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"The Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) was invited by the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry to conduct a study titled "The Impact of Organized Retailing on the Unorganized Retail Sector." Because organized retail in India is still in its infancy, it was deemed critical to look at the experience of other countries, especially developing ones. Thus, ICRIER sought the assistance of Dr. Thomas Reardon and Dr. Ashok Gulati, co-directors of Markets in Asia, a joint program of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Michigan State University. ICRIER asked Reardon and Gulati to help research and report on the international experiences in the growth and expansion of modern retailing in developed and developing countries and the implications for India. This report is a contribution to that effort. This paper focuses on the emergence of modern retailing with respect to food and what implications it can have for various stakeholders in the food supply chain. While we briefly review the US and European experience, we focus on the developing countries of Latin America and East Asia (including China), where the supermarket revolution started in the early to mid-1990s. We looked at the patterns of the diffusion process in modern retailing in terms of "waves" that go from country to country, and within a country from first-tier cities to second-tier and then third-tier cities, and from processed to semiprocessed to fresh products. We also treat the challenges and opportunities that modern retailing has posed for various stakeholders in the supply chains, especially for traditional retailers, farmers, and consumers. We also looked at several instances when governments helped small retailers or upgraded wetmarkets by (1) establishing affirmative action policies to strengthen their competitiveness so they could also participate effectively in the transition to modern retailing, and (2) providing compensation to help them change their lines. The paper concludes by surmising what lessons other countries' experiences in the supermarket revolution have for India which is on the threshold of a major structural change in retailing. The expectations and concerns are high. Accordingly, India must form its own model of retail development to meet its priorities, learn from challenges that others have faced, and successful examples of strategies for "competitiveness with inclusiveness" among traditional retailers, wholesaler, and farmers entering an era of rapid retail transformation and concomitant food system change." -- from Author's Abstract ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1; Markets and Trade ; NDO; MTID

Die kleinbäuerliche Landwirtschaft in Ruanda ist seit Jahren zunehmender Landknappheit aufgrund hohen Bevölkerungsdrucks sich verschlechternder Bodenfruchtbarkeit und rückläufiger Produktivität ausgesetzt. Der Artikel geht auf die Frage ein, mit welchen Maßnahmen die Kleinbauern versuchen, diesen landwirtschaftlichen Niedergang aufzuhalten und welche Überlegungen hinter ihren Investitionen zur Gewährleistung einer nachhaltigen intensiven Farmwirtschaft stehen. Vier wichtige Ergebnisse werden festgehalten: (1) Die Struktur des Ackerlandes (Hanglage, Fragmentierung, Größe etc.) hat wesentlichen Einfluß auf die Art der ergriffenen Maßnahmen. (2) Einkommen von außerhalb der Landwirtschaft verbessern entscheidend die Investitionsmöglichkeiten der Haushalte. (3) Die Anwendung von organischen und chemischen Düngemitteln nimmt zu. (4) Öffentliche Investitionen in Beratung und Straßenbau fördern eine nachhaltige Intensivierung der Landwirtschaft. (DÜI-Hlb)

The rural nonfarm economy (RNFE) accounts for roughly 25 percent of full-time rural employment and 35-40 percent of rural incomes across the developing world. This diverse collection of seasonal trading, household-based and large-scale agroprocessing, manufacturing and service activities plays a crucial role in sustaining rural populations, inservicing a growing and modern agriculture, and in supplying local consumer goods and services. In areas where landlessness prevails, rural nonfarm activity offers important economic alternatives for the rural poor.Three key groups currently intervene in the rural nonfarm economy: large private enterprises, non-profit promotional agencies and governments. Large modern corporations take investment, procurement and marketing decisions that powerfully shape opportunities in the rural nonfarm economy throughout much of the Third World." The authors put forth three basic principles for policy makers who want to ensure equitable growth of the RNFE: (1) Identify key engines of regional growth; (2) Focus on subsector-specific supply chains; and (3) Build flexible institutional coalitions. They conclude that a prosperous rural nonfarm economy can contribute to both aggregate economic growth and improved welfare of the rural poor. -- from Executive Summary. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI2 ; EPTD

Despite recurrent crop failures, there is evidence that households in the West African Semiarid Tropics (WASAT) are still able to assure their food security. This article explores two issues: 1) Does WASAT household income diversification (that is, earning noncropping income in addition to, or as a substitute for, cropping income) resolve this paradox? 2) What is driving the diversification, and how do these factors differ over rich and poor households, and agroclimatically good and poor agroecological zones? Data are derived from the farm household survey in Burkina Faso conducted by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). The survey covered four harvest years (1981/82-1984/85). The sample included 150 households in the following three agroecological zones: the Sahelian, the Sudanian, and the Guinean. Harvest shortfalls and terms of trade are found to drive diversification, but land constraints do not. Income diversification is associated with higher incomes and food consumption, and more stable income and consumption over years. (Documenatieblad/ASC Leiden)

The paper examines strategies used by rural households in the Sahelian and Sudanian zones of Burkina Faso to ensure food security in the face of drought-induced cropping shortfalls. It finds that three quarters of the average household income in the Sahel sample and half of the same in the Sudanian sample come from non-cropping sources. These are more diversified regionally and sectorally in the case of the Sahel. (DSE)

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