GLOBAL FOOD CHAINS

Global Food Chains

Abstract

Small-farm agriculture has been presented as a growth-equity 'win-win', and this has encouraged a resurgence of interest in agriculture in the poverty reduction debate. But the case for the efficiency of smallholder farming may be breaking down as the superior labour and land productivity of the small farm is trumped by the higher costs of dealing with 'buyer-driven' global food chains with new forms of private sector governance, imperfect competition in processing and retail, and little residual value to be shared with other actors in the chain. Furthermore, primary producers and processors face domestic markets that start to take on the characteristics of export markets, as restructuring spreads in the wake of global processors and retailers' expansion into mid- income countries such as China, SE Asia and most of Latin America. The associated risks are of a polarisation between agribusiness and small-scale farming systems, and a reduction in benefits of liberalisation due to problems of market structure.

Table of Content

Abstractii

CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION1

Outline of Research1

Purpose Of The Dissertation1

Theoretical Framework1

Research Of The Project2

Research Objectives3

CHAPTER 02: LITERATURE REVIEW4

Bulk commodity chains17

Buyer-driven chains21

Corporate concentration and its impacts26

Latin America31

East Asia32

South Asia33

Central and Eastern Europe33

Africa34

Traditional markets do not stand still34

Distribution of costs and benefits in buyer-driven chains35

Private standards, market entry and market access37

CHAPTER 03: METHODOLOGY40

Case Study40

Research Method (Qualitative/Quantitative)40

Primary or secondary / Qualitative or Quantitative40

Mixed Method Research41

CHAPTER 04: DISCUSSION45

Food quality as a driver for change45

Reactions by the business community46

Case study: a license to produce eggs50

Generalisation of these findings is subject of current research54

Commodities, buyer-driven chains, and the three rural worlds58

CHAPTER 05: CONCLUSION61

REFERENCES62

CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION

Outline of Research

Global consumers are worried about safety of their food. These concerns are caused by the continuing sequence of food scandals and incidents during last decade. In response, consumers call for high quality food, food integrity, safety guarantees and transparency. Governments are imposing new legislation. Retailers are imposing new demands on their supply chains. Food supply chains react by implementing systems to improve product's quality and guarantee its safety, at same time making transparent that they do so. Such actions can be taken at level of either individual company or complete network of supply chains.

Purpose Of The Dissertation

Research will describe challenges involved in achieving food safety and transparency by cooperating in Global Food Chain. To this end, Research will elaborate on the real world case in an SME environment.

Theoretical Framework

Food safety is currently considered to be an important issue for all stakeholders in food production. Consumers and other stakeholders are increasingly concerned about continuing sequence of food scandals and incidents. These scandals often obtain wide coverage in news media and in professional publications. As the result, consumers are familiar with BSE, dioxin, FMD, MPA, Nitrofen, and other contaminants that were found wide spread in food products due to errors in production processes and or associated with use of contaminated raw materials or production means.

Research Of The Project

Does transparency affect pricing?

What economic benefits can transparency deliver for stakeholders, at what costs?

Can transparency enable new forms of risk management?

Can ...