Fundamentos teóricos
II.2 CONSOLIDACIÓN NO LINEAL
II.2.1 Relaciones constitutivas
The findings of the survey confirmed previous observations that Assamese consumers prefer raw milk to processed liquid milk or powdered milk. This is largely dictated by the nature of consumption of milk in the state, namely, as a tea whitener or in form of milk sweets.
Consumption levels are still way below the national average and this could be due to a number of reasons, of which taste preference is key. However, taste preference can be modified if not completely changed, as previous studies have shown (Waldfogel 1999). In recent years, Assam has witnessed an influx of immigrants whose cultures have had a strong
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Rural (n=440) Urban (n=1024) Strongly
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influence on the local people, prompting them—especially the younger generation—to incorporate new food products like cheese and butter into their diets. There have also been increased government efforts to promote the consumption of dairy products. Therefore, the tastes of the Assamese population are likely to change with evolving socio-economic circumstances and increasing urbanization; a likely long-term result of this is increased consumer acceptability of a wider variety of dairy products. In addition, the introduction of a school milk program is likely to boost the demand for liquid milk.
A generic milk promotion campaign may be pursued in Assam to increase consumer awareness of the nutritional benefits of milk consumption. While promotion campaigns have been shown to have minimal impact on demand (Kinnucan and Miao 2000; Davis 2005), they generate considerable benefits to producers and traders through increased profits. This is because demand for milk is generally price elastic, so that even a minimal change in demand (due to the promotion campaign) will result in much higher returns from increased sales.
The generic milk promotion campaign should also take into account consumer awareness and preference for various products and product attributes such as source, market outlet, product quality and safety. Given consumer concerns about quality and public health risks in informal markets and standard brands in formal markets, the milk promotion campaign should give attention to the practice of milk adulteration by some unscrupulous traders and educate consumers and traders on the risks associated with drinking adulterated milk.
Stricter vigilance and enforcement of already existing regulations should be implemented.
This initiative could be further boosted by empirical evidence from milk testing that ILRI and its local partners have implemented as a complementary activity to the structured consumer survey.
Consumers generally prefer to source milk directly from producers or from outlets that they trust to guarantee the quality and safety of the milk they buy. While this aspect of supply can be easily addressed in rural areas where consumers have easy access to milk at the farm gate, the issue may need to be seriously considered in the context of milk marketing channels in urban areas. Currently, urban consumers mostly buy milk from itinerant vendors and sometimes, depending on ease of access, directly from producers. However, many discriminating consumers, who are also willing to pay the relatively higher price of pasteurized milk, buy their milk from grocery shops and supermarkets. For resource-constrained consumers who do not have easy access to direct sources of milk, there is a need to find a way to improve the level of trust and satisfaction with the quality and safety of milk sold by these informal itinerant milk vendors. Indeed, consumers in Assam will be stimulated to increase demand for milk when they perceive that they are getting value for money, i.e.
the quality of milk commensurate to the price they pay for it. One option for jumpstarting the
increase in demand for milk is a recognized, effective certification scheme that will provide an assurance of the quality of milk sold by the various actors along the producer-to-consumer supply chain.
Based on current levels of consumption, urban consumers spend considerably more than their rural counterparts, particularly on high-value products such as traditional milk-based sweets and other processed dairy products. This apparent demand for high-value traditional processed dairy products offers good opportunities for value addition in small-scale dairy processing where appropriate quality and safety assurance can be ensured, as well as opportunities for rural employment.
References
Davis G. 2005. The significance and insignificance of demand analysis in evaluating promotion programs. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 87:673–688.
Government of Assam. Various years. Milk production in Assam. Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Government of Assam.
Government of Assam. Economic survey of Assam 2000–2003: Livestock and dairy development. http://
www.assamgov.org/ecosurvey/Dairy.htm/
Government of India. Various years. National Household Survey. Government of India.
Kinnucan H and Miao Y. 2000. Distributional impacts of generic advertising on selected commodity markets. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 82:672–678.
Lapar ML, Choubey M, Patwari P, Kumar A, Baltenweck I, Jabbar M and Staal S. 2007. Comprehensive study of the Assam dairy sector: Milk and milk products. ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute), Nairobi, Kenya. 170 pp.
Road map for agrarian prosperity in Assam. http://assamagribusiness.nic.in/agrarianprosperity/
DairyPoultrypiggery.pdf
Sarkar AB. 2004. Five strategies for development of animal husbandry in Assam. Assam Agricultural University, Guwahati, Assam, India. Mimeo.
Waldfogel J. 1999. Preference externalities: An empirical study of who benefits whom in differentiated product markets. NBER Working Paper No. 7391. NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research), Cambridge, USA. 53 pp.