Agri Food Value Chains

Reducing food wastage has been identified as a sustainable and necessary solution for food insecurity, poverty and hunger alleviation in this fast-growing world, especially in Sub-Saharan
Africa (SSA). However, food wastage abatement has sectoral trade-offs (winners and losers) and variations which need to be explored empirically to determine if this solution is worthwhile. Furthermore, despite the relevance of staples in SSA economies and their significant share in food loss, there are relatively few literature that analyses the economic impact of its reduction. Thus this study assesses and compares the economic impact of a cassava prevention policy, integrated wastage management policy and a combined policy on food security, rural-urban income distribution, economic growth, output expansion, net waste generation, trade-off between cooking and work income, food wastage footprint as well as employment in a cassava export driven Ghanaian economy using a mixed methods
approach; namely food wastage fixed price multiplier model, value chain analysis and documentary analysis.

Italy is the largest producer of industrial tomatoes in Europe and third in the world. In the two main areas of production, in the North and South of the country, the cultivation is developed in very different ways. In northern Italy, the harvest has been completely mechanized since the early 1990s; in the South, a large percentage of tomatoes continues to be manually harvested by foreign labourers from sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe, whose living and working conditions are among the worst in Europe. The chapter analyses the historical, geographical, and sociological reasons of these differences, as well as their consequences. It is argued that the production chains of both North and South have become retailer-driven; nonetheless, the two areas have responded to retailer power in very different ways. In northern Italy, a process of “districtualization” has coordinated the interests of farmers and canneries; in southern Italy the processing plants unload the retailers’ pressures onto the farms, which, in turn, offload them onto migrant labourers. As a consequence, while in the North a corporate concentration process within both the canning sector and producing farms has risen, in the South the use of migrant workers in exploitative conditions has contributed to delaying the disappearance of small tomato growers and processors.

Keywords:  Retailer-driven agri-food chain; retailer-driven supply chain; manual harvesters; industrial district; cannery; Emilia-Romagna; Puglia; Basilicata; Campania.

The critical role being played by social capital in sustainable development cannot be overemphasized. Moreso, in the Fadama III project which by design was instituted to promote increase in beneficiary incomes, enhance food security, reduce rural poverty and contribute to the achievement of key Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

In this study social capital development was assessed based on the structural dimension of social capital which comprises the objectively and externally observable social structures such as networks, associations, institutions, rules and procedures using the quantitative approach (household questionnaire) which when analysed showed a positive impact of social capital development in the Fadama III.

Cognitive dimension of social capital that is, interpersonal trust expressed through the relationships among group members, institutions, and organizations were assessed using the qualitative approach (KIIs and FGDs). The survey was carried out in 12 states (2 LGAs per selected states) across the six (6) geo-zones of Nigeria, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). In total the survey reached 500 households (260 Fadama and 240 non Fadama) across all the 26 LGAs. The survey covered a majority of indigenous households, as 54.4% of the surveyed households were classified to be indigenous and 27.4% were classified as urban dwellers. Furthermore the survey reached 1.4% of households that had difficult access.

The results of this study showed that Fadama III played a critical role in the development of cohesive societies and groups as; 50.0% of households who perceive themselves to have benefited from Fadama III were part of a Fadama User Group and 5.4% were part of an association. Furthermore households who benefited from Fadama III reveal that they prefer the Fadama User Group (87.5%) and 37.0% of households who did not benefit from Fadama revealed that they preferred cooperatives.

Based on the findings we can thus conclude that Fadama III played a critical role in fostering social capital development that is critical for the success of groups and associations. The gender dimensions also showed some nucleation in terms of the gender composition of the groups, with a 44.6% representation for the Fadama group and 31.7% for the Non-Fadama group. These results indicate that efforts to foster gender mainstreaming in Fadama III remain relatively successful.

Italy is by far the most important producer of processed tomato in Europe. The agricultural production is based mainly in the regions of Puglia and Basilicata in Southern Italy and Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy. In the South, the living and working conditions of manual tomato harvesters, mainly migrant laborers, are among the most precarious. This article con- tends that, with the aim of understanding the conditions of migrant workers, the whole agro-food supply chain has to be analyzed.
After a review of the academic debate on the agro-food production and distribution and a description of the history and geography of this supply chain in Southern Italy, two topics are addressed: firstly, the relationships of mistrust among farmers, organization of agricultural producers and processing plants in Puglia, Basilicata and Campania regions; secondly, the role of big retailers. The analysis is based on seventy in-depth interviews with farmworkers, farmers, labour contractors, cannery workers and managers, agronomists, trade union officials and institutional actors, conducted between 2010 and 2014.

Keywords: Industrial Tomato; Food Regime; Southern Question; Ethnography; Mi- grant Labour.

This paper is focused on the regulation and distribution of value along the agri-food chain of the Moscato grapes in Piedmont region, where two among the most important Italian Docg (Controlled and Guaranteed Denomination of Origin) wines (in terms of exports) are produced. On the one hand, the Docg certification guarantees the territorial rootedness of this agri-food chain, delimiting the production and transformation of the Moscato grape in a specific area. On the other hand, as a strategic instrument for quality certification at a commercial level, it contributes to expose this area to the influence of external actors. This article contends that the action of some global players in the beverage sector – oriented towards industrialized production and large-scale retail trade – has induced a reconfiguration of the relationships among different actors involved in this agri-food chain and a redefinition of their economic bargaining practices. These processes resulted in a more unequal distribution of the value compared to the past. The article explores in particular the agreements defining the purchase of grapes between farmers and processors, highlighting the progressive transition from the cooperation between local actors to the need of a coordination, which is brokered by opportunist actors.

Keywords: Agri-food chain; Viticulture; Wine production; Food regime analysis

In 2016, Myanmar was recognised as one of Asia’s fastest growing economies. Although agriculture is the backbone of Myanmar’s economy, accounting for approximately 30% of GDP and employing 56% of the country’s workforce, smallholders find it difficult to capitalise on opportunities to improve their incomes and livelihoods. In the remote Tanintharyi region, local produce seldom enters high-value markets emerging in regional towns and tourist destinations owing to concerns about poor food safety, quality, and consistency of supply. In 2017, the New Zealand government approved the Tanintharyi Region Rural Income and Livelihoods Development (TRRILD) project to upgrade agri-food value chains in the of Myeik and Palaw districts. Value chain researchers identified the paddy and pork chains as suitable candidates for pro-poor upgrading, and recommended that producer groups and producer organisations be established to manage and sustain the Project’s transactional and capital intensive value...

This article puts forward an argument in favor of small farmer fair trade based on an analysis of the differences between small farmer fair trade and plantation fair trade with examples drawn from the coffee and tea sectors. The article also scrutinizes the Fair Trade USA split from Fairtrade International and the proliferation of Fair Trade labels.

Although supermarkets have become a dominant food outlet for urban residents in developed countries, studies of food purchasing in developing countries such as China report a persistence of traditional food outlets, despite a proliferation of supermarkets over the past two decades. Yet, little is known about urban residents’ use of various food sources in the Chinese context. Building on the debate over the rise of supermarkets and the persistence of traditional food outlets, this paper analyzes the landscape of competing food sources including supermarkets, wet markets, restaurants, online food markets, urban agriculture and others. Based on the HCP citywide survey of 1,200 households in Nanjing, China, the paper looks at the purchasing frequency of a comprehensive list of food items in different food retail outlets, the accessibility of these outlets, and also the use of different food sources. We found that while supermarkets are the top source for purchasing staple grains, dairy products and processed food, wet markets still prevail for purchasing fresh produce and meat. The data demonstrates the high level of food accessibility in Nanjing and also indicates the significance of food sources beyond conventional retailing outlets, such as online food markets, urban agriculture and restaurants, in people’s daily lives.