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Abstract
This paper focuses on micro level marketing research to support the design and
implementation of rural development programmes. Contemporary rural development
efforts are directed primarily at promoting change so as to simultaneously
affect the distribution and growth of income, employment, nutrition,
health, and other dimensions of the quality of life in rural areas. Although there
is a continuing debate over the appropriate rural development strategy, adequate
analyses of the essential growth and equity issues will not be forthcoming until
we better understand the micro behaviour of both production and marketing
systems in rural areas.
Although our focus is on rural marketing systems, we recognize that food and
agricultural markets are ultimately national and in many cases international in
scope. Consequently, our plea for more micro research on rural marketing
systems does not imply that micro analysis of urban marketing systems, macro
analysis of national marketing systems, or international trade analysis be
reduced. We believe all of these are necessary, but none alone is sufficient for
the design and implementation of rural development programmes. And while
none of these research areas has enjoyed high priority in national economic
planning and development programmes, we contend that there is a critical
shortage of micro understanding and analysis of the rural portions of national
marketing systems (Abbott).