Constraints To The Distribution Of Agricultural Products By Local Producers In Taraba State

First Chapter Introduction

History of the Study

All types of goods connected to agriculture are included in the term “agricultural products.” They fall within the categories of plants, animals, and other life forms, and include both raw and finished items. Consequently, agricultural products can be thought of as plants and animals raised under cultivated conditions and sold for financial gain, personal consumption, or both (Calestous, 2011). Agricultural products include fruits and vegetables, grains or cereals, livestock, natural fibers, forest and marine products, as well as livestock and natural fibers (Adirika, 2001). Sugarcane, rice, groundnuts, beans, oil palms, cocoa, coffee, cattle, millet, maize, guinea corn, cotton, tomatoes, cowpea, cocoyam, sweet potatoes, tea, timber, banana, yam, beniseed, coconut, cassava, citrus fruits, oranges, guavas, sheep, goats, pigs, apples, and grapes are some agricultural products produced in Taraba state. The majority of the population is Seventy-five percent (75%) of the population work as farmers or regional producers, and twenty-five percent (25%) are thought to be involved in other types of employment. According to John (2002), local producers are inexperienced farmers in rural areas who are involved in agricultural production, including raising livestock, cultivating crops, and growing vegetables for consumption and to sell at local markets. Therefore, farmers (including both male and female farmers) who own, work at, or run an agricultural enterprise for either a commercial reason or self-sustenance are considered local producers. Small-scale farmers in Taraba State typically carry their goods on their backs or heads as they make their way to nearby markets. Others, whose locations or agricultural centers are inaccessible to vehicles, transport their goods to markets using either donkeys or bicycles. Farmers also use short channel structures, which involve selling products directly to customers rather than through wholesalers and agents for distribution. Farmers frequently use short channels of distribution because they want to get rid of their harvest as soon as possible, even if prices are low, out of concern that the goods, particularly perishable ones, may spoil quickly because there aren’t enough storage facilities for them, which would limit the distribution of their goods.

In marketing, the terms “distribution” and “place” are interchangeable and constitute one of the elements of the marketing mix. Distribution, in the opinion of Kotler, Keller, and Burton (2009), is the handling, movement, and storage of commodities from the points of origin or production to the final consumer.

consumption point, through a variety of outlets. It is a marketing activity designed to get products physically to the point of need, transfer ownership, and reach the final consumer with goods and services. By providing time and place utilities, distribution plays a crucial role in both the pre- and post-production phases of marketing, helping to satisfy consumer demand and create new demand. Integration of supporting subsystems, such as permanent infrastructure facilities, warehouses, inventory, and logistics services, is necessary for the physical distribution of items from producer to users. A good distribution system reduces handling costs, the likelihood of product damage, particularly physical spoilage and deterioration, the likelihood of loss through theft, and results in considerable transit cost reductions. Products are made widely accessible through distribution, enabling a huge number of individuals to purchase them (Braton, 1998). In order to get the goods into different geographic areas, distribution requires a good transport system, a good tracking system to ensure that the right goods arrive at the right time and in the right quantity, good packing to withstand the rigors of transport, tracking the locations where the goods can be placed to maximize sales opportunities, and a good distribution channel.

Nicholson (2007) defined channels of distribution (also known as trade channels) as the routes or paths that items or products take from the producer or manufacturer to the final consumer or industrial user. In other words, they serve as distribution channels for local producers or farmers to sell their goods and deliver them to the intended consumers. Distribution channels typically act as a link or bridge between the point in time and location where things are created and the point at which they are consumed. Henderson (2008) proposed that products can be transported from the producer to the final customer thanks to channels of distribution. According to the author, there are typically five options for marketing goods: producer to consumer, producer to retailer to consumer, producer to wholesaler to retailer or consumer, producer to agent or broker to wholesaler to retailer to consumer, and producer to agent or broker to retailer to consumer. According to Adirika, Ebue, and Nnolim (2001), producers are compelled to use direct selling and a short channel structure when middlemen are unavailable for one reason or another. The lack of middlemen may be brought on by the exorbitant cost of utilizing them, their failure to provide the services needed by the producer, the producer’s channel policy and terms being intolerable, or government intervention.

Ross (2004) asserts that there are primarily two categories of channels utilized for the distribution of goods: marketing channels for both industrial and consumer goods. End customers can get products through either direct or indirect means. While all goods and services are distributed through marketing channels, the perishability of agricultural products occasionally forces farmers to adopt direct distribution routes. Additionally, because the majority of farmers live in rural locations and are distanced from their clients, they use indirect marketing channels on the other side of the equation. The majority of farm products have distinctive qualities that necessitate specialized commercial distribution, including seasonality, bulkiness, perishability, and dispersed production, among others. As a result, there are a variety of ways that agricultural produce can be distributed, including direct channels that go straight from farmers to customers. This frequently occurs with perishable foods including fresh produce, meat, and fruits and vegetables. Short channel: Before reaching the consumer, the products are transported from the producer through an intermediary. Yam, cassava, and potato goods, which have lengthy shelf lives, benefit from this. Long channel: The movement of the commodities involves a large number of middlemen. Products that can be kept for longer periods of time, such as grains, yam flour, maize flour, hide and skin, cotton, and live animals, frequently use this sort of channel. According to Coyle (2003), routes of distribution create time, place, and possession utilities by bridging the gap between the site of production and the point of consumption. Order processing, finished goods management, material handling and packaging, transportation, storage, and warehousing are some of the components that must be managed.

The employment of scientific storage facilities designed specifically to safeguard the amount and quality of products being stored is known as warehousing (Kent & Jonathan, 2000). It assists in stabilizing the price of agricultural products by limiting farmers’ propensity for post-harvest sales. Moses (2000) said that warehousing is useful in controlling the supply of goods and stabilizing prices by keeping things after the demand exceeds the supply. It enables entrepreneurs and manufacturers to reduce risks such as loss, fire, theft, and product damage. Another crucial marketing task is storage, which entails keeping and protecting products from the point of production until consumption is required. A constant supply of goods in the market, protection of perishable and semi-perishable product quality from degradation, and assistance in managing products with seasonal demand are all benefits of storing goods from the time of production to the time of consumption (Paul & Kelvin, 2010). To achieve cost-effective marketing, minimize post-production costs.

Storage facilities and infrastructure are absolutely necessary to prevent harvest losses and to lower health concerns that may arise at any point between the farm level and the ultimate level of consumption.

If the development goals for the continent are to be met, infrastructure facilities will need to play an increasingly bigger part in the continent’s economic growth (World Bank, 2006). The World Bank also noted that infrastructure is a key barrier to doing business in most African countries, particularly the developing countries, and is proven to reduce productivity by about 40%. Power and transportation sectors both have infrastructure gaps. The lack of generation capacity, excessive electricity use, or unstable power supplies in those nations can all be used to measure the infrastructure gap in the power sector. Only one-third of Africans living in rural areas are within two kilometers of an all-season road, compared to two-thirds of the population in other emerging regions, because of Africa’s poor road density relative to the size of the continent. The fundamental agricultural infrastructure (electricity, telecommunications, irrigation, and transportation), according to Teruel and Kuroda (2005), has a direct impact on productivity by giving farmers and rural households practical options for production, processing, marketing, and distribution. According to David & Jaclyn (2013), one of the production variables in an economic process is transportation. The ability to transport raw materials from mines, fields, and forests to factories where they can be turned into desired goods is made possible by readily available, affordable transportation. Similar to how reliable transportation enables firms to deliver finished goods to clients when and where they’re needed in the shapes and quantities they want. Without an effective, well-managed transportation system, a region’s or an economy’s economic growth and development are negatively impacted.

A reliable transportation system allows farmers to sell surpluses at reasonable prices to the market and satisfies three of the “rights” of supply, which are getting the goods to the market at the right time, in the right condition, and in a cost-effective manner. The authors also noted that due to the unique characteristics of agricultural products, such as perishability, seasonality, and bulkiness, it is uniquely dependent on a reliable and flexible transportation system. The proper products will be delivered on time, at the right price, in fully loaded trucks with no damage or theft. From points of production, storage, or pre-positioning to points of use, or from hubs to end-use, or from distribution points to end-use, or returning from end-use to hub and pre-positioning points or producers, a good transport system complements an efficient distribution system; on the other hand, a poor transport system creates a distribution constraint.

Collins (2003) defined a constraint as anything that restricts or regulates what a person wishes to do. It’s a component, factor, or part of the system that acts as a bottleneck. An entity, initiative, or system (such as a manufacturing process or decision-making process) is constrained if it wants to do something. A constraint on the distribution process is something that imposes a cap or restriction, hinders the efficient transportation of goods to other areas in need, or both. These restrictions may differ between products and local producers from one State or location to another. This is relevant to agricultural producers in Taraba State who face distribution restrictions for their products. These restrictions take the form of inadequate farm inputs, poor road networks for transportation, absence or poor electricity supply, absence or inadequate warehousing and storage facilities, and high distribution costs brought on by unfavorable market conditions.

Governments use agricultural policies as tools of action to influence change in the agricultural industry. According to Handcock (2012), the government’s agricultural policy is a collection of choices and actions pertaining to both domestic agriculture and the importation of agricultural goods from other countries. In order to achieve a particular result in the domestic agricultural markets, governments typically implement agricultural policies. Some of these include risk management and adjustment (including policies related to climate change, food safety, and natural disasters), economic stability (including tax-related policies), natural resources, environmental sustainability (especially water supply policy), research and development, and market access for domestic competitors. Hancock said that policy programs can include financial ones, such as taxation, subsidies, tariffs, and other financial incentives occasionally used to persuade companies to sign up for voluntary quality assurance programs. According to Richard (2002), government policy may have a direct or indirect impact on the country’s predominant agricultural system by boosting productivity, guaranteeing a consistent food supply, raising farmers’ standards of living, and stabilizing market prices at a level that is advantageous to farmers and reasonable for consumers through the use of price support policies. Some of these regulations have an impact on how agricultural goods are distributed.

Description of the Issue

Self-sufficiency in agriculture is almost reached because to the introduction of new farming technologies, including equipment and farm inputs (John, Oral, Parr, & Richard, 2010). What

The items now need to be efficiently distributed and marketed to the locations where they are needed for consumption and other uses.

More emphasis is placed on the issues with marketing. If marketing infrastructure is built, this encourages production growth and guarantees both domestic and global supply of agricultural products and services. The marketing infrastructure must be improved and strengthened from the point of production to the market in order to distribute the excess agricultural products.

Despite the fact that about 75% of the population of Taraba state is involved in farming different types of agricultural products like rice, groundnuts, beans, cocoa, coffee, cattle, millet, cotton, tea, timber, bananas, yams, cassava, tomatoes, maize, sheep and goats, among others, the distribution systems have been observed to be very inefficient and ineffective; products are not delivered to customers in a timely manner. Poor infrastructure results in considerable profits losses for local producers and prevents them from having money to reinvest and buy equipment for project expansion. Agricultural items are highly scarce and expensive in the state’s neediest locations due to insufficient infrastructure.

Local producers are unable to store goods to meet demand during off-production seasons as a result of storage constraints (Ashok & Balasubramanian, 2006). In order to avoid waste or spoilage, local producers must sell their products at a discount during the harvest season and even when demand is low. This lowers their income and standard of living, which is why this study is necessary to examine the barriers to the distribution of agricultural products by local producers in Taraba State and to identify the strategies for improving the distribution of agricultural products.

Objective of the Study

The main goal of this study was to identify the barriers that local farmers in Taraba State faced when distributing their agricultural products. In particular, the study aimed to:

1) Identify the infrastructure (land transportation) limitations on how producers can distribute their agricultural products.

2) identify the warehouse restrictions on how farmers can distribute their crops.

3) identify the restrictions on the distribution of agricultural products per channel.

4) identify the restrictions placed on the distribution of agricultural products by governmental regulations.

5) Describe the methods for enhancing the agricultural product distribution in Taraba State.

Objectivity of the Study

The results of this study will be extremely helpful to regional agricultural product producers, consumers and industrialists, government organizations, and researchers.

The findings of this study will be advantageous to agricultural producers, who make up the majority of the population in Taraba state and, consequently, the entire nation. The findings of this study will raise public awareness of the distributional challenges encountered by farmers. Through this study, farmers will gain an understanding of the consequences of distribution channels and the need to adopt effective distribution routes for various types of produced goods. This study will still be very helpful to agricultural producers because, if the limits can be overcome, it will help them lower their production and distribution costs, which will increase their ability to save money and raise their standard of life. The researcher will organize workshops and seminars for the local producers so they can learn about all of these.

The study will also be useful to consumers and industrialists, who are the final recipients of agricultural products since it will inform them of the different difficulties producers encounter in making their products available to them and the causes of the high prices of the commodities they purchase. The results of this study will also help consumers and businesspeople understand the relationship between agricultural policies and the distribution of the goods they consume, allowing them to make complaints to the Consumers Protection Council for resolution and enabling them to purchase better goods in the desired quantities and at reasonable prices.

The results of this study will be important to government agencies, particularly the Federal and State Ministries of Agriculture, because they will reveal the various obstacles farmers face during the final stage of the production process—distribution—which may include the consequences of the policies put in place for agriculture. As a result, the government will be able to create favorable agricultural policies that will guarantee the supply of agricultural products throughout the nation.

Finally, this work will be helpful to future researchers as a foundation for other investigations, either through replication or as a source of literature for other studies. When this study’s results are released, they will be made available in public libraries for everyone to read and use as a resource for decision-making, including government authorities.

Research Issues

To direct this investigation, the following four research questions were created:

1) What are the distribution of agricultural products’ infrastructure limitations?

2) What are the distribution-related warehousing restrictions faced by agricultural producers?

3) What restrictions on the distribution of agricultural products exist in the channels of distribution?

4) What restrictions on the distribution of agricultural products are imposed by government policies?

5) What are the methods for enhancing agricultural product distribution?

Hypotheses

The 0.05 level of significance will be used to evaluate the following null hypotheses that were developed to direct the study.

Ho1: The average responses of male and female agricultural producers to the infrastructure barriers to the delivery of agricultural products in Taraba State did not significantly differ.

Ho2: There is no statistically significant difference in the average responses of the agricultural producers of tea and tomatoes about the distribution of goods in Taraba State’s warehousing constraints.

Ho3: There are no appreciable differences in the median responses of tea, tomato, and dairy product farmers about the distribution routes that are restricted for agricultural products in Taraba State.

Ho4: The mean comments of producers of dairy and tomato products on the storage constraints to the distribution of agricultural products in Taraba State did not significantly differ from one another.

Ho5: There is no statistically significant difference between the producers of dairy and tomatoes in their average responses to the government’s restrictions on the distribution of agricultural products.

The Study’s Purpose

The focus of this study was limitations on local farmers’ ability to distribute agricultural goods in Taraba state. Tomatoes, dairy products, and tea products are among the agricultural items included in this study. Local agricultural product producers in the Central Senatorial Zone of the State, which is made up of the following five Local Government Areas: Bali, Sardauna, Gassol, Kurmi, and Gashaka, were the subject of the study.

Constraints To Local Producers’ Distribution Of Agricultural Products In Taraba State

First Chapter Introduction

History of the Study

Observation of

Constraints To The Distribution Of Agricultural Products By Local Producers In Taraba State

Constraints To The Distribution Of Agricultural Products By Local Producers In Taraba State

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