Document Actions
Markets and Trade
The market system determines the ability to sell primary production, to trade goods and services and to find employment (whether in the formal or the informal sector), all of which have a profound influence on the pattern of livelihood. Three factors are particularly important; these are a) the demand for products, goods, services and labor, b) an efficient system for marketing these, and c) the existence of basic infrastructure to support market and trading activities. The existence of demand (a) is obviously a key factor. Proximity to a large urban center, for example, often has a profound influence on rural patterns of livelihood (e.g. because of urban demand for rural produce such as fruit and vegetables or urban demand for unskilled casual labor). The efficiency of the marketing system (b) is also important. This is determined by a number of factors, including the experience of traders, their access to capital, credit and equipment (e.g. trucks, storage depots), and government policy and legislation affecting trade (e.g. systems of licensing, taxation, duty, etc.). Finally, the existence of basic infrastructure (c), especially transport and communications, has an obvious and important influence on the market system. Taken together, these three factors by and large determine the economic operations of households within a particular livelihood zone. They also determine their vulnerability to particular hazards such as drought, conflict or market dislocation, since vulnerability is a function of a) the normal activities of households and b) the activities they turn to in response to a hazard. These, like the normal activities, are determined by the same three factors of geography, production and markets/trade.
