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THE POTATO MARKETING SYSTEM AND ITS CHANGES IN BANGLADESH: FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A VILLAGE STUDY IN COMILLA DISTRICT
Author(s) -
MOAZZEM Khondaker Golam,
FUJITA Köichi
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
the developing economies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.305
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1746-1049
pISSN - 0012-1533
DOI - 10.1111/j.1746-1049.2004.tb01016.x
Subject(s) - competition (biology) , business , investment (military) , capital (architecture) , cold storage , perspective (graphical) , capital investment , agricultural economics , marketing , economics , finance , geography , ecology , archaeology , artificial intelligence , politics , political science , computer science , horticulture , law , biology
This paper analyzes the marketing system of potato in Bangladesh, especially the economic relations among farmers, traders, and cold storage owners and elucidates the structural changes in the rural economy through a village study. Investment in the potato market is capital‐intensive and risky, and is often considered to be vertically linked. The present study shows that farmers and cold storage owners do not invest in trading because of lack of time and “skill” to deal with urban traders. Besides, farmers face capital constraints and the amount of potatoes produced is too small to meet the demand of urban areas. Cold storage owners are confronted with increasing competition, which forces them to attempt to reach the storage capacity. Traders invest in the risky potato‐storage business. The return from it is declining but still high due to the “cheap” credit supply from the cold storage owners. There is no tied relation among the market agents any more.