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 Printable version |
Quality requirements of urban consumers and marketing chains for red palm oil in Côte d‘Ivoire |
Cahiers Agricultures. Volume 13, Number 1, 135-41, Janvier-Février 2004 - L’alimentation des villes, Étude originale
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 Résumé
Article gratuit
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Author(s) : Emmanuelle Cheyns, Nicolas Bricas, Aïké Aka |
Summary : After its independence, Côte d‘Ivoire based its economic development on agricultural export crops, including palm oil. Research and politicians thus focused their efforts on the agro‐industrial production of selected oil palms. This did not prevent the development of a smallholder sector making use of wild palm groves, but also of selected oil palm plantings, to supply the domestic market with red palm oil. Urban consumers have particular quality expectations for red palm oil. However, not all the characteristics on which quality is based are identifiable when the oil is acquired or when it is used. For a majority of consumers, quality is linked to the kind of fruits used, and to the processing method. Direct supplies from the producer or
via short (few middlemen) or "territorial" marketing chains are types of coordination that guarantee quality based on the local authenticity of fruits (wild palm grove) and\\or processing methods designed to meet consumer expectations. These types of organisations are typical of the so‐called "African" oils, or oil from Man (in the West of the country), very much demanded by a majority of consumers in Abidjan. However, "Sodepalm" oil, produced from the fruits of selected palms using increasingly generic small‐scale methods, is seen as a relatively standard product less geared to the consumer. In this case, qualification of the product concentrates primarily on "perception attributes" identifiable at the time of purchase (colour, smell, etc.). Here, the marketing chains are different: they involve more middlemen (long chains) and more distant relations between stakeholders. These results show how the urban market and the structuring of the commodity chain are linked to quality dynamics. |
Keywords : Product Quality and Security\; Processing, Marketing\; Vegetal Productions. |
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