Introduction

Increasing attention is being given to the development of theory in marketing. Theorists have used functional, managerial, and institutional approaches with relatively little emphasis on the commodity approach during the past decade. In this topic, the role commodities might play in formulating hypotheses which could lead to better theory in marketing is explored. While the commodity approach is perceived as obsolete with few marketing journals or textbooks referring to it as a marketing research method, commodity based papers are still prominent in the marketing literature. This topic expounds sources and conditions of supply, storage, transportation and standardization and demand of agricultural commodities. It also explains the role of middlemen in commodity marketing. While sources of supply may refer to the geographical location of the agricultural commodity or the different stages of the marketing system, conditions of supply refer to the form of the product which may either be in its raw or processed form. Storage refers to the logistical, technical and economic considerations during the process of storing agricultural commodities. Transportation and standardization refers to the process of ensuring requisite quantitative and qualitative standards are met as well as the physical movement of the commodity from point of purchase to point of sale. Demand of agricultural commodity tries to capture the preferences of consumers of the commodity in its various forms, while the role of middlemen in the movement of agricultural commodities from the point of purchase to the point of sale is also explained.