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This paper analyzes the consumption of fruits and vegetables (FV) in Senegal by: (1) urban and rural areas; (2) FV types (African-indigenous vs non-indigenous); (3) sources of FV (imports, purchases and own-production).

The authors undertake descriptive and regression analyses on consumption of FV sourced from purchases, own-production and gifts. The data come from primary surveys in 2017/2018 of 6,328 rural and urban households in Senegal.

The analysis showed that FV are important in urban and rural food consumption. A stunning 76% of rural FV consumption is from purchases, showing the importance of FV supply chains even into and among rural areas. Only 12% of national FV consumption is from imports. Most FV consumption in rural and urban areas is now of non-indigenous FV; African-indigenous FV have a minor share.

A limitation of this paper is that it uses a cross-sectional dataset.

There are few national survey-based studies of FV consumption in Africa. This is the first to disaggregate FV consumption between primary versus secondary cities and rural towns, and rural areas close to and far from cities, in such detail regarding types and sources of FV as outlined in the findings. The regressions contribute by including determinants beyond income, including gender, employment, spatiality and education.

We study five exogenous shocks: climate, violence, price hikes, spoilage and the COVID-19 lockdown. We analyze the association between these shocks and trader characteristics, reflecting trader vulnerability.

Using primary survey data on 1,100 Nigerian maize traders for 2021 (controlling for shocks in 2017), we use probit models to estimate the probabilities of experiencing climate, violence, disease and cost shocks associated with trader characteristics (gender, size and region) and to estimate the probability of vulnerability (experiencing severe impacts).

Traders are prone to experiencing more than one shock, which increases the intensity of the shocks. Price shocks are often accompanied by violence, climate and COVID-19 shocks. The poorer northern region is disproportionately affected by shocks. Northern traders experience more price shocks while Southern traders are more affected by violence shocks given their dependence on long supply chains from the north for their maize. Female traders are more likely to experience violent events than men who tend to be more exposed to climate shocks.

The data only permit analysis of the general degree of impact of a shock rather than quantifying lost income.

This paper is the first to analyze the incidence of multiple shocks on grain traders and the unequal distribution of negative impacts. It is the first such in Africa based on a large sample of grain traders from a primary survey.

The objective of the study is to systematically review the existing research in the topical domain of farmers’ direct link with supermarkets. The authors present a state-of-the-art structure of the field and provide directions for future research in the domain. The major aim of this study is to synthesize the research field and answer some specific questions, like what do we know about this field and where should we be heading.

A pool of 275 articles published from 2002 to 2022 were retrieved from the Scopus database and analyzed using the R-based Biblioshiny and visualized using VOSviewer. The research design is a mix of quantitative bibliometric technique and qualitative content analysis. Bibliometric method ensures the objectivity while content analysis ensures the scholarly evaluation.

Major findings include production trend, dominant keywords, leading publication outlets and country-wise analysis of the selected articles. The authors found that sub-domains like economic aspects, participation hurdles and the rise of supermarkets are the most researched topics while operational issues, their pragmatic solutions, sustainability and innovation are the emerging sub-fields that need more academic attention.

The major limitation is the use of single data source, i.e. Scopus, and it is quite possible that useful studies that are not covered by Scopus remain excluded.

This study is one of the first attempts to systematically review the previous research on the selected topic. It will help researchers to understand the present status, identify future research directions, and pursue more reasonable and relevant topics of research.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the patterns and dynamics of the diffusion of modern food retail in India.

The paper is based on detailed sales data from retail chains in India, short case studies of retail chains, and review of literature.

The article presents three surprises concerning modern food retail diffusion in India. First, modern retail has developed in three “waves”, with the first wave, government retail chains, starting in the 1960s/1970s, cooperative retail chains starting in the 1970s/1980s, and private retail chains in the 1990s/2000s. All three were substantial, and internationally uniquely, all three coexist in the 2000s as segments of modern retail. Second, the rise of modern private retail in India in the past six years has been among the fastest in the world, growing at 49 percent a year on average over that period, and bouncing back to growth after a dip from the recent recession. The great majority of modern private retail has arisen in 2007‐2010. Third, beside the uniqueness of the coexistence of three types of retail noted above, Indian private retail chain development has unique or rare characteristics: driven by domestic capital investment, “early” (in terms of usual international patterns) diversification into small formats, “early” penetration of small cities and even rural towns, of the food markets of the poor and lower‐middle class, and of fresh produce retail. These unique factors have helped to propel it quickly.

For the first time in the literature, the paper presents an analysis of: the three waves in Indian retail; detailed sales data for all leading chains; and its uniqueness.

Wastage and post-harvest losses in food value chains are becoming increasingly debated and policies are being increasingly designed to reduce food wastages. Despite its presumed importance, there is large variation in the importance and type of food losses and wastage. We identify the levels of food wastage at various levels of the potato food chain for three Asian countries.

Surveys were fielded to better measure the important variation between value chain agents, to capture wastage at each level, to analyze the structure of the value chain, and to evaluate wastage over the whole value chain (except for consumption). We generate data on an important staple in these countries and analyze the importance of waste in domestic rural-urban food value chains, often the most important value chain in these countries.

We find total quantities of potatoes wasted are equal to 5.2% in the harvest period and 6.4% in the off-season of all quantities that enter the value chain for Bangladesh. Even lower numbers are obtained in India (3.2% and 3.3%, respectively). These wastage levels are higher in China, possibly because of the significantly longer distances that potatoes are shipped.

The use of cold storage facilities can minimize the level of wastage in the potato distribution chain. Studies of this type of storage for other countries and commodities can identify opportunities in which adoption of cold storage can provide the greatest contributions toward the elimination of food wastage.

Households are exposed to a wide array of risks, characterized by a known or unknown probability distribution of events. Disasters are one of these risks at the extreme end. Understanding the nature of these risks is critical to recommending appropriate mitigation measures. A household’s resilience in resisting the negative outcomes of these risky events is indicative of its level of vulnerability. Vulnerability has emerged as the most critical concept in disaster studies, with several attempts at defining, measuring, indexing and modeling it. The paper presents the concept and meanings of risk and vulnerability as they have evolved in different disciplines. Building on these basic concepts, the paper suggests that assets are the key to reducing risk and vulnerability. Households resist and cope with adverse consequences of disasters and other risks through the assets that they can mobilize in face of shocks. Asustainable strategy for disaster reduction must therefore focus on asset‐building. There could be different types of assets, and their selection and application for disaster risk management is necessarily a contextual exercise. The mix of asset‐building strategies could vary from one community to another, depending upon households’ asset profile. The paper addresses the dynamics of assets‐risk interaction, thus focusing on the role of assets in risk management.

Examines the “glass ceiling”, a putative invisible barrier but one that women experience as a very real impediment when vying for mobility, from a cultural perspective. In the case of “ethnic”, “coloured” and aboriginal women, the barrier is more often than not more visible with “concrete‐like” qualities of opaqueness. Argues that traditional images, meanings, expectations, values, assumptions and beliefs embedded in organizations with predominantly male management cultures and psycho‐structures need to be audited and, subsequently, changed. Emphasizes the urgency for cultural change in organizational structures to prevent the further emasculation and marginalization of women and other disfranchised actors in favour of a cultural diversity that accommodates gender, ethnicity and other social differences in action imperative for innovation and globalization. Identifies strategies for obliterating glass and concrete ceilings and achieving gender‐ and ethnic‐based equity in career opportunities.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how the unfolding diet transformation in East and Southern Africa is likely to influence the evolution of employment within its agrifood system (AFS) and between that system and the rest of the economy. To briefly consider implications for education and skill acquisition.

The authors link changing diets to employment structure. The authors then use alternative projections of diet change over 15- and 30-year intervals to develop scenarios on changes in employment structure.

As long as incomes in ESA continue to rise at levels near those of the past decade, the transformation of their economies is likely to advance dramatically. Key features will be: sharp decline in the share of the workforce engaged in farming even as absolute numbers rise modestly, sharp increase in the share engaged in non-farm segments of the AFS, and an even sharper increase in the share engaged outside the AFS. Within the AFS, food preparation away from home is likely to grow most rapidly, followed by food manufacturing, and finally by marketing, transport, and other AFS services. Resource booms in Mozambique and (potentially) Tanzania are the main factor that may change this pattern.

Clarifying policy implications requires renewed research given the rapid changes in Africa over the past 15 years.

This is the first paper to explicitly link changing diets to changing employment within the AFS.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the retailer Carrefour in India.

The paper compares the retailer Carrefour and its competitors in India.

Carrefour needed time to tie up with an Indian partner to start retail operations in India. The company also delayed its retail plans to focus on launching cash and carry (wholesale) operations. The world's second biggest supermarket group by sales is negotiating with over six Indian companies including diversified business groups, retailers and mall owners.

The paper provides a discussion on the Indian retail sector and the retailer Carrefour.