CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

    Today the mentioning of the word marketing has a lost of things and meaning to send to a layman. The word marketing has to be understood and interpreted by any layman as meaning the same thing as trading. It is in this view that we say that it starts before production and ends after consumption. We also talked about societal marketing concept, which puts the entire society into consideration when emphasizes on selling.

           In an attempt to define the marketing it is good to look at some definition given some authorities and professionals in the tied .It should also noted that these is the general accepted definition of marketing rather each person tries to look at marketing to the function performed by him.

          Therefore we would not make mistake by saying that there are as many marketers.

          According to Philip Kotler (1980) marketing is the human activity through exchange process. This definition has some key words as the operative words such as need wants and exchange need. This is defining as a state of felt. Deprivation in person.

Wants-Are The expression of human as they are shaped by a person culture and individual development. And wants must be meaningful to marketer.

Exchange- is obtaining a desire objective from some one offering in return to some thing of value.

                   Nwokoye (1981) define marketing as  the set of activates tat facilitate exchange transaction involving economic goods and service for the ultimate purpose of satisfying human needs. The activities here include product development production adding transportation storage promotion distribution and pricing etc.

              Ifezue (1990) define marking as a process which identifies anticipates and satisfies consumers need an wants through conception promotion mutual  exchange and physical distribution  of comic good services yet institute  of marketing London (1943) defined marketing as a management process which identifies anticipate and supplies consumers requirement efficiently and profitable form the above definitions one can look at the application of marketing knowledge to the marketing of yam.

1.2                    STASTEMENT OF OBJECTIVE

          Before now the production of yam used to be a very level and because of this yam was left mechanized. Through some attempts were made towards increasing the output but not much has been achieved. It is based on the above reason that I have chosen to find out  the problem inherent in the distribution and marketing  of yam in Enugu State.

Problem, which was identified, falls in the following.

Price of yam is very high because of loading by middlemen and it is a real problem because of scarcity created by the activities of these middlemen.

The quality of yam supplied to the market urban town cities are not enough which leads to price variation at different market and it is caused by ineffective system of distribution lack of information with the yam market has created a problem of duping of the product (yam) at the point of production and scarcity of at town cities.