Market survey of traditional rice varieties at Osh Bazaar, Kyrgyzstan

Bc. Petr Vopěnka

Master's thesis

Abstract:

Thesis documented the trade with traditional rice varieties at the Great Silk Road Bazaar in Osh city, representing regional market hub for southern Kyrgyzstan. A total number of 30 vendors participated in our survey. Interviewer-administrated semi-structured questionnaires were used in order to document traded volumes, stocks, prices and origin of documented rice varieties as well as demographic and socio-economic characteristics of vendors. Descriptive statistics such as percentages, means, and standard deviations were used to describe the sample on the various variables. Furthermore, Pearson correlation was applied to identify potential relations between main variables. Eight national varieties and three international varieties were identified during this research according to their market names. Results showed that the highest traded volume was from Uzgen region (33.02 %), followed by Jalal-Abad and Batken provinces (both 17.13 %) and Aravan region (17.10 %). Domestic rice varieties were sold for higher price and with higher trade volumes in comparison with imported ones, very probably because of strong tradition and culture. We identified high number or vendors selling rice without significant difference in retail prices that revealed aspects of perfect competition, which is typical for food markets and rural markets in developing countries. Consequently, we supposed that price was not decisive factor for consumers to buy certain amount of rice. Generally, vendors had limited storage capacity at the bazaar, and thus they had minimal stock of rice. All stalls were supplied via middleman two-three times per week. We identified positive correlation between daily traded volume and supply frequency per week (r=0.5859; p-value=0.001). It suggests that vendors with higher daily trade volume have to increase supply frequency instead of increase of a total stock due to limited storage capacity of the stalls. We documented annual price and demand fluctuations based on the vendors opinion. Maximal value of price was identified from June to July and minimal value from September to October. Both peaks were influenced by harvest period in September. Than maximal demand was identified in July and September. The peak in July was caused by Ramadan which significantly pushed demand for rice up and the second peak was influenced by price which is at minimal value in September.

Keywords

market survey, traditional rice varieties, vendors, Osh province, Kyrgyzstan

Jazyk práce: English

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 22. 4. 2016

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Vedúci: Ing. Vladimír Verner, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Master programme / odbor:
Tropical Agriculture / International Development and Agricultural Economics