The Environmental Food Crisis

ACCESSIBILITY TO FOOD Accessibility to food concerns both physical access and af- fordability. Access to markets concerns transportation of commodities and its costs as well as the transmission of price developments to producers. Poor transmission of price incentives to producers results in broadening the gap between consumers and producers, especially in periods of changing diets.

Large urban markets create the scope for the establishment of big supermarket chains, with implications for the entire food supply chain. In 2002, the share of supermarkets in the processed/pack- aged food retail market was 33% in Southeast Asia and 63% in East Asia (Figure 33). The share of supermarkets in the fresh foods mar- ket was roughly 15–20% in Southeast Asia and 30% in East Asia outside of China. The 2001 supermarket share of Chinese urban food markets was 48%, up from 30% in 1999. Supermarkets are also becoming an emerging force in South Asia, particularly in ur- ban India since the mid-1990s (Pingali and Khwaja, 2004). The increasing growth and power of international food corporations are affecting the opportunities of small agricultural producers in de- veloping countries. While new opportunities are being created, the majority are not able to utilize them because of the stringent safety and quality standards of food retailers, hence barring market entry. The economy of the corporate food supply chain has grown steadily over the past years. Between 2004 and 2006 total global food spend-

ACCESS TO MARKETS

According to the latest UN estimates, almost all of the world’s population growth between 2000 and 2030 will be concentrated in urban areas in developing countries (Fig- ure 32). By 2030, almost 60% of the people in developing countries will live in cities (FAO, 2003). If present trends continue, urban population will equal rural population by around 2017.

Urban and rural population in less developed regions (billions)

Supermarket share of retail food sales

0

10

20

30

40

50

4

Central America

South America

3

Southeast Asia

Rural

East Asia (excl. China)

2

Central Europe

South Africa

Urban

Kenya

1

1992 2002

Zimbabwe

Projections Estimates

China (urban)

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 0 Figure 32: Urbanization in developing countries be- tween 1960 and 2030. (Source: UN, 2007).

Figure 33: Supermarket share of retail food sales. (Source: Reardon et al ., 2003).

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