African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development

ISSN 2375-0693

African Journal of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development ISSN: 2375-0693 Vol. 4 (7), pp. 452-457, July, 2016. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

A study of marketing economics of tomato in the district of Bamako, Republic of Mali

Li Na Pingping1,2, Lu Cheung1*

1Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Economics and Management, Northwest A & F University 3 Taic heng Road, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China.

2Institut Polytechnique Rural De Formation Et De Recherche Appliquée (IPR/IFRA) De Katibougou BP : 06, Mali.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]

Accepted 15 January, 2013

Abstract

This study was initiated with the objective s of evaluating the marketing margin of tomato in the district of Bamako in the period of abundance 2012. The study analyzes the marketing of tomato and identifies the problems and opportunities for enhancing the gross margin. A survey was conducted using structured que stionnaires to collect primary data from 40 whole salers and 40 retailers. The re sults of the estimation of marketing margin functions were obtained using the relative price spread. This study revealed that the majority of respondents were more than 35 years of age; about 95% of them were female. It was also revealed that 50% of wholesalers were illiterate, while 7.5, 32.5 and 5%, had organic, primary and secondary education level, respectively. The results indicated that the farm-gate price (205.13 Fcfa/kg) and marketing cost (114.23 Fcfa/kg) of tomato are among the highly in fluential factors on the entire marketing margin. The wholesale margin function was affected by the wholesale price (408 Fcfa/kg) and wholesale cost, while the retail margin function wa s influenced by the retail price (421 Fcfa/kg) and the retailer cost.

Key words: Marketing margin, tomato, Bamako, tomato marketing, marketing margins, wholesalers, retailers.