The Means of Marketing Agricultural Commodities in Nigeria

Reviewed by Omotolani Ajileye

Marketing of Agricultural Commodities

Marketing is the process of identifying customers’ needs and wants and making goods and services available to satisfy those needs. It involves all the activities carried out from the time a product is produced until it reaches the final consumer.

These activities include buying, selling, transportation, storage, advertising, packaging, pricing and distribution. In agriculture, marketing involves moving farm products such as maize, rice, cocoa, tomatoes and livestock from farmers to consumers or industries. Therefore, marketing helps to connect producers with consumers and ensures that goods are available at the right place, at the right time and at a suitable price. 

Agricultural commodities are farm products that are produced for sale, exchange, processing, or consumption. They include food crops such as maize, rice, yam, cassava and beans; cash crops such as cocoa, cotton, rubber, groundnuts and palm produce; and animal products such as meat, milk, eggs, hides and skins.

Agricultural commodities are important to the economy because they provide food for the population, raw materials for industries, employment and income for farmers and traders, and foreign exchange through exports.

They are usually sold through different channels, such as farmers, wholesalers, retailers and processors, before reaching the final consumers. Examples include cocoa being sold to a chocolate-processing company, cassava being processed into garri or flour, and cotton being supplied to textile industries.

Importance of Agricultural Marketing

1. It creates a market for farmers

Agricultural marketing provides farmers with a means of selling the products they have produced. A farmer may produce large quantities of maize, rice, cocoa,…