Is there evidence that market instability and poor

 market coordination have resulted in high and costly

 levels of risk and uncertainty for farmers, as well as

 other market participants? What are the major causes

 of market related risks and uncertainties?

 Primary emphasis in the above question areas is needed on better under-

standing the micro level relations of both agricultural production and

marketing in rural areas, and to explore the equity and efficiency implications

of alternative marketing arrangements. It is essential to better understand

how the effectiveness of marketing services influences supply response of

different type of farmers. For example, what effect does market information

have on market risk and uncertainty associated with both small and large farmers'

adoption of new agricultural production technology and farm level enterprise

selection? There is the critical question of understanding the role of local

input marketing services in reducing costs, as well as risk and uncertainty,

associated with obtaining and correctly using new agricultural production

inputs. There is also the question of learning how to better coordinate

planned output expansion with market demand potential, even though there is

generally very inadequate information regarding characteristics of demand.

This is particularly important for many of the rural development schemes which

seek to raise small farmer income via high value crop production, such as

fruits and vegetables, and meats. High marketing costs, risky market trans-

action channels, and underspecified quality characteristics for these products

can quickly dampen price and other demand incentives for farmers, especially

for smaller ones who tend to have less individual control over marketing

methods and higher marketing costs due to smaller unit sales.

 What will be the trends in population growth, level

 and distribution of incomes, and urbanization patterns