Marketing of NWFPs is not easy; nor does it just happen on its own. A considerable amount of time and money must be invested to make it happen in a way that will return the most revenues to forest residents and the countries in which they live. As in the past, most development programs in the Amazon take a production-oriented approach. They focus on selling into the market rather than attempting to get higher value in the market or even changing the market entirely. Because of their production orientation, many development efforts have the net effect of creating increased supply of commodities and thus reducing prices, profitability and new income to-producers. A marketing orientation increases demand and value, thus allowing more product to enter the market without reducing the overall price of the commodity.
Numerous constraints and guidelines for marketing NWFPs are mentioned throughout this chapter. Some of them, however, should be underscored at this point. Each community or regional association should attempt to market a number of different products and find a number of different markets for each product. Sometimes, groups may be able to market their own products in local, regional, national, or even international markets. At other times, local groups will want to limit and specialize their marketing efforts in certain areas and turn the rest of the marketing over to another group (or groups).
Support for NWFP production and processing initiatives should also insist that local groups actively consider the ultimate marketing of their goods, even if it takes years to get to that point. To be sure, such groups will probably always be able to sell their products; but if they want good markets they will have to work for them. Markets that benefit forest groups do not just emerge overnight; they are created only with considerable effort. CSE has found that it takes at least one full-time staff person for every commodity it trades. Marketing works best if that person has come on staff at least one year prior to the commencing of trade.
If Amazonian groups wish to market their own products, they will need to establish offices and warehouses in each market they intend to penetrate (e.g., the south of Brazil, New York, Europe, Japan). It would perhaps be better if many Amazonian forest groups worked through a single broker so as to spread the costs of such an operation over a large number of commodities. Based on CSE's experiences, setting up such offices will cost about US$ 1 million in Brazil until it becomes self-sufficient, and about US$ 4 million in the US and US$ 6 million each in Europe and Japan.
Whether or not local groups decide to open their own office, the more their representatives travel to the US and Europe to view such operations and understand their workings, the more informed they will be. In the short term, Amazonian groups will be forced to market their products through others. There is simply too much to be learned about harvesting and processing at this stage without adding another whole dimension of complexity. Nonetheless, Amazonian forest groups will need to prepare for this stage in their commercial development.