THE RESOURCE STRUCTURE
III. Marketing
Dhaka market, but the wholesale stockists, arotdar, of Dhaka send out their middlemen, furia, to scout the region for produce Dhankura is known for: vegetables, winter crops, jute, milk, and poultry.
Who from Dhankura, then sells which produce to which markets in the chain? We will look at the pattern of sale by crop.
As we have mentioned, no paddy furia operates in Dhankura.
Manikganj is a deficit rice area so that its residents buy more in than they sell out. The options on paddy or rice sale, then, are sale within the village to other villagers at the local bazaar, or to the specialised hats. The largest specialised hat for paddy and rice, Saturia, is 6 miles away and trades in paddy/rice only one day a week. A closer, smaller hat opens two days a week. The surplus and medium farmers, who can afford not to sell immedia- tely at harvest, sell 20% of their surplus paddy as paddy within the village; most of it to paddy husking business-men. The remaining 80% of their surplus they sell as rice in the specialised markets.
Although deficit in paddy for their own needs, the lower categories are forced to sell roughly 40% of their production at harvest to meet production expenses. They sell at least 95% as rice, and to the local market. The price per maund of rice at the specialised market is Tk. 3-5 higher than the price per maund at the local market less transport expenses. If the work load at harvest were not demanding of their time, these farmers would willingly walk the 6 miles to earn the extra 3-5 taka per maund they could command from the specialised markets.
The options on jute sale are to the government procurement centre or to furia at the specialised hat, at the local bazaar, or within the village. The price scale follows those options. Sale to the procurement centre commands Tk. 10 more per maund, less roughly Tk. 1 for transport, than sale within the village. Sale to furia at the local market commands perhaps 3-5 taka more per maund, than sale to furia in the village. The medium and surplus sell 20% of their jute production to furia within the village, and 80% to the procurement centre. Whereas the marginal and small sell 50% to furia in the village, and 50% to furia at the local market, the one landless farmer who grows jute sells it to the
government procurement centre. The volume of jute a farmer has to sell helps him weigh out the relative advantage of selling to the procurement centre. Certainly one gets a better price, but there are transport expenses to weigh in plus there are some delays in payment and some falsification in weighing at the government centre.
Most winter crops are sold either within the village or at the local bazaar to furia. However, all mustard seed is sold to the hat which specialises in mustard. The prices to furia are more or less equal in the village or at the local bazaar. Some winter crops are bartered by women to travelling tradesmen for utensils, betel nut and other commodities for a low price. Some sales are made within the village at times of scarcity directly to consumers for a high price. Pulses and sweet potato are most frequently sold within the village. The surplus and medium categories sell 10% in the village, and 90% to the local bazaar. Women of the medium and surplus categories control the transactions made by those categories within the village. The lower categories sell 5% of the winter crops in the village, and 95% to the local bazaar.
IV Summary:
What can we say by way of summary about processing, storage, and marketing in Dhankura? There is a clear preference for sale of paddy as rice: for storage of jute, paddy, and seed; and for sale of all produce at specialised markets. However, only those owning or operating 3.5 acres or more can afford not to sell immediately after harvest and are able to stock seed, paddy, and jute. These are farmers who maximise on storage value-added and optimum sale prices. Those operating less than 3.5 acres exercise decreasing options in sale price and little capacity for storage. They try to maximise instead on processing value-added, as processing requires labour not capital or surplus.
Chapter Four
ADDITIONAL SOURCES OF INTERNAL INCOME I. Subsidiary Agricultural Production
Almost all households in Dhankura engage in some subsidiary agricultural production : poultry, dairy, or horticulture. Not all of this production is geared for a cash income- Some households consume most of what they produce thereby saving the household some expenditure. We will examine below the production, consumption, and sale factors of subsidiary agriculture.
Subsidiary agricultural production depends in part upon land available (especially for horticulture), but also in large part on one's capital and risk bearing capacity (especially for dairy). We find in Dhankura that the surplus and medium maximise poultry and dairy products over horticulture. This reflects in part their investment capacity and possession of cows and poultry. But certain normative factors also operate. All of subsidiary agriculture production is the preserve of women, but horticulture requires the most labour - The upper categories, for status reasons, try to conserve their female labour. Only women from the lower categories engage in intensive horticulture. The small marginal, and landless maximise horticulture as they have less capital to invest and fewer cows and poultry. The constraint to their horticulture is the amount of land owned. The following table presents the production, consumption and sale figures in taka by land-holding category (table 1).
% of sale outside the village 30 − − 30 70 90 90 80 90 90 80 90 90 90 −
% of sale within the Village 70 − − 70 30 10 10 20 10 10 20 10 10 10 −
Sale (Taka) 3,150 − − 7,750 1,200 3,300 15,280 5,760 5,600 4,424 6,421 2,100 7,513 1,671 −
Consumption (Taka) 4,320 1,440 8,640 3,780 1,680 10,080 16,040 2,280 2,400 7,560 630 700 8,706 771 700
Annual total Production (Taka) 7,470 1,440 8,640 11,530 2,880 13,380 31,320 8,040 8,000 11,984 7,051 2,800 16,984 2,442 700
Type of production Horticulture Poultry Dairy Horticulture Poultry Dairy Horticulture Poultry Dairy Horticulture Poultry Dairy Horticulture Poultry Dairy
Table 1: Subsidiary Agricultural Production L-H Category Surplus Medium Small Marginal Landless
The landless, with one exception, possess no cows and therefore, do not go in for dairy production. The exception, a Hindu, has invested his surplus employment income in a calf- rearing business: he buys calves at roughly Tk. 500 which he rears to maturity and sells for Tk. 1000 after 8-9 months. He also stocks some cows for milk production. Another exception, whose Tk. 4000 income per annum from lemon cultivation distorts the horticulture production and sale figures for the medium category, should also be mentioned.
The surplus consume all they produce in poultry and dairy.
The sale of such items carry low status as the traditional sellers are Hindus of a low caste, goyala. Moreover, the consumption of these items carry high status and save expenditure. The medium sell as well as consume poultry, dairy, and horticulture products.
The horticulture produce of the medium and surplus is sold largely within the village as the women of these categories by selling to furia within the villages are able to put aside small savings in their secret tills. The small, marginal, and landless sell more than they consume and sell more outside the village than inside. The women of these categories cannot afford small savings but need quick returns and the highest possible prices. Table 2 presents the pattern of consumption and sale by households.