Marketing of agricultural produce entails a lot of hard work, knowledge and active participation in almost all processes involved. We need to first examine what marketing is all about; it refers to all the activities involved in turning a prospect to a buyer; this is especially notable in the IT industry. A prospect is someone who is perceived as one who will be interested in trying out your products or services. Getting prospects involve careful and well taught procedures in mapping out the people your products/services are meant to serve in terms of their age, geographical location or income level. The set of people captured in any of these categories are prospects before actually commencing the marketing process per se. To convert a potential prospect to a lead entails first creating awareness about the products/services, they must be aware of that which they would want to part away their cash to get. This stage being the first process is all important as it’s crucial a picture about the product is well entrenched in the hearts and minds of the people. This is best done with the good use of pictorial representations introducing what the product is all about. This however should be kept short and organized as nobody likes to read long epistles. Prospect in marketing of agricultural produce just like conventional marketing entails consideration of certain habits as well as cultural beliefs of people. As an example, snail which is widely consumed in the southern part of the country is a taboo in most of the northern states. Anyone considering a northerner as a prospect in the snail business is utterly not going to make sales. After information gathering about who the prospects are and their location, the next process is to study the existing market about the produce you will be introducing into the region. What similar products are currently available in the location? What’s the buying behavior of the people? How acceptable is their products? Providing qualitative answers to these questions will afford you a nice decision making process on strategies that can be employed to break into the market. You need to understand two major factors which influence buyer’s behavior is price and quality of products. However, before quality comes price. It’s when people are able to afford your products that the quality can be determined. So, always note the power of pricing. I call that POP. Always strive to offer competitive pricing, many times people tend to enter a new market with higher pricing for their products due to the perception that their products are of better quality. I’m happy to tell you the people who determine the quality of your products are the customers. No matter how good you think it is, if the customers say otherwise, then it’s no good. Haven’t you noticed how people are willing to pay for some products despite their high costs? To make prices more reasonable, define the income level of people your products are meant for early enough. Packaged Ijebu gari is not meant for the ordinary man on the street who patronize open markets. So, you tend to find it in markets, shops and supermarkets where majority of the people who frequent those places are of the income level intended for the product. All in all, what this piece has pointed is the fact that you need a good feasibility report before delving into marketing any agricultural produce. I hope this helps someone in their decision making process. I’ll be sharing more marketing tips on this thread from time to time.

After a well conducted feasibility study, the next step is mobilizing resources needed for effective marketing process. It would interest you to know agriculture is the only sector where every other activity revolves around production. Production here deals with the processes involved in the cultivation of the produce either to be consumed directly or used as raw materials for production of other goods. You can’t take away the role of production in the marketing of agricultural produce, what are you going to market anyway? So, a good place to get things kicked off smoothly is establishing a good relationship with suppliers if you are not producing yourself. Get along well with the farmers, build necessary trust and be specific on the quality of produce you like. A good way to deal with producers is through cooperative societies, this affords one the opportunity to have varieties of produce to choose from as well as effective supply. The services of produce aggregators can also be employed; these are people who reside in the farmers’ location. Their major role is to serve as intermediary between marketers and farmers. They get produce in bit from different farmers and combine to form large quantities. As with dealing with direct suppliers, also be specific about the quality of produce required. These people are the ones who do all the dirty jobs of gathering and they easily deliver to the marketer at agreed locations within their community. They are paid on commission basis. These people are especially important when you don’t want to spend a lot of time in the village or in cases of language difficulty. Be sure to examine the quality of produce offered by these people before payment as they might act dubious sometimes. However, majority of marketers today source produce directly from local markets close to production areas. It is believed produce are cheaper here, oh yes they are but you can get them way cheaper if you get smarter. Solving the problem of sourcing for supplies is a huge step towards effective marketing. Now that the supply side has been taken care of, it’s time to start thinking of logistics.

hoyze24:
After a well conducted feasibility study, the next step is mobilizing resources needed for effective marketing process. It would interest you to know agriculture is the only sector where every other activity revolves around production. Production here deals with the processes involved in the cultivation of the produce either to be consumed directly or used as raw materials for production of other goods. You can’t take away the role of production in the marketing of agricultural produce, what are you going to market anyway? So, a good place to get things kicked off smoothly is establishing a good relationship with suppliers if you are not producing yourself. Get along well with the farmers, build necessary trust and be specific on the quality of produce you like. A good way to deal with producers is through cooperative societies, this affords one the opportunity to have varieties of produce to choose from as well as effective supply. The services of produce aggregators can also be employed; these are people who reside in the farmers’ location. Their major role is to serve as intermediary between marketers and farmers. They get produce in bit from different farmers and combine to form large quantities. As with dealing with direct suppliers, also be specific about the quality of produce required. These people are the ones who do all the dirty jobs of gathering and they easily deliver to the marketer at agreed locations within their community. They are paid on commission basis. These people are especially important when you don’t want to spend a lot of time in the village or in cases of language difficulty. Be sure to examine the quality of produce offered by these people before payment as they might act dubious sometimes. However, majority of marketers today source produce directly from local markets close to production areas. It is believed produce are cheaper here, oh yes they are but you can get them way cheaper if you get smarter. Solving the problem of sourcing for supplies is a huge step towards effective marketing. Now that the supply side has been taken care of, it’s time to start thinking of logistics.

Continue please. I may be visiting Benue State soon

No paragraph.

Atlanticfire:
No paragraph.

Go and eat ur paragraph, instead on concentrating on d message u busy looking for error

cuttestprince:

Go and eat ur paragraph, instead on concentrating on d message u busy looking for error

Mumu, write in English

hoyze24:
After a well conducted feasibility study, the next step is mobilizing resources needed for effective marketing process. It would interest you to know agriculture is the only sector where every other activity revolves around production. Production here deals with the processes involved in the cultivation of the produce either to be consumed directly or used as raw materials for production of other goods. You can’t take away the role of production in the marketing of agricultural produce, what are you going to market anyway? So, a good place to get things kicked off smoothly is establishing a good relationship with suppliers if you are not producing yourself. Get along well with the farmers, build necessary trust and be specific on the quality of produce you like. A good way to deal with producers is through cooperative societies, this affords one the opportunity to have varieties of produce to choose from as well as effective supply. The services of produce aggregators can also be employed; these are people who reside in the farmers’ location. Their major role is to serve as intermediary between marketers and farmers. They get produce in bit from different farmers and combine to form large quantities. As with dealing with direct suppliers, also be specific about the quality of produce required. These people are the ones who do all the dirty jobs of gathering and they easily deliver to the marketer at agreed locations within their community. They are paid on commission basis. These people are especially important when you don’t want to spend a lot of time in the village or in cases of language difficulty. Be sure to examine the quality of produce offered by these people before payment as they might act dubious sometimes. However, majority of marketers today source produce directly from local markets close to production areas. It is believed produce are cheaper here, oh yes they are but you can get them way cheaper if you get smarter. Solving the problem of sourcing for supplies is a huge step towards effective marketing. Now that the supply side has been taken care of, it’s time to start thinking of logistics.

no update

Pesuzok:

no update

Sorry about that, been busy. Would do that unfailingly next week. Thanks

Well done ..the article is well composed and useful.

Sorry this is coming a long time after the last post, I’ve been really busy. So, let’s get on by considering the issue of logistics. Logistics is the process of planning, implementing and controlling the efficient and effective flow and storage of goods, services and related information from their point of origin to the point of consumption for the purpose of satisfying customer requirements. It’s obvious from the definition how important logistics is in marketing. It’s the wish of every marketer to get products to customers in almost exactly the same condition it was purchased, unfortunately this do not happen in many cases due to poor handling of products at different stages. After proper examination of produce purchased, the next process is making arrangements for the transportation of these produce to destination markets. In many cases, movement can be in a single process while many times it involves series of movements. It’s worthy of note to state that as a marketer, logistics is the phase of marketing that requires one attention the most, poorly coordinated logistics lead to decline in the quality of produce which will definitely affect the price in destination market. Also, there might be cases of theft and overcharging especially by cart pushers if not properly monitored. It’s the duty of a marketer to ensure goods are handled properly during loading and offloading. Avoid being in a hurry especially if you are just starting or unfamiliar with the terrain of the marketplace. For instance, when I started yam marketing, I was always present at every point my yams were taken before being loaded in trucks. Even when I was told to allow the boys do their work, I stood as close as possible to prevent stories that touch. Trucks that will be involved in the long haul of your produce to destination market must be of good physical condition and always ensure you get either the driver or the motor boy contact to ensure tracking of your goods. Though this might not apply to everyone but it’s something I do every time - I ensure I obtain the contacts of few of the other marketers who have goods in the truck. Do well to contact the motor boy to monitor their movement. I guess we should be treating sales in destination market in the next post. Enjoy your weekend.