The sequence of stages involved in transferring produce from the farm to the consumer is generally referred to as a marketing chain. Examples of marketing chains are shown on the opposite page. The consumer could be as close to the producer as the same village or could be a consumer of cash crops living on the other side of the world. All transfers involve marketing activities in some form or other.
All activities involve costs.
At the simplest level the cost involved may just be the time taken by a farmer to walk to a nearby market and stay there until all his or her vegetables are sold. At the most complex level a product may be stored for lengthy periods, transported long distances and processed several times before reaching the form in which it is finally sold. The costs involved with marketing are not always fully understood. We can understand that traders or processors spend money on transport or packaging or on fuel for a rice or maize mill but there are many other, less obvious, costs. Because these costs are not always visible, those doing the marketing are often accused of making unreasonable profits.