The role and characteristics of direct sales by producers

Buday-Sántha, Attila

Keywords: rural development, product cycle, product line, direct sales regulation of food production and consumption

The crisis which arose immediately after the change of political system with respect to the agrarian economy and the situation of the rural areas demands serious and effective measures. Unfortunately we cannot expect this programme to promote the development of industry and services, since the major employers in those sectors are concentrated in the larger towns and cities, and even there their existence is uncertain in many regions of the country. What this means is that development needs to be addressed initially by relying on local resources only, which leads to very slow progress. However, the continuing crisis demands faster development and so a series of innovative activities have emerged (tourism, handicrafts, Hungary-specific products and direct selling). Although these are valid components of local development, they will never, in themselves, be able to generate larger-scale development across entire regions. Therefore to unilaterally overrate them essentially amounts to self-deception.

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