Modern marketing arrangements are increasingly being implemented to assure improved food quality and safety. However, it is not well known how these modern marketing arrangements perform in early stages of roll-out. We study this issue in the case of rural-urban milk value chains in Ethiopia, where modern processing companies – selling branded pasteurized milk – and modern retail have expanded rapidly in recent years. We find overall that the adoption levels of hygienic practices and practices leading to safer milk by dairy producers in Ethiopia are low and that there are no significant differences between traditional and modern milk value chains. While suppliers to modern processing companies are associated with more formal milk testing, they do not obtain price premiums for the adoption of improved practices nor do they obtain higher prices overall. Rewards to suppliers by modern processing companies are mostly done through non-price mechanisms. At the urban retail level, we surprisingly find that there are no price differences between branded pasteurized and raw milk and that modern retailers sell pasteurized milk at lower prices, ceteris paribus. Modern value chains to better reward hygiene and food safety in these settings are therefore called for.

We combine in-person survey data collected in February 2018 with phone survey data collected in June and September 2021 to study how dairy value chains in Ethiopia have coped with the COVID-19 pandemic. Focusing on the major dairy value chain connecting farmers in North and West Shewa as well as peri-urban and urban producers in and around Addis Ababa to consumers in Addis Ababa, we applied a cascading survey approach in which we collected data at all levels of the value chain: dairy farmers, rural wholesalers, and urban retailers.

Multiple actors should be mobilized to ensure that agrifood systems help meet nutrition and sustainability objectives. [Author] Among these, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) engaged in the supply of food are of crucial importance as they constitute the bulk of agrifood enterprises in most countries. [Author] However, there are still few examples of policies, programmes and initiatives aimed specifically at leveraging SMEs due, inter alia, to the novelty of the debate and to the limited understanding of their specific needs and challenges. [Author] Based on a literature review, complemented with FAO's experience in capacity development for SMEs, this publication is targeted at programme developers, experts and technical advisors to policymakers. [Author] Its objectives are: a) to improve the understanding of the linkages between topics that are traditionally dealt with separately; and b) to promote the inclusion of an SME perspective in nutrition and agrifood system policies, programmes and strategies. [Author]

Foodborne diseases (FBD) are an important externality of agriculture and food systems, but only recently have they risen up the development agenda as the result of growing awareness of the health and economic burdens of FBD and how they relate to food systems with a focus on low-income and middle-income countries (LMIC), particularly African nations. The health burden of FBD is comparable with that of malaria, and over 90% falls on people in LMIC, with an economic burden of more than US$100 million per year. FBD have many other, less well-estimated effects on nutrition, gender, equity, and the environment. While understanding of food safety in domestic markets of LMICs has advanced greatly, risk management is in its infancy. This Research Topic will bring together leading regional perspectives on food safety in LMICs.

This study of the dairy value chain in the Oromia region of Ethiopia was conducted as part of the AgrInvest-Food Systems Project, a collaboration between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) to promote private investments in African food systems that contribute to local economic, social and environmental sustainability.

This Handbook offers an up-to-date collection of research on agricultural economics. Drawing together scholarship from experts at the top of their profession and from around the world, this collection provides new insights into the area of agricultural economics. The Routledge Handbook of Agricultural Economics explores a broad variety of topics including welfare economics, econometrics, agribusiness, and consumer economics. This wide range reflects the way in which agricultural economics encompasses a large sector of any economy, and the chapters present both an introduction to the subjects as well as the methodology, statistical background, and operations research techniques needed to solve practical economic problems. In addition, food economics is given a special focus in the Handbook due to the recent emphasis on health and feeding the world population a quality diet. Furthermore, through examining these diverse topics, the authors seek to provide some indication of the direction of research in these areas and where future research endeavors may be productive. Acting as a comprehensive, up-to-date, and definitive work of reference, this Handbook will be of use to researchers, faculty, and graduate students looking to deepen their understanding of agricultural economics, agribusiness, and applied economics, and the interrelationship of those areas.