Applying marketing channel theory to food marketing in developing countries: Vertical disintegration model for horticultural marketing channels in kenya

Tjalling Dijkstra, Matthew Meulenberg and Aad van Tilburg
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Tjalling Dijkstra: African Studies Centre, P.O. Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands, Postal: African Studies Centre, P.O. Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands
Matthew Meulenberg: Marketing and Consumer Behaviour Group, Wageningen University, Hollandseweg 1, 6706 KN Wageningen, The Netherlands, Postal: Marketing and Consumer Behaviour Group, Wageningen University, Hollandseweg 1, 6706 KN Wageningen, The Netherlands
Aad van Tilburg: Marketing and Consumer Behaviour Group, Wageningen University, Hollandseweg 1, 6706 KN Wageningen, The Netherlands, Postal: Marketing and Consumer Behaviour Group, Wageningen University, Hollandseweg 1, 6706 KN Wageningen, The Netherlands

Agribusiness, 2001, vol. 17, issue 2, 227-241

Abstract: This article shows that marketing channel theory, which has been extensively applied in developed countries, can also be of great value to the developing world. Notably, the channel approach makes it possible to explain the number of trade levels observed in food marketing systems. We propose here a vertical disintegration model for horticultural marketing channels in Kenya. It contains one dependent variable (the degree of vertical disintegration of a channel) and five independent variables (the population size of the market center served by the channel, the population density of the rural hinterland of that market center, the transport time from farm to market center, the turnover of the retailer involved, and the keeping quality of the commodity traded). Binomial and multinomial logit analyses show that the probability of encountering a more disintegrated horticultural marketing channel increases when the market center has more inhabitants, when the center's rural hinterland is more densely populated, and when the transport to the center takes more time. The probability of encountering a less disintegrated channel increases when the retailer in the channel has a larger turnover and when the traded commodity is a leafy vegetable. [EconLit classification: L190 market structure) © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Date: 2001
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:agribz:v:17:y:2001:i:2:p:227-241

DOI: 10.1002/agr.1013

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