ABSTRACT
Food and agricultural commodity markets, particularly in developing countries, have undergone tremendous changes in the past decades (Reardon and Barrett 2000; Swinnen and Maertens 2007). The global integration of the agricultural sector has been paralleled by its liberalization in many developing countries, leading to privatization of state enterprises, dismantling of state interventions and often higher levels of foreign investment in domestic food retailing and production. Supermarkets have become major actors in domestic food supply chains (Reardon et al. 2003). In addition, there has been a shift from public to private food standards in response to consumer concerns about food safety, quality and the socio-economic and environmental conditions of production (Henson and Reardon 2005). On the consumer side, rising incomes and the quest for variety and convenience have led to greater product differentiation and market segmentation. On the supply side, food processors and retailers have introduced quality assurance schemes for strategic reasons (Holleran et al. 1999). Agricultural products previously traded as standardized commodities are increasingly valued for specific traits and are differentiated according to their inherent quality attributes (Hobbs and Young 2000). The internationalization and concentration of agricultural value chains have implications for small-scale producers in developing countries, who must now adapt their production methods to fulfil the new requirements of local and international customers.
