4.3 Marketing Structure Analysis
Market structure lays on organization of a market, nature of
competition and price behavior within market. Similarly, «market
conduct» studies price policy of firms, aims to pursue and methods applied
to charging price quantity to be produced and sale promotion cost incurred.
Scherer and Ross (1990) added research and development commitment, investment
in production facilities and legal tactics «market performance»
mostly depends on behavior of sellers and buyers taking into account the
parameters like price, output, production, selling cost etc. Market structure
refers to the organizational characteristics of a market for the particular
purposes, to those characteristics which determine the relationship of sellers
and buyers in market to each other (Mohyu-ud-Din, 1998).
4.3.1 Marketing of Non-wood Forest Products
There are numerous agroforestry products depending on the tree
species. The most common forest tree species planted in Sindh were Acacia
nilotica (Babur) followed by other species including Euclaptus
camaldulensis (Sufeda), Azadirachta indica (Neem), Talhi, Kandi,
and other forest trees.
The non-wood forest products are pods, forage, boori, glue,
Lac, Khnour and other indigenous products, generally marketing system for
non-wood forest products was found fully non commercialized in the study area,
it also seemed that these products were locally sold on cheep rate or gifted to
some one. The producer didn't know value of their product because of imperfect
marketing system.
4.3.2 Marketing of Agroforestry Wood Products
Wood and wood products are basic necessities of life weather
people belong to rural as well as urban areas. Major portion of forest wood
product is fire-wood, which is wastage or small pieces of wood, sold to bakers,
restaurants and households while remaining products are Timber, is simply wood,
that serves as raw material for various wood based industries like saw-mills
and chip-board factories from which furniture is made that is used in household
articles as well as for office appliances, and other wood product is Mining
props, that is trunk of trees almost used as supporting pillars in coal mines,
mainly Acacia nilotica props were traded to coal mines at Lakhra in
Sindh and Quetta in Balochistan.
Marketing of agroforestry wood products is found inefficient
due to the bulkiness or unawareness among producers or growers, because there
were decentralized marketing channels prevailed in the study area, which refers
as producers/ farmers do not bring their products in market, like other
agricultural products, instead of that the product is sold directly to local
assemblers, saw-mill owners and other intermediaries on the farm gate.
4.4 Marketing Channels of Agroforestry Products
Channels may be defined that flow of goods from producer,
assembler or manufacturer to consumer. Marketing channels are identical in some
cases but differ in other cases. When a commodity passes directly from the
producers to the consumers, the route is known as direct channel, but when
several agencies operate between producers and consumers, the route is referred
as indirect channel of marketing. Marketing channels of agroforestry wood
products are illustrated in Figure 4.1
Coal Mines
(Mining
Props)
Contract
Agent
(Mining Props)
Firms
(Firewood)
e.g. Bakers
Local
Assembler
(Logs)
Saw Mills
(Logs)
Farmer
(Trees)
Wood-based
Firms
(Timber)
Households
(Furniture)
Households
(Firewood)
Retailer
(Firewood)
Figure 4.1 Marketing Channels of Agroforestry Wood
Products at Private Farm-Lands in Sindh
Figure 4.1 indicates that agroforestry wood products flow
towards marketing agents, wood products are totally different from other
agricultural products because shape of this product changes when it reaches to
other marketing agent, movement of wood products and marketing agents are given
bellow,
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