Intermediaries in the marketing process of agricultural products.

Dear readers, at the time of marketing an agricultural product, some producers sell directly to consumers, but in my sector there is usually a group of people known as intermediaries, who are responsible for the mobilization of products from agricultural production units to retailers or final consumers.

In this sense, Aldana (2001) and Castellano (2000) mention that as urban areas increase in countries, the demand for agricultural products increases and therefore the needs of consumers, which is why intermediaries are considered important, since they are the ones who facilitate the transfer of products so that product demands can be met.

Now, despite observing the importance of intermediaries in the marketing process, many people consider them as one of the negative elements in the marketing process, making them responsible for the increase in prices, in society we always hear that those who end up with a higher profit is the intermediary and producers who are responsible for establishing and maintaining crops their income is lower, I think from my point of view that everything will depend on the company or person who make the connections between producers and consumers, since some may speculate with prices.

- Rural stockpilers: as their name indicates, they are in charge of concentrating agricultural products from different production units and then taking them to the agribusiness. For example, in the southern area of Lake Maracaibo there are milk stockpilers, where trucks travel to different production units and then take them to the dairy industry.

- Wholesalers: in this line there is an intermediary that can be called rural wholesalers and urban wholesalers, rural wholesalers are in charge of buying from producers or rural stockpilers to sell to urban wholesalers; as for urban wholesalers, they are in charge of selling products to retailers, as we all know retailers are composed of warehouses, butchers, cheese shops, bakeries and other establishments that specialize in the sale of agricultural and livestock products.

Dear readers, as can be seen, intermediaries play an important role in the marketing of agricultural products, in order to reach consumers who are the ones who generate the demand and who consume these products, which is the last link in the production process.

- Aldana, H. (2001). Agricultural Economics, Administration and Marketing. Terranova Editions.

- Castellano, A. (2000). Commercialization of agricultural products. Ediciones de la Universidad Nacional Experimental Ezequiel Zamora UNELLEZ. Barinas: Venezuela.