The food situation in developing countries : Two decades in review

This article presents an overview of the general changes in the food situation in developing countries over the past two decades, and especially since the 1974 World Food Conference. Following an examination of trends in production, consumption and trade in basic food staples of Third World countries, the article looks at possible strategies for improving their food situation.     

GM-free private standards and their effects on biosafety decision-making in developing countries

We provide a comprehensive review of international cases where GM-free private standards set up by food companies in developed countries have influenced biosafety policymaking in developing countries. We find 29 cases where private importers have directly or indirectly affected policy decisions in 21 countries. Most of the cases relate irrational fear of export losses to excessively precautionary decisions. These cases are based on two generally misleading premises: the belief that Europe or Japan represents the only market for exports, and the perception that non-GM segregation is infeasible or prohibitively costly in all situations. Our study also demonstrates the importance of information asymmetries across countries and agents and the role of risk aversion in seemingly irrational decision-making. The combination of these four factors helps us explain why presumed but unproven expected commercial losses still represents a significant impediment to biosafety policymaking in developing countries.     

Private voluntary standards in the food system: The perspective of major food retailers in OECD countries

The paper examines the main economic and institutional incentives which have driven major OECD food retailers in their use of private voluntary standards and discusses their growing role in shaping the agri-food system. It is based on interviews with quality and safety directors of major OECD retailers and a brief survey of retailers’ actual buyer practices. Though not all retailers are included, these firms account for over 70% of retail food sales in OECD countries. We find that the growing voice of civil society, changing legal and institutional frameworks, increased market concentration and buying power as well as their integration with financial markets has provided the setting for development of private standards. While food safety and quality standards are seen as key to maintaining and improving reputation as well as against legal liabilities, additional standards such as labour, environmental and animal welfare are also gaining ground as strategies for customer loyalty and market shares. The grass-roots retailer move in the harmonization of food safety standards is seen as an initial step towards a global approach to managing the food system, with harmonization of other standards likely in the future. Given their buyer power, these developments can be viewed as a way of governing the food system and will be important for both OECD and non-OECD food and agricultural sector evolution in the coming years.     

Cereal imports by developing countries: Trends and determinants

After reviewing recent trends of cereal imports of developing countries by region, by income group, and by commodity, the determinants of these imports are analysed by investigating both structural, long-term factors as well as temporary, short-term factors. Level of economic development and population density on arable land are found to be statistically the most significant long-run factors explaining cereal imports by developing countries, while food aid is statistically the most significant short-run factor.     

Food value chain transformations in developing countries: Selected hypotheses on nutritional implications

We examine how the transformation of food value chains (FVCs) influence the triple malnutrition burden (undernourishment, micronutrient deficiencies and over-nutrition) in developing countries. We propose a FVC typology (modern, traditional, modern-to-traditional, and traditional-to-modern) that takes into account the participants, the target market, and the products offered. Next, we propose selected hypotheses on the relationship between each FVC category and elements of the triple malnutrition burden. The primary finding is that the transformation of FVCs creates challenges and opportunities for nutrition in developing countries. For example, Modern FVCs may increase over-nutrition problems and alleviate micronutrient deficiencies for urban people with relatively high incomes. However, they have little nutritional impacts among rural residents and urban poor people, who primarily depend on traditional FVCs to access adequate quantities of calories and micronutrients. In addition, modern food manufacturers are leveraging traditional distribution networks (modern-to-traditional FVCs), substantially increasing access to low-priced processed/packaged foods in rural areas and low-income urban neighbors with mixed impacts on the triple burden of malnutrition. Further research should focus on the influence of FVC transformation on reduction of micronutrient deficiencies, on modeling demand substitution effects across food categories and the attendant policy implications for malnutrition.     

The impact of the European Novel Food Regulation on trade and food innovation based on traditional plant foods from developing countries

The stringent food safety assessment for novel foods required by the European Union’s Novel Food Regulation (NFR) places a high burden of proof on those bringing traditional food products to the EU market not consumed in the EU prior 1997. The regulation has emerged as a non-tariff trade barrier for heritage foods from developing countries that are viewed as “exotic” from the EU perspective. We show how the regulation has discouraged investment in supply chains and market development, and how this negatively affects income generation and rural poverty alleviation in developing countries. Focusing on plant-derived foods, this paper proposes to recognize traditional exotic foods in current EU law as a food category sui generis with food safety evidence requirements being proportionate to the risks they may pose. We argue that development activities promoting export food chains must increasingly accommodate legitimate food safety concerns about neglected food species in project design and seek to generate data to enhance regulatory acceptance in target markets.     

Addressing food and nutrition security from a human rights-based perspective: A mixed-methods study of NGOs in post-Soviet Armenia and Georgia

Increasing numbers of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) declare a move from a needs- to a human rights-based approach (HRBA) in addressing food and nutrition security. Little work, however, has been done to reveal how HRBA to food is realized at a country level. Using a mixed methods approach, we demonstrate main challenges for NGOs’ adoption of HRBA in Armenia and Georgia. A combination of NGO operational and state level factors hamper rights-based food and nutrition work of NGOs. NGOs’ willingness and capacity to engage with HRBA to food and confront the state is influenced by the history of post-Soviet transition, views on the state versus market, and isolation from transnational actors propagating the right to adequate food.     

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.     

Promoting smart cities in developing countries: Policy insights from Vietnam

Smart city initiatives have been researched primarily in the developed country context. In developing countries, however, emerging technologies are enabling progress on urban functionality, productivity, and livability. A deeper understanding of facilitative policy conditions unique to developing countries would be useful to both theory and practice. This study presents empirically grounded insights about the policy implications of smart city development in developing countries, based on surveys of experts from the public and private sectors in 10 Vietnam cities. The study makes three contributions. First, it provides new evidence that pursuing smart city development (SCD) is not a mere alternative but a crucial strategic imperative. While facing persistent problems, Vietnam's cities exhibit significant and rapidly improving readiness for SCD. Second, the study provides new insights into related policy issues and challenges, including the positive link between e-government development and control of corruption, the risk of bias toward operational management over institutional reform, and the lack of a clear development strategy. Finally, the study proposes a model for guiding smart city initiatives in developing countries.     

Quantifying value chain analysis in the context of livestock systems in developing countries

The analysis of value chains has augmented our knowledge on the complexities, inter-linkages, distributional benefits, and institutional arrangements of production and marketing channels in developing countries. However, the analysis remains relatively qualitative and case-specific, with limited ability to rank or assess the impact of alternative interventions or to analyze sufficiently the complex market dynamics and feedbacks present in livestock systems. This paper offers theoretical and applied insights on ways to improve the analytical rigor of the value chain methodology that combines both qualitative and quantitative approaches.     

Product standards and developing country agricultural exports: The case of the European Union

This paper shows that voluntary product standards in EU food and agriculture markets can have significant trade effects. In particular for all countries and for goods that are raw or lightly processed, EU standards can often be trade-inhibiting. However, internationally harmonized EU standards—those that are equivalent to ISO norms—have much weaker trade effects, and in some cases are even trade-promoting. EU standards may have hurt developed countries more than developing countries, but this result is dependent on the sector. At a policy level, the results highlight the importance of dealing with the trade effects of voluntary standards in major markets, not just mandatory public standards.     

The implementation mechanisms of voluntary food safety systems

The recent food scares have been the motivation for voluntary programmes on food safety being promoted by public authorities and voluntarily implemented by food operators. In this article, we take into account the nature of the contamination risk to investigate the complementarities between private and public mechanisms for those voluntary systems to be implemented by a firm. We show two main results. First, when the firm directly markets its products to consumers a strong mandatory threat is a sufficient condition to implement voluntary systems whatever the risk of contamination. In contrast, when the mandatory threat is weak voluntary systems should be more implemented in industries where the risk of food contamination is low (pesticide residue) than in industries where the risk of contamination is high (pathogenic contamination). Second, when the risk of food contamination is low and the firm is embedded in a supply chain where the retailer can impose its own safety system, a well-designed penalty contract will induce a voluntary implementation whatever the mandatory threat.     

Critical factors for the expansion of broadband in developing countries: The case of Peru

Many studies have been made on the diffusion and development of broadband, however there are few published studies on the critical factors for advancing broadband services in developing countries. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to understand and identify the critical success factors for the development of broadband services in a developing country context, using the case of Peru. In this regard, this study uses data collected from interviews with Peruvian telecommunications professionals, policy makers and regional telecommunication experts, which is supplemented by official reports and statistical data to determine the critical success factors for broadband in this country. The four factors derived are; (i) expand the availability of infrastructure, (ii) define a national broadband policy that aligns the interests of stakeholders, (iii) develop effective competition in the broadband market, and (iv) stimulate the demand for broadband services. Through a MACTOR analysis the authors found that the objectives of sharing infrastructure, the further deployment of infrastructure and the development of competition in the market for broadband services are those that generate the most divergence between actors. Additionally, the MACTOR analysis determined that no disagreement existed for the objectives related to demand stimulation. Thus, four proposals are offered for the development of Peruvian broadband. The results are relevant for academics and policy makers interested broadband development in developing countries and for rural areas of developed countries.     

Globalisation of food quality standards: the impact in Greece

Globalisation is the global integration of standardised markets and has significant implications for Greece, a small European country distant from the main centres of world capital. Greece does however occupy a key position in the Balkan peninsula at the Eastern end of the Mediterranean. The paper commences by identifying the interpretation of the concept of globalisation and its effect on food quality standards. It subsequently attempts to sharpen understanding of the concept by considering concrete instances in which it has affected the Greek food industry. The paper concludes by suggesting an analytical framework for Greek institutions, legislators and policymakers addressing issues on standardisation.     

The welfare impact of food pathogen vaccines

Vaccines against several common foodborne pathogens are being developed and could substantially alter the policy tools available to address foodborne illness. However, little analysis is available to suggest how social welfare would be affected by consumer and industry responses to these new vaccines. To address this void, we use stated-preference data to estimate consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for food safety vaccines and then simulate the welfare impacts of subsidizing consumer purchases of the vaccine given two different industry responses: maintaining current levels of food safety vigilance and reducing food safety vigilance due to a moral hazard response that undermines consumer confidence in food safety. To obtain consumer preferences for the vaccine, we simultaneously estimate a three-equation model that recognizes the recursive nature of responses to questions probing respondents’ willingness to purchase vaccines and perceptions of the probability and severity of possible foodborne illness incidents and the joint distribution of unobservable components. Our simulations show large consumer WTP if vaccines are relatively inexpensive while the presence of moral hazard increases respondents’ willingness to pay and voluntary uptake of vaccine.     

Global discourse on ICT and the shaping of ICT policy in developing countries

This paper provides a critique of information and communication technology (ICT) policies in developing countries. Based on critical discourse analysis (CDA) of Iranian government discourse in the case of electronic fund transfer at the point of sale (EFT-POS) system, we illustrate the influence of global discourse on the policies and their contributions to the outcomes. We also analyze how policy shaped the ways in which different actors were included and allowed to participate in the implementation process. We show that enhancing the mainstream criteria like the rate of ICT adoption and diffusion, do not necessarily mean that policy will reap the expected benefits. From this standpoint, we propose that the focus of debate in policy making and defining policy objectives should move beyond setting objectives exclusively adopted from global discourse to also considering local issues and concerns. In such conditions, there will be less resistance to the government plans and fewer social challenges.     

International trade and world food security : The role of developed countries since the World Food Conference

No mechanism is in place for the international coordination of grain stocks. World market stability is largely dependent upon the actions of major grain trading countries. These countries have avoided the exportation of their domestic supply variations onto world markets over the past decade, but have been reluctant to allow domestic consumption to respond to world shortages and surpluses. Improvement in the sensitivity of domestic storage and consumption to world conditions could increase their contribution to world food security.     

Concentration in ownership of plant variety rights: some implications for developing countries

This paper explores concentration levels in the ownership of intellectual property rights over plant varieties worldwide. An analysis of data for 30 UPOV member-countries shows a high degree of concentration in the ownership of plant variety rights for six major crops at the national level in the developed world. Much of this concentration has arisen owing to the rapid consolidation of the seed industry through mergers and acquisitions, especially in the 1990s. A high degree of concentration in the ownership of plant variety rights, in combination with recent efforts to strengthen plant variety protection regimes, is likely to have significant effects on the prospects for future innovation in plant breeding and the distribution of market power between companies. For developing countries, concentration in intellectual property right ownership may have important implications for the structure of domestic seed industries and access to protected varieties and associated plant breeding technologies. These implications for developing countries are likely to become apparent in the context of the rapid spread of plant variety protection and access legislation, emerging changes in the international exchange regime for plant material and liberalised investment policies permitting foreign investment in the seeds sector.     

The economic implications of using HACCP as a food safety regulatory standard

This article discusses the nature and role of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) as a food safety control system and, in particular, its role as an element of public food safety regulation. The notion of efficiency in food safety regulation is discussed and related to the nature of food safety controls. It is suggested that, if appropriately applied, HACCP is a more economically efficient approach to food safety regulation than command and control (CAC) interventions. The economic implications of HACCP are discussed with reference to estimates of the costs and benefits, in particular for the food industry. Finally, the use of HACCP as an international trade standard and the facilitation of trade in processed food products is considered.     

浅析现阶段我国食品安全问题

民以食为天,食以安为先。然而现阶段我国食品安全问题比较严重,已经严重影响到了人民群众的健康和生命安全乃至我国经济的发展。本文概述了食品安全的内涵,分析了现阶段我国食品安全存在的主要问题,旨在通过对该问题的研究说明此问题的严重性和紧迫性,从而引起社会各界的广泛关注和思考,促进该问题的逐步解决。