ALTERNATIVE TRADING AND MARKETING

The concept of alternative trading and marketing stems from inequitable distribution of marketing
gains. While the producers get less the consumers get high prices the middlemen who performs the
function of moving the products gets most benefits from the chain.
The middlemen have the position of controlling the market. For rice the rice cartel dictates the price.
Alternative trading and marketing schemes are designed to have NGOs and fair trade practitioners
participate in rhe marketing processses so as to be able to increase buying prices from farmers at
farm gate and do the processong like threshing milling warehousibg and deliveries to POs Coops and
thus consumer prices is reduced or be affordable to consumers.
The system advocates for cutting the middlemen functions to barely minimum and hopes to do
efficient operations to be able to buy high and sell low while maintaining decent profit margins

The practitioners of ATM also corrects malpractices in trade like advocating for good quality;
correct weights and a pricing scheme favorable to the marginalized farmers and urban poor
consumers

The function of middlemen in the market is being taken by ATM practitioners and peoples
organizations, NGOs and Cooperatives that think first of service rather than profit first

Economies of scale (volume) is also being maintained so that operational costs can be covered.

Some say it does not work because one can t take the marketing functions from middlemen
(wholesalers retailers money lenders) but its practice has been experimented on in the past and
seems to work.

For GRASSROOTS before as an NGO did acquire transport trucks rice mill in Nuexa Ecija and
a jeepney to deliver to urban poor coops

We keep discussing and experimenting then and we recommend you may interview Atty GA
Benitez (Laean s husband) as he spent more time on this. Sa grassroots family we all agreed wala
na naterials published in our Advocate magazine nuon

Sorry ngayon lang ito dahil nagkaroon ako ng gawain at na guilty ako Che when Manay Belle
said you asked her too
The 4Ps of marketing: 1. The product- as rice is staple food we focus on rice. The product which
is rice goes through a lot of process from planting fertilizing harvesting threshing milling and
quality control and as such post harvest facilities are needed. The farmers as producers even had
to access financing from mobey lenders to be able to fertilize and pay high interest costs. Rice at
local level has high production costs conpared to orher countries like Vietnam because of lack of
gov t support. In Vietnam production costs are heavily subsidized by the gov t. 2. The price- our
rice prices at farm gate is too low as middlemen dictates the farm gate prices. Most middlemen
provided the production loans to farmers thus farmers are compelled to sell to them at low farm
gate prices. In the consumer end the rice prices are high compared to other countries because the
rice cartel dictate the price. Notorious is the Binondo cartel. They even hoard rice to effect high
consumer prices. The export market takes a toll to poor consumers and farmers because imported
hard is cheaper than local rice

3. The place- the movement of the product from farm to households is a network of processes.
Bulk buying at farm gate then processing and distribution to coops entailed transport support and
post harvest facilities and maintaining a crew of loaders and unloaders of the product

4. The promotion- this is very significant in raising awareness that our local rice is authentic rice
not plastic rice or synthetic obes dangerous to the health of consuners. Promorion of local rice
brings realuzation that the backbone of our economy is agriculture and thus farmers need a
market to sustain their families. Most buy cheaper and good quality imported rice like Jasmine
variety from Vietnam and leaving out our local farmers from gaining.

They say the market corrects itself but when greed takes over the marginalized sectors of our
society shall be at a loss

Attendant to alternative trading and marketing is financing. The coops get a time period to pay
the rice from GRASSROOTS then

Did you remember Marty Belin from US Menonites Did eval of fair trade projects nila in Bohol
and the late Charlie assigned me as her research assistant. We did visited handicraft exporters
they funded in Cebu and Bohol . I focused also on the wages of the handicraft workers and
whether they observe fair trade practices. I remembered Angel coaching me on how to do
evaluation task.

Enter