development context.

 During the actual conduct of the studies preliminary reports and selected

pieces of information should be transmitted to key individuals in government

and in the private sector. When sufficient research output is available to

support major recommendations for an interrelated set of marketing improvement

programs, a high level seminar can contribute to the further development and

eventual adoption of programs and policies consistent with long-term national

goals.

 If resources make it impractical to carry out such a comprehensive study

as a concentrated effort, an alternative is to establish a research agenda

and arrange for contributing studies that might be carried out by local

university students under faculty supervision, by graduate students preparing

theses for foreign universities, or by private consulting firms.



 Towards a Research Agenda

 A research agenda can be developed around a set of interrelated questions

that address the basic information needs for diagnosing marketing problems

and assessing program needs to achieve desired development goals. A suggested

set of questions and some interspersed comments are as follows:

 What is the organizational structure at the farmer,

 assembly and processor levels? What services are pro-

 vided at these different stages, and what are the pre-

 vailing price spreads, costs and investments at each

 stage?

 What are the procedures for arranging transactions and

 coordinating product flow in these stages of the marketing

 channels for the major food products?