Marketing and Distribution

What is marketing and why is it important for the process of production? Marketing is the vital link which connects the producer to the consumer. This link is of crucial importance in all economies because without a marketing mechanism, the producer’s surplus crops rot in the field. In economies which are strongly orientated towards external trade as is the case of East Africa, it is the marketing mechanism which connects the producer to the world market, and which, as will be shown in this chapter, supports the producer against world price fluctuations dealt with in the previous chapter.