The food system transformation in developing countries: A disaggregate demand analysis for fruits and vegetables in Vietnam

Food systems in developing countries are currently undergoing a rapid transformation towards high-value products and modern supply chains. While supply side aspects of this transformation have been analyzed previously, issues of consumer demand have received much less attention. This article analyses demand patterns for fresh fruits and vegetables in Vietnam, using household survey data and a demand systems approach. Demand for products from modern supply chains – particularly supermarkets and non-traditional imports – is highly income elastic, and the income effect is stronger than the impact of prices and supermarket penetration. This highlights the importance of considering demand side aspects when projecting future trends. Our results imply a continued restructuring of the food sector in the further process of economic development.     

The four world food organizations: Influence of the Group of 77

The influence of the Group of 77 (G77) within the four world food organizations in Rome is limited. The structure of power and the policy making process within each organization varies rather considerably, but in each of them G77 has neither the resources, information, unity nor leadership needed to play a very influential role. The international economy is presently in a state of doldrums, and the Group of 77 is struggling, not without some success, to maintain the status quo within the world food organizations that it estabilshed during the 1970s.     

The impact of migration on food consumption patterns: The case of Vietnam

This paper explores the relationship between migration and consumption patterns using panel data from the 2004 and 2006 Vietnam Household Living Standards Surveys. Employing an instrumental variable approach to control for the endogeneity of migration, our results indicate that short-term migration has a positive effect on overall per capita food expenditures, per capita calorie consumption and food diversity. Long-term migration also appears to be positively related to consumption, but impacts are often insignificant and of a lesser magnitude than short-term migration. The results provide no evidence of negative effects of migration, and support the view that short-term migration is a mechanism by which households maintain food security. The results suggest that to improve food security the Vietnamese government should enact policies that facilitate short-term migration flows as well as the transferring of remittances.     

Universal service in Vietnam: An institutional approach

Applying institutional theory to look at the Program 74 (a universal service policy) in Vietnam, this paper concludes that the Vietnamese universal service policy was strongly affected by formal institutional factors (the international agreements and the directives of the Communist Party of Vietnam - CPV), in which the international agreements played a leading role and the CPV's directives played a guarantee role. The formulation and implementation of the universal service policy in Vietnam were mainly concentrated on action at levels 2 and 3 (formal and informal institutional arrangement, and formal institutional environment). The paper recommends that nations favouring a top-down approach not based on a market-oriented regime should deregulate and emphasize the role of provincial governments as well as encourage private sectors/social organizations and rural users to be more involved in the formulation and implementation of universal service policies. Moreover, the government should set up and force the contractual relations between governmental entities and telecom providers.     

Evolution and challenges of dairy supply chains: Evidence from supermarkets,industries and consumers in Ethiopia

In developing countries the demand for products of animal origin is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. Using data collected from 200 urban households this study examines the evolution of the dairy market in Ethiopia. In particular, this study suggests that although the Ethiopian dairy market remains extremely thin and volatile, the commercialization of processed dairy products through supermarkets is expanding and is expected to keep doing so in the foreseeable future. Increasing urbanization and corresponding changes in consumer preferences, behaviour and purchasing power are the identified causes for the rise of supermarket-processor dairy chains. This study shows also that emerging dairy chains provide new market opportunities to Ethiopian farmers, but the existence of retail-industrial monopolies and monopsonies jeopardize farmers’ economic benefits to a great extent. The study concludes with some implications for policy and further research.     

The impact of agricultural commercialisation on household welfare in rural Vietnam

Commercialisation by smallholder farmers has played a major role in agricultural development in many Asian countries, and while there are assumptions that this has led to welfare improvement, in fact there is relatively little evidence on this question. In this paper we use high quality panel data to examine the welfare impact of agricultural commercialisation in a leading Asian producer, Vietnam. We use the five-wave Vietnam Access to Resources Household Survey (VARHS) panel data set from 2008 to 16, three measures of household welfare and create commercialisation indexes in relation to all crops and to rice specifically. We find a significant positive relationship of commercialisation with household asset accumulation, but a negative association with consumption expenditure.     

Development of Trust: A Study of Interfirm Relationships in Vietnam

The radical political and economic reforms sweeping through former socialist countries during the last decade have opened rich opportunities for privately owned businesses to emerge and develop. Since the market institutions and infrastructures in these countries are largely underdeveloped, private firms in transition economies rely extensively on interfirm partnerships. This raises the question of how—in the absence of institutions that legitimate markets, contracts, and private property—managers of new business ventures develop new relationships. This paper addresses this issue through analysis of multiple subcontracting relationships formed at a private garment company in Vietnam. This analysis suggests that firms in transition economies develop interfirm trust in ways that are quite different from their counterparts in more highly developed economies.     

Spatial patterns of poverty in Vietnam and their implications for policy

This study examines the geographic distribution of poverty in Vietnam by applying small area estimation methods to household budget data and population census data. The resulting district-level poverty estimates suggest that the incidence of poverty is highest in the remote northern and central highlands and lowest in the south-east and in large urban centres. However, mapping the density of poverty reveals that most poor people do not live in the poorest districts but in the two lowland deltas, where poverty incidence is intermediate. The policy implications of these findings present an important trade-off between targeting poor areas and poor people that can only be resolved with better information on the relative costs of delivering different programmes and their expected impact. Existing government estimates of poverty at the district level are not closely correlated with our poverty estimates, perhaps because of regional variation in their methods of collecting poverty data.     

基于模糊层次分析法的越南燃煤电厂BOT项目风险管理研究

越南作为我国友好邻邦,是"一带一路"沿线上的主要国家之一.其近年来加大了对外开放力度,促使越来越多国家和地区的资金向其涌入,也倍受我国电力企业的青睐.虽然越南与我国在文化、社会风俗、民族文化、生活方式、建设社会主义市场经济等方面有许多相同点,但是在急速发展的社会、经济环境下,电力建设项目全寿命周期长造成管理过程中存在的...     

Measures of Joint Venture Performance from Multiple Perspectives: An Evaluation by Local and Foreign Managers in Vietnam

A study was undertaken to identify the most relevant performance evaluation measures for joint venture managers and to analyze differences in perception about joint venture performance between foreign and Vietnamese joint venture managers. The results revealed five factors belonging to three perspectives of particular relevance to managers: operational efficiency (economic indicator), competitiveness and external customer relations (strategic indicators) as well as equity and working relationship (behavioral indicators). This study also points out that under normal operating conditions, there are no significant differences in perception between foreign and Vietnamese joint venture managers regarding both efficiency and equity. This confirms the need for equity in a joint venture relationship in order to maintain balance between the partners and avoid dissolution.     

Dynamics of food policy formulation in the USA

Examination of the dynamics of food policy formulation in the USA reveals a series of intriguing contrasts. As an example of pluralist decision making, it is unequalled in the sheer number and variety of actors and interests which it encompasses. This article analyses four principal generic elements of the food policy process: its ideological underpinnings; its policy settings; its substantive components; and, its foreign-domestic linkages. The profound changes which have occurred in the Washington political climate are also considered in terms of their implications for food-related policies in both the domestic and international arenas.     

Urban food policies in German city regions: An overview of key players and policy instruments

Although food is an emerging topic on municipal policy and planning agendas, a systematic examination of policy development, its implementation and the instruments used at the urban level is lacking. This study was carried out with the aim of gaining new insights into the prevalence of certain food policy instruments and capacity of policy action. In order to do so, we developed an analytical framework to investigate urban policy and planning approaches related to food issues and applied it in ten large German cities. First, we identified different actor groups and analysed their role in urban food policy (level of involvement in municipal food projects). We then studied the variety of policy and planning instruments and their application for different elements in the food system. For the empirical study, we employed a case study approach and utilised data gathering methods of qualitative research, i.e. expert interviews and document analysis. Our empirical findings in the studied cities reveal that urban food policy activities are still very fragmented and often based on individual initiatives within the administration. Integrated urban food policies and their implementation through urban food strategies are still an exception in major cities in Germany. We found that municipal actors follow mainly sectoral approaches, using a wide array of steering instruments, i.e. informational instruments and public procurement policies. However, their capacities for policy implementation remain limited due to missing financial and staffing resources. Accordingly, the potential the urban food system offers for sustainable development through multifunctionality and sectoral integration, is still underexploited.The systematic approach developed in this study may contribute to a better understanding of different policy approaches taken. The applied typology of policy instruments might also be useful for identifying effective ways to implement urban food strategies, to understand mismatches between instruments and different policy domains, levels and administrative units, e.g. at the urban-rural interface, and to design of new policy instruments.     

Impacts of sustainability certification on farm income: Evidence from small-scale specialty green tea farmers in Vietnam

Sustainability certification for small-scale farms has gained considerable momentum in developing countries. However, evidence on the economic benefits of certification schemes in the context of domestically consumed foods and beverages is scarce. This paper addresses this gap by evaluating the impacts of sustainability standards on the selling prices, sales, costs and net income of small-scale specialty green tea farming in Vietnam. We analyze original survey data on 401 smallholder green tea farmers and employ propensity score matching to mitigate self-selection bias. Our estimates reveal that certified green tea producers are able to obtain a higher average selling price and sales value. In addition, although certification leads to a dramatic increase in the costs of hired labor, net farm income is still significantly improved.     

The changing public role in services to food and agriculture : The legal regulation of food markets in India

A framework allowing the commercial transfer of property rights is an essential prerequisite to market exchange widely considered the prerogative of the state. Here, the social history of the legal regulation of agricultural markets in central, south and northeast India is examined. Regulatory law is shown to be riven with unanticipated outcomes, working as intended only under rare conditions of competition and absence of preharvest commercial debt. Meso level institutions of collective action and micro level behaviour by firms also regulate exchange, unsystematically according to their multiple objectives. Foreign funded projects and another layer of customary procedure. In the light of this analysis, the current policy debates over agricultural market reform are discussed and an analytical framework and suggestions for reform are offered.     

Rice market integration and food security in Nepal: The role of cross-border trade with India

Coarse rice market integration between Nepal and India is analyzed applying a threshold autoregressive model. The price response behaviour of traders is found to be consistent with an asymmetric price adjustment mechanism, indicating coarse rice prices in Nepal respond to shocks originating in India. The results show that adjustments to negative price deviations from long-run stable equilibrium are faster than adjustments to the positive ones given a null threshold. Given that trade flows mainly from India to Nepal, Nepali traders would adjust their prices upward to align with the long-run equilibrium value relatively more quickly in the case of negative price deviations, than if the price deviations were positive. Such a high speed of adjustment to negative price deviations could be detrimental to net food buyers’ food security status in the absence of a price stabilization mechanism. However, a price stabilization policy in Nepal, a food deficit and import dependent country, would hardly have any effect on prices unless further effort is made to build up the level of national food reserves for short-term food security interventions. In the current context of structurally low levels of national food reserves, an alternative short-term policy such as foreign aid, in the form of food or income transfers, targeting the most vulnerable households to price increases is necessary through social safety net programmes. In the long-run, an improvement of transportation infrastructure between market hubs (other than the Biratnagar trade basin) in the Terai (Nepal) and India would contribute to the reduction of transaction costs and create incentives for more competition in formal cross-border trade with India. In times of negative shocks such as the high food price crisis in 2008, restrictive food trade policies in India will continue to undermine household food security in Nepal.     

The quality of food risk management in Europe: Perspectives and priorities

In this paper, we address the issue of food risk management as practised in Western Europe. We begin by considering how food risks are managed, and then go on to consider how well they are managed. There are multiple answers to the ‘how well’ question, which are related to the varied perspectives of the different key stakeholders – from the food risk managers and producers, to the general public and the media. Consequently, there is no clear answer to the question of quality. What our review does identify is two priorities relevant to our understanding of effective food risk management: first, a need for further research to determine the source and nature of the different evaluative perspectives, and second, a need for the key stakeholders to appreciate and understand the alternative perspectives in order to enhance the effectiveness of the food risk management process.     

The relationship between household food waste and food security in Tehran city: The role of urban women in household management

Food loss and waste are some of the most urgent social, economic and environmental issues affecting our planet's sustainability, and it has a direct and indirect impact on food security. Food security is a strategic development issue in Iran. This study aims to investigate the overall prevalence and factors affecting household food security with a novel approach to analyze the relationship between food waste and food security in Tehran city. This study applied the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) for assessing food insecurity and logistic regression modeling. It was found that 64.2 percent of the households are food secure in Tehran. Results have shown that food waste has a significant negative effect on the food security of households, while marital status, family income, food storage, education and housing asset of family indicated positive significant effects on the food security of households. The results revealed most food waste is related to edible food waste such as bread, cooked rice, cooked pasta, which implies that the reduction of it can contribute to improving food security. In light of the major findings of this study, it is concluded that food waste control can decrease the food insecurity of urban Iranian households. This study is the first attempt to conceptualize and provide empirical evidence that food waste reduction increases food security A significant implication that emerges from this study is that food waste control programs could enhance food security in urban households.