THE AGROINDUSTRY - A NEGLECTED ASPECT OF THE LOCATION THEORY OF MANUFACTURING

The agroindustry, that is, the industry of processing of agricultural products, plays an important role in the economy of a developing count ry. However, the location theory of manufacturing, as developed to dat e, is not applicable to this type of manufacturing. This paper attempt s to examine this neglected aspect of the location theory of manufactu ring. The model is built on a framework that is adopted by most previo us studies on production location, except that one of the inputs is of the von Thunen type, that is, produced over space and initially sold to consumers in the town. The location behavior of an agroindustrial f irm is systematically analyzed. Moreover, and more importantly, a comp arison of an agroindustrial firm with its non-agroindustrial counterpa rt is presented, demonstrating clearly that in man; respects, the loca tion behaviors of these two categories of manufacturing are significan t different.