The Value of Domestic Supply Chains in an Age of Global Food Production: Producers, Wholesalers, and Urban Consumers in Colombia

22 Pages Posted: 14 Jan 2013

Date Written: January 14, 2013

Abstract

Global value chains have received great attention as potential links between smallholder farmers in developing countries and lucrative markets in industrialized nations. However, food access for poor consumers in Third World cities depends largely on domestic traditional supply chains. This paper focuses on the market for perishables in Colombia, which is dominated by peasant farming and ranching, wholesale (spot) markets, and small, family-run corner stores and butchers. Despite characterizations of traditional supply chains as inefficient, evidence from Colombia suggests that these chains provide critical outlets for smallholders’ heterogeneous production, while simultaneously ensuring availability of cheap food for poor urban consumers.

Keywords: supply chains, wholesale markets, supermarkets, smallholders, Colombia

JEL Classification: L81, Q18, O17

Suggested Citation

Guarin, Alejandro, The Value of Domestic Supply Chains in an Age of Global Food Production: Producers, Wholesalers, and Urban Consumers in Colombia (January 14, 2013). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2200473 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2200473

Alejandro Guarin (Contact Author)

German Development Institute ( email )

Tulpenfeld 6
Bonn, 53113
Germany

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