SEDAGHAT R.
Abstract
Pistachio is the most important agricultural crop which has been extensively cultivated in Iran's tropics.
The country earns sizable income from Pistachio export. Currently Pistachio is exported to many countries through
Pistachio cooperative and private exporters. This paper aims to analyze the marketing costs, margin and efficiency of
major channels of Pistachio marketing in Iran. Necessary data were collected through personal interview of randomly
selected 100 sample farmers and 10 sample exporters/processors in Kerman province in the crop zdar 2004-2005.
Shepherd model and Ranking market performance indicators method were employed in this study. The results show that
although none of the channels are economically efficient, but Pistachio cooperative channels are relatively more
efficient than private channels. Since there are some more indicators which were included while using composite index,
the results of the second method seems more accurate and reliable. According to composite index export to European
countries was the most efficient channel with the lowest mean score of 2.16, followed by central Asian countries (2.5),
export to Arab countries (2.66), export to the other markets (3.83), export to south east Asian countries (4.5)
and sell to domestic market (4.66).
Key words:
Marketing efficiency; market margin; marketing cost; shepherd model; composite index