American University in Baghdad

Expository writing
Prof. Benjamin Hoffiz
Mohammed Nihad

Effects of Buying Local Products on the Economy

(How Can the Government Help Local Producers?)

A lot of small towns and village stores have the sign “Buy Local”, as they encourage

buying products that are locally made because it will bring them benefit. They are right by doing

that because buying local products will enhance the economy of this town, village, or country. It

will keep the money inside the community and every member will have a good financial

outcome. And the whole country will have a good economy which will benefit all citizens.

Governments also play a significant role in supporting local producers to boost the local industry

and the country’s economy.

Money is always moving from one point to another by buying and selling products and services.

This movement and its patterns affect the people both locally and globally. In the times before

global trades was introduced to the world, people were only buying from within the same area,

town, or country. This has led to keeping the money inside the same community and people

could benefit from one another. With the expansion of global trade business and online shopping,

shipping, and delivery. It is now quite easy for any consumer to buy a product or a service that is

sent from thousands of miles away. This has greatly facilitated the transmission of money across

borders; thereby expanding the reach of the consumer on the global scale. Not surprisingly, this

phenomenon has led small businesses to lose customers and many to go out of business. This
eventually weakens the buying power of the business owner and thus affecting the entire local

economy.

In Iraq, dates, (and date molasses) is of high quality and it is produced by local farmers who tend

to grow palm trees. It is known to be of a much higher grade than its imported counterpart from

the Gulf countries [4]. If Iraqi food suppliers, grocers and households insist on consuming dates

and date products that are planted and made locally, the entire Iraqi economy would improve.

Buying from local farmers will increase their buying power. They will buy more products which

they see value in. Perhaps one of the products is one that you are selling, thus, you get a returned

benefit. So, you are not only contributing to the farmer’s benefit if you buy from him, but you

are also benefiting the whole community including yourself [4].

Another tangible benefit of local production and buying local products is that it has a great

positive effect on the environment. Transportation is one of the leading causes for global

warming because of the substantial greenhouse emissions it creates. Transportation is responsible

for 28.2% of total greenhouse emissions in the world. So, by decreasing unnecessary

transportation, greenhouse emissions will decrease, and this will have a very positive effect on

our environment [1]. And one of the ways of decreasing unnecessary transportation distance is

by buying locally produced or manufactured food and non-food products because fewer products

will be transported from other countries and the distance of travel will change from big vehicles

moving across countries to only small cars moving from the house to the local store[1]. Another

way buying local products enhances the environment is in the food industry, especially fruits and

vegetables. When you buy fruits and vegetables from the local farmer this will ensure the

safekeeping of his field if not make him grow more trees and plants to grow his business even
further, and these plants will help to capture the CO2 in the atmosphere and fight global warming

and you will be contributing to reforestation in an indirect way.

It is worth mentioning that governments play a very important role in supporting local producers

and farmers. Among other things, they issue policies that will make the local product desirable

for the buyer. In addition, governments can help local producers by facilitating providing a loan

to any person that seeks to open a factory, establish a farm or till the soil. Furthermore, the

government will also help to link this business owner to supermarkets in the area or country [2][3].

At the same time, the government will require certain standards of quality from the products that

the business owner will produce to ensure that the country’s local products are of high quality

and value [2][3]. Governments can also increase the tax on imported products and goods similar to

locally manufactured products so that buyers will feel more tempted to buy the local product [2]
[3].

Governments, institutions, and communities that seek to enhance their local economy should

monitor citizens’ buying habits to find any deficiencies or gaps in their local production. If they

find out that there is an increasing demand for a certain product and it is not made locally, then

they should encourage people to open a business manufacturing or growing this product locally

to fill this gap. This will lead to a self-sufficient country or community that has a good economic

strength.

Buying local products has proved to have a more than expected impact. Any shift from global

market, although it has more variety and perhaps sometimes better quality, this shift will

eventually come to the advantage of all members of society - even you - as well. Besides, buying

and producing locally has a good effect on the environment. Taken together, these factors present

a convincing and compelling argument for the government to support this case. The government
needs to support its local industry and agriculture still further if it wants to strengthen its

economic activity and increase growth.

References: -

1. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel

on Climate Change [Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M.

Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and

New York, NY, USA

2. Clark, Greg And Debra Mountford (Eds) (2007). Investment Strategies And Financial
Tools For Local Development. OECD, Paris, November.

3. Commonwealth Local Government Forum (2011), Cardiff Consensus for Local

Economic Development. CGLF.. http://www.clgc2011.org/userfiles/7/files/Cardiff
consensus 2011 final.pdf

4. Xuequan, Mu. “Feature: Iraq’s Nutritious, Low-Price Date Molasses Feeds Poor People -

Xinhua | English.news.cn.” Www.xinhuanet.com, Xinhua, 11 Jan. 2019,

www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-01/11/c_137737073.htm. Accessed 10 Mar. 2021.