Marketing Efficiency of Date in Khartoum State, Sudan

The study aimed to measure the marketing efficiency of date at wholesalers in Khartoum State in the year 2013. The study depended mainly on primary data which was collected through questionnaire. About 35 of wholesaler were selected through simple random sampling. Also, secondary data was collected from sources related to topic of the study. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics tool. Also, quantitative analysis techniques were used to calculate net marketing margins and marketing efficiency for wholesalers. The study revealed that 82.9% of wholesalers bought the product from local traders. On the other hand, about 68.6% of wholesalers sold their product to retailers. About 25.30, 33.20, 13.30 and 7.40 SG/Sack represented Gross Marketing Margins for Gondaila, Tomoda, Brakawie and Gawa, respectively. About 25.25, 6.15, -13.75 and -20.65 SG/Sack represented Net Marketing Margins for Gondaila, Tomoda, Brakawie and Gawa, respectively. The Shepherd’s Formula indicated that Gondaila, Tomoda, Brakawie and Gawa got marketing efficiency equal to 17.41, 13.09, 06.06 and 02.45, respectively. The main obstacles that facing wholesalers in marketing of date were follows: transportation cost, taxes, losses and finance. Increasing Net Marketing Margins at wholesaler’s Brakawie and Gawa in Khartoum market through reducing marketing costs (minimize economics and normal risks (balance between supply and demand beside control store pest) transportation and taxes cost items). In this efficiency activity, investment and credit services should be encouraged and provided, respectively.


Introduction
The date (Phoenix dactyllifera L.) is considered as a symbol of life in the desert, because its tolerance of high temperatures, drought and salinity is more than many other fruit crop plant species.It is one of the oldest trees from which man has derived benefit, and it has been cultivated since ancient times.The only indigenous wild desert plant definitely domesticated in its native harsh environments appears to be the date (Zohary & Hopf, 2000).The date is a major agricultural crop in the Near East and North Africa, and it has historically been connected with sustaining human life in many of the hot and barren parts of the old world and has become an integral part of the culture and tradition of the people of these regions (Sawaya, 2000).The date retains its value for cultivators as it gives a wide range of products and services, including many necessities of life.The date, the primary product of the palm, is rich in protein, vitamins, and mineral salts.That is why it represents an essential element of diet for the cultivator himself and his animals.All secondary products of the palm result from annual pruning and have essential uses for the cultivator.With an annual production of about 330,000 tons and a date (Phoenix dactylifera L.) population of about 8 million, Sudan ranks number 8 in the list of top date producing countries of the world.However, Sudan has tremendous potential to rank much higher in this scale due to extensive stretches of land between latitude 12°N and the Tropic of Cancer, availability of irrigation water and a suitable climate for date production.Dates are traditionally marketed all over the world as a high value confectionery, fresh fruit they remain an important subsistence crop in most of the desert areas (Erskine, 2003).Marketing efficiency can benefit all the key actors in a market chain.An efficient marketing system is essential for earning fair profit for the producers and traders (Janifa et al., 2014).Fewer researches were conducted in date marketing.Hence the present research aimed at shedding light on the marketing efficiency of date in Khartoum state (capital of Sudan).

Methodology
According to Emam (2011), marketing margin can be estimated as: Marketing margin = Selling price -Cost price Netmarketing margin = Marketing margin -Marketing cost Net marketing margin for wholesaler = Wholesale marketing margin -Wholesale marketing cost For the marketing efficiency analysis, it is measured as (Emam, 2010): Marketing efficiency = (Gross marketing margin/Marketing cost) × 100 Also, Shepherd's Formula is used for measuring marketing efficiency as follows (Ugwumba, 2010): Where, V = Value of goods sold (consumer price); I = Total marketing cost at specific level of trader.
If the output of calculation is more than one means that the product are efficient in marketing.

Socioeconomics Characteristics
Age: The majority of wholesalers were aged group ranged between 31 and 50 years (Table 1).Source: Data collected and calculated, 2013.
Education: The results illustrated that about 5.7%, 2.9%, 20.0%, 45.7% and 25.7% were represented illiterate, organic, primary, secondary and university education level for wholesalers, respectively (Table 2).Upton (1987) reported that education has an important influence in managerial ability and decision making.This means that the date marketing is practically done by experienced traders.Source: Data collected and calculated, 2013.
Family Size: The majority of wholesalers (71.3%) have family size ranged from 1 to 5 persons (Table 4).Experience: The results recorded that about 74.3% of wholesales have experience more than six years (Table 5).Source: Data collected and calculated, 2013.
Source of finance: About 68.6% and 31.4 of wholesalers were self-finance and others sources of finance, respectively (Table 6).Source: Data collected and calculated, 2013.

Sources of Date
82.9% and 17.1% of wholesalers sold date from local traders and producers, respectively (Table 7).Source: Data collected and calculated, 2013.

Distribution of Date
The results illustrated that about 68.6%, 14.3% and 17.1% of wholesalers bought date to retailers, consumers and both (consumers and retailers), respectively (Table 8).Source: Field survey, 2013.

Analysis of Marketing Cost at Wholesalers of Date
Marketing costs were the same for different types of date.The marketing cost of date at wholesaler was 27.05 SG/Sack; Rent cost (including losses) (48.69%), transportation (23.29%), taxes (12.24%), handling (3.14%), and others (22.57%) represented the main marketing cost items (Table 9).The results indicated that rent (and losses), transportation and taxes costs represented higher percentages in the marketing costs of date wholesalers.The higher losses were reflected mainly to store pests.This result was assured with previous study (Khairi et al., 2010).The study reported that the store pests cause a lot of damage.Note.* = cost item (in month in SG)/quantities sold (in month SG/Sack).
Source: Data collected and calculated, 2013.

Gross Marketing Margins
The gross marketing margins were ranked as the descending order for different types of date (Table 10).About 25.30, 33.20, 13.30 and 7.40 SG/Sack represented gross marketing margins for Gondaila, Tomoda, Brakawie and Gawa, respectively.

Net Marketing Margins
About 25.25, 6.15, -13.75 and -20.65 SG/Sack represented net marketing margins for Gondaila, Tomoda, Brakawie and Gawa, respectively (Table 10).Gondaila, Tomoda got higher and positively net marketing margins while Brakawie and Gawa got lower and negatively net marketing margins.The results of Brakawie and Gawa wholesalers was reflected to the high in marketing costs beside low in gross marketing margins which came as a results of low in selling and buying prices.

Table 1 .
Distribution of wholesalers according to age groups

Table 2 .
Distribution of wholesalers according to education levels

Table 3 .
Distribution of wholesalers according to marital status

Table 4 .
Family size

Table 5 .
Distribution of wholesalers according to their experience

Table 6 .
Distribution of wholesalers according to sources of finance

Table 7 .
Distribution of wholesalers according to sources of date

Table 8 .
Distribution of date

Table 9 .
Marketing costs at wholesalers of date