Feasibility of Forming Markets for Indigenous Peoples’ Organic Products
, Omid Karami 2,*, Hamid Reza Saeidi Goraghani 3, Hossein Azarnivand 3 and Hossein Arzani 3
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The presented work is worthy of publication. Authors have investigated the potential market opportunities for the organic produce from five nomadic tribes of Iran. The work was undertaken with a questionnaire and included over 1100 respondents. However, I have few concerns before the work is accepted and published.
1. How did authors arrive at the number chosen for gathering information.
2. What are the prospects of the work in view of the increasing consumption patterns of organic products.
3. It is well-known that WTPs>WTAs correspond to potential for market feasibility. How do authors justify that the study will pave a way for marketing and commercialization of nomadic produce.
4. An outline map of the study site be included.
5. Authors need to provide some background information about the nomadic tribes that were studied.
6. What were the details of the respondents?
7. Where is the questionnaire? Was this validated? By whom? These details are required.
8. Another concern is that authors must provide a robust conclusion and significance of the work.
An extensive check is required as regards the phrasing and clarity of presentation is concerned; e.g. first three lines of abstract are confusing!
What is 190s? it should be 1900s? Pl check whole of the manuscript for such issues?
Authors need to discuss how their work is different from the previously published reports.
At places there are grammatical and syntax errors. Authors need to take care of singularity/plurality issues.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for your comments. Really appreciate it. Your comments defiantly helped out to improve our manuscript. Please see our answers to your comments. We also uploaded a revised version of the manuscript.
Thank you again.
Sincerely,
Omid Karami
Post-Doctoral Research Associate
Purdue University
Department of Agricultural Economics
Krannert Building
403 W. State Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2056
Mobile: +1 7062023922
- How did authors arrive at the number chosen for gathering information.
Answer: As explained in line 128, we implemented the approach used by Cochran (2007). It is also mentioned in line 193 (the first line of the results section). Please let us know if that is not enough.
- What are the prospects of the work in view of the increasing consumption patterns of organic products.
Answer: the main issue in increasing consumption of organic products is that the consumers do not know where exactly to buy them. Some people know the tribes by asking other people, but most of the people cannot find a straightforward way to buy their weekly needs from an organic market. This study can help to setup an organic product market which helps the consumers to know where to buy. This makes it possible to advertise the organic market. Therefore, consumers who know less about the places that organic products are sold, can find an organic products market easier. To clarify this, we added some sentences to the introduction (line 120-124).
- It is well-known that WTPs>WTAs correspond to potential for market feasibility. How do authors justify that the study will pave a way for marketing and commercialization of nomadic produce.
Answer: Thank you for this comment. The added information on lines 120-124 covers this issue also. Because this comment is specifically about WTPs>WTAs, I also added some sentences in lines 193-199. Please check the new draft.
- An outline map of the study site be included.
Answer: As the case study of this paper is nomads, they are not settled in a place, and they travel around to find good pastures for their livestock. All five tribes travel to different places and come back to Kerman province in different time of the year. Therefore, it is hard to track their path and include a map of the study area. We tried to do that but because they travel in long distances, it is hard to include their path. The purpose of this study is to study the feasibility of a setting up a market to announce them that they can come to a certain place to supply their organic products. This study is an exception that the study area cannot be easily mapped. Please let us know if you have any other concerns.
- Authors need to provide some background information about the nomadic tribes that were studied.
Answer: our study is one of the very first studies about tribes of Soleimani, Mehni, Kochomi, Jebalbarezi, and Aieneyi in Kerman Province. We investigated a lot, but there is not much data that we can refer to about these tribes. To the best of our knowledge, there is no published document about these tribes. Some of the members of these tribes do not have birth certificates or basic education etc. Not the national entities like Statistical Centre of Iran nor the local sources have much information about these tribes. I added a sentence in line 135-137 to say that. Sorry that it may not be very informative, but the lack of information about these tribes was one of the main purposes of this study.
- What were the details of the respondents?
Answer: Table 1 and Table 2 show the socio-economic factors that are asked from the nomads and consumers. Please check that. Those are the most important details that were asked from the respondents.
- Where is the questionnaire? Was this validated? By whom? These details are required.
Answer: Thank you very much for raising this point. We added the following statement to assure that it is an approved questionnaire.
Institutional Review Board Statement: The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Department of Agricultural Economics of Tehran University on May 18, 2021.
Regarding the data also, we added the following statement. Readers can ask for data, and we will reply to them.
Data availability: Data will be made available on request.
- Another concern is that authors must provide a robust conclusion and significance of the work.
Answer: thank you for your comment. Discussion and Conclusion is revised now. Please check the new draft.
An extensive check is required as regards the phrasing and clarity of presentation is concerned; e.g. first three lines of abstract are confusing!
Answer: Thank you for your comment. We asked a friend who is a professional to proofread the paper, including the abstract. Please check the new draft.
What is 190s? it should be 1900s? Pl check whole of the manuscript for such issues?
Answer: Thank you very much for pointing that out. It was 1950s, which there was a typo. It is fixed now.
Comments on the Quality of English Language
At places there are grammatical and syntax errors. Authors need to take care of singularity/plurality issues.
Answer: Thank you for your comment. We asked a friend who is a professional to proofread the paper, including the abstract. Please check the new draft.
Reviewer 2 Report
Authors should only ensure the following is done:
Abstract
1. In the first line of this section, the phrase “Because of natural nutritional supplementation………..” should be changed to “Due to the use of natural nutritional supplementation………….” It is not appropriate to start the sentence with the word “Because”
2. Good grammar should be used throughout the section
Keywords
Authors should increase the number of keywords for this manuscript and also possibly avoid using abbreviations but focus on words and phrases that best describe the overall content of the manuscript and that are useful for abstracting and indexation
Introduction
In the first line, 190s should be changed to 1990s
Materials and Methods
Authors should avoid the use of personal pronouns especially “we” which is overwhelmingly used in this section
General Comments
1. If applicable, I suggest that authors create a section for abbreviations since many of them are used in this manuscript.
2. I suggest that authors do a thorough language editing of the manuscript
3. I discourage authors from using personal pronouns throughout the manuscript
Needs minor revision
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for your comments. Really appreciate it. Your comments defiantly helped out to improve our manuscript. Please see our answers to your comments. We also uploaded a revised version of the manuscript.
Thank you again.
Sincerely,
Omid Karami
Post-Doctoral Research Associate
Purdue University
Department of Agricultural Economics
Krannert Building
403 W. State Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2056
Mobile: +1 7062023922
Authors should only ensure the following is done:
Abstract
- In the first line of this section, the phrase “Because of natural nutritional supplementation………..” should be changed to “Due to the use of natural nutritional supplementation………….” It is not appropriate to start the sentence with the word “Because”
Answer: Thank you very much for your comment. This is now fixed. We also revised the abstract.
- Good grammar should be used throughout the section
Answer: Thank you for your comment. We asked a friend who is a professional to proofread the paper. Please check the new draft.
Keywords
Authors should increase the number of keywords for this manuscript and also possibly avoid using abbreviations but focus on words and phrases that best describe the overall content of the manuscript and that are useful for abstracting and indexation
Answer: Thank you for your comment. I fixed the issue and did not use abbreviation. I also added more key words.
Introduction
In the first line, 190s should be changed to 1990s
Answer: Thank you very much for pointing that out. It was 1950s, which there was a typo. It is fixed now.
Materials and Methods
Authors should avoid the use of personal pronouns especially “we” which is overwhelmingly used in this section
Answer: Thank you very much for this comment. We fixed this issue. Now you can see much less “we” in the text.
General Comments
- If applicable, I suggest that authors create a section for abbreviations since many of them are used in this manuscript.
Answer: There are not many words that are abbreviated. Therefore, we think a separate section for abbreviations is not applicable. However, we explained all abbreviated words in the text.
- I suggest that authors do a thorough language editing of the manuscript
Answer: Thank you for your comment. We asked a friend who is a professional to proofread the paper. Please check the new draft.
- I discourage authors from using personal pronouns throughout the manuscript
Answer: Thank you very much for this comment. We fixed this issue. Now you can see much less “we” in the text.
Reviewer 3 Report
Dear Author
Consumer markets are some of the most significant issues. Because of climate change and droughts, excessive fertilizers and pesticides have started to create major problems in consumer health. This increases the demand for natural and local products. Supporting small and local producers in agricultural production will both prevent migration from the city to the city and employ local people, local gene resources will protect. For the reasons stated above, I attach great importance to this study. But there are minor fixes. I have marked these corrections on the text, these corrections are made, and your work can be published in this journal.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you very much for your comments. Really appreciate it. Your comments defiantly helped out to improve our manuscript. Please see our answers to your comments. We also uploaded a revised version of the manuscript.
Thank you again.
Sincerely,
Omid Karami
Post-Doctoral Research Associate
Purdue University
Department of Agricultural Economics
Krannert Building
403 W. State Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2056
Mobile: +1 7062023922
Comment 1: The purpose of manuscrits should be clearly emphasized in the abstract.
Answer: Thank you very much for your comment. The abstract is revised, and the main purpose of the paper is added.
Comment 2: This data should be the population data for 2022 or 2023. data is not up to date
Answer: The data are for the most recent years (2022). I guess the reviewer considered 2007 as the year of the data, which is not correct. “Cochran (2007)”, is the approach that we used for sampling. It is not the date for the data.
Comment 3: WTP's abbreviation expansion should be written in the text
Answer: Thank you. We fixed the issue. WTA and WTP are explained in the beginning of the text.
Comment 4: WTA's abbreviation expansion should be written in the text
Answer: Thank you. We fixed the issue. WTA and WTP are explained in the beginning of the text.
Comment 5: Manuscript authors are not preferred to use their work as a source. I think this source should be removed (Line 448 Reference 21)
Answer: Thank you. We fixed the issue. I deleted the reference.
