all exports of bananas and tropical fruits, and about half the trade in citrus.
The value of exports such as avocados, melons, pears, green beans, tomatoes,
asparagus, aubergines and onions is higher in developing than in developed
countries with a concentration of exports from a few countries (Table 1).
However, the participation of the least developed countries (LDCs) in trade is
very low: during 1997-2001 their share in fruit was 0.5 percent, and in
vegetables, 0.8 percent.
