Leveraging the role of MSMEs for healthier diets and nutrition: Insights from fruit and vegetable value chain studies across five countries

Ezra Berkhout, Youri Dijkxhoorn, Daniel Ayalew Mekonnen, Trang Nguyen, Emma Termeer and Bart de Steenhuijsen Pieters

CGIAR Initative Publications from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Abstract: Globally, MSMEs represent about 90 percent of all businesses and account for 60 to 70 percent of employment and 50 percent of GDP. In the current food system, by being present at all value chain stages and better linking small-scale farmers to markets, MSMEs can offer affordable food to both urban and rural areas, create jobs and opportunities for young and female entrepreneurs, and support sustainable, circular food practices (IFAD 2021). These promises can be fulfilled if certain barriers that can hinder their contributions, such as high rates of food loss and waste (FLW), food safety concerns, and the uncertain informal context in which the majority of them operate are addressed (Termeer et al. 2024).; In most low and middle-income countries (LMICs) the food system falls short in providing sufficient amounts of healthy foods to a burgeoning population. The growing awareness of how food systems are stressing planetary boundaries and failing to provide sustainable healthy diets and livelihoods has prompted the widespread call to transform the global food system (Béné 2022; FAO et al. 2020, 2024; Webb et al. 2020). Transforming food systems requires engaging various groups of actors with diverse perspectives and challenges (Leeuwis et al. 2021), including setting up alliances with the informal sector (Brouwer & Ruben 2021) and a strengthened focus on the role of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

Keywords: food systems; small and medium enterprises; sustainability; healthy diets; value chains; fruits; vegetables; food environment; markets; Benin; Ethiopia; Philippines; Tanzania; Vietnam; Western Africa; Eastern Africa; South-eastern Asia; Africa; Asia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-env and nep-sea
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