Assignment On Portray the Rural Market: A Study on the Rajshahi District

Submitted To Mr. Mohammad Baktiar Rana Course Instructor of MKT 523: Rural Marketing Submitted By Afra Nouare Rumi Shakila Rahman 17th Batch MBA Program

Institute of Business Administration Jahangirnagar University Savar, Dhaka.-1342 Date of Submission: September 26, 2012.

Portray the Rural Market: A Study on the Rajshahi District

Rural: Rural refers to an area where most of the peoples livelihoods depend on agriculture, the
population density is low, the usage of technological gadgets is low and the infrastructures i.e. road, pool are not so developed.

Portraying Rural Market of Rajshahi District: Rural Markets are defined as those segments
of overall market of any economy which are used for the rural people.

Rajshahi District is a district in north-western Bangladesh. It is a part of the Rajshahi Division with
an area of 2407.01 sq km. Beside the City Corporation area and the nine Sub-districts or upazilla headquarters, all the rest of the district can be referred as rural area. These rural areas are the areas to portray the rural market of Rajshahi district. By using the four factors or bases of segmenting consumer market, we can portray the rural market of Rajshahi district. The four bases or factors for segmentation are as follows: 1. Geographic Factors 2. Demographic Factors 3. Psychographic Factors 4. Behavioral Factors

1. Geographic Factors
Rajshahi district is bounded by Naogaon District to the north, Natore District to the east, and Chapai Nababganj District and the river Padma to the south.There are ten rivers in this district, totaling 146 km in length. The main river is Padma River (Ganges). Some others are Mahananda, Baral and Barnai river. The District remains predominantly rural with 1443249 people (63%) residing in rural areas.
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Figure 1: Left: Rajshahi District (red area) in the Map of Bangladesh Right: Rajshahi District (Divided in Upazillas) The rural people & market and their lifestyle affected by their location where they live. The rural market of Rajshahi district in terms of geographic factors: The Climate: Rajshahi falls into the western dry zone, one of the seven climatic zones into which Bangladesh can be divided, and has a mean annual rainfall of below 1524 mm compared to a national average of 2540 mm (BBSe 2005). Rajshahi has a tropical monsoon climate. Each year has a dry and a wet period. Most of the rain falls from May till September. The rest of the year is relatively dry. Temperatures start to rise from March and remain high till September. During the warmest time of day temperatures may rise up to 38 degrees Celsius. Because of this mainly dry and warm weather watery and cold food demand is high in the market. Land Nature and Use: Rajshahi has been regarded as the bread-basket of Bangladesh for the land nature. Recent agricultural modernizations with the much-lauded Barendra project
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has increased crop-diversification, allowed farmers to access better analysis of their farmland's chemical composition, and generally allowed farmers to grow as many as three crops every year instead of the usual one crop. For geographic location and nature of land, Rajshahi District has single crop 22%, double crop 68% and treble crop land 10%. Cultivable land under irrigation is 56%.

Local Produced Products: Because of geographic location Rajshahi is blessed by main fruits of Bangladesh; Mango, jackfruit, banana, litchi, black berry, coconut, palm and papaya. So according to season the market becomes full of seasonal fruits. Paddy, wheat, jute, sugarcane, turmeric, oil seed, onion, garlic, potato, betel leaf and mulberry plant are main crops. So these crops and fruits are always available in the markets of Rajshahi District. Beside this, the land of Rajshahi is also perfect for producing mulberry trees.As Silkworms only eat fresh mulberry leaves, the rural people grow mulberry trees to produce silk fiber and sell them to the local intermediaries of silk corporations.

2. Demographic Factors:
The rural market of Rajshahi district is affected by the factors which are discussed under demographic segmentation. The rural market of Rajshahi district in terms of geographic factors: Age: For the different kinds of initiatives taken by the government and NGOs for family planning and health service, the growth rate and the death rate of rural rate is decreasing in the recent years. As a result the number of people who are able to work is increasing. There is a large demand for products for this certain age category people. Race: In Rajshahi district, diversified races people live. Not only Bangalee but also Santal, Munda, Orao people also live there. The Santal are 2.34% of the total population. The

ethnic people are not so much interested to use the modern products.They depend on cultivation and hunting for their livelihood.

 Gender: The male and female percentages of rural areas of Rajshahi are:male 50.66%, female 49.33%. For the betterment of this large number of rural women, there are many NGOs in Rajshahi operating now-a-days. Those NGOs are
BRAC,

CARE, ASA,

GRAMEEN

BANK, PROSHIKA, CARITAS, THENGAMARA MAHILA SABUJ SANGHA,

Thanapara Swallows

Development Society (TSDS). By their help, many women become self-employed. For this reason, their purchasing power is becoming higher than previous days. Although the purchasing power is increasing, the families have not such money to buy different products for the male or female members of the family. They buy products i.e. soap which is reasonable in price. Income: The average income of the rural people is lower than the average income of the total people of Bangladesh. For this reason the rural people of Rajshahi prefers more quantity than better quality of any product. Education: Average literacy rate of the rural area of Rajshahi is 30.61% where male literacy rate is 37.6% and female literacy rate is 23.2%.The education rate of the rural area of Rajshahi is beginning to rise in the recent years because of different steps taken by government .For this reason, the rural people are become more interested in introducing and using new products. They also become aware about different brands of different products in the recent years. Family Size: As the breaking down of joint family of Rajshahi district is increasing day by day, the usage of minipack of products is also increasing. In many cases the small shops situated in different houses of rural area which is used as a side income for the shopkeepers, they buy large quantity of packages of products and sell the product in small quantities with a large profit to these neuclear families. Occupation: BBS (2005c, p. XV) reports that the occupation of rural area of Rajshahi are: Agriculture 38.73%, agricultural laborer 23.64%, wage laborer 3.50%, commerce 12.44%, service 8.81%, transport 2.36% and others 10.52%.As most of the rural people depend on agriculture for their livelihood, in most cases they buy and sell their produced products at
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nearby rural markets, hats and fairs. Even in the modern age of money, in many cases they depend on barter. Religion: The percentages of different religions in rural areas of Rajshahi are: Muslim 93%; Hindu 5%, Christian 1.5% and others 0.5%.Before the religious festibles, the demand for dress, furniture increase in the rural market.

3. Psychographic Factors:
Psychographic factors are the use of Psychology and demographics together. The rural market of Rajshahi district in terms of psychographic factors:

Lifestyle: The people of the rural area of Rajshahi district are very much fond of their old
traditional songs i.e. Murshidi, Marfoti, Alkap, Pala, Gombhira etc. With the help of the modern technological gadgets, the rural people nurture their old heritage. The rural people use those types of products which are comfortable and easy to use and match with their traditions.

Values: As the rural people are so religious and family centric, they prefer to use those
products which all family members prefer. So market is full of those products which match with their religious values.

4. Behavioral Factors:
Behavioral factors are based on buyers knowledge of, attitude towards, use of, or response to a product. The rural market of Rajshahi district in terms of behavioral factors:

Knowledge: Product information for new and existing products is available to the rural
people of Rajshahi district by TV, radio and other media. Besides this locally published
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newspapers and periodicals are available with large number and volumes. So rural people have easy access on product information given by advertisement.

Occasions: Rajshahi district has rich cultures with different occasions, among them fair
is one of the most popular occasion. Total fairs 20, most noted of which Rath Mela, Bhaga Eid Mela, Baruni Mela, Mundumala Mela, Kakan Hat Mela, Sultanganj Mela. In those fairs products from cottage industry comes in the market, especially as Rajshahi district is famous for the production of cocoon and silk fabrics. Other Cottage industries include weaving, bamboo work, cane work, goldsmith, blacksmith, potteries, brass work, wood work, tailoring, etc from which products come into the rural markets.

User Status: Consumers focus on quantity and price rather than quality of products. So
small size packaged products and low price products are more demandable to the Rajshahis rural people considering products brand. Buyer Readiness State: Rural market of Rajshahi district has cold prospect. For all time products supply cold storage facilities in Rajshahi more available than other districts rural market.

Conclusion: With the help of four factors or bases of segmenting consumer market, in above
we portray the rural market of Rajshahi district. By analyzing the factors, we can say that in the rural market of Rajshahi there is a large scope to introduce new product lines with the help of the heritage of Rajshahi district.