success. They rely heavily on successful group formation,
good access to transport, a favorable market, and long-term
consistency of farmers in generating sufficient surplus crop
of a marketable quality. Small and marginal farmers commonly
live far from the sale or export point for their produce.
Transport costs can be a significant proportion of the direct
costs of production and are often underestimated. It is common
for individual farmers to go with their product to market
to ensure safety, but the disadvantage of this is that they
may spend some of the sale price on an overnight stay or
other expenditure, and this can add substantially to cost.
Significant opportunities for transport cost saving exist, but
for various reasons (e.g., not all producing at the same time,
not being part of the same social group, not trusting others),
farmers usually prefer to transport individually.