Academic article

This study examines the determinants and impacts of smallholder-producer participation in avocado export markets on labor inputs, farm yields, sales prices, and incomes in Kenya. Smallholder farmers can benefit from participation in avocado export markets and other supply chain activities. Providing households with access to foreign markets and up-to-date information on farm technology, along with the dissemination of simple and domestically invented technologies, could apparently achieve higher farm incomes, revenues, and sales prices. »

This study examined the barriers faced by men and women farmers in the uptake of livestock vaccines to inform strategies for optimizing the use of vaccines. The study has demonstrated that availability of vaccines does not guarantee uptake at community level due to social, spatial, economic, and vaccine safety and efficacy barriers faced by men and women farmers. »

This article explores the role of insufficient production of fruits and vegetables and the effects of food waste and public policy in achieving recommended fruit and vegetable consumption. Even under the most optimistic socioeconomic scenarios (excluding food waste), many countries fail to achieve sufficient fruit and vegetable availability to meet even the minimum recommended target. »

This article examins relationships between consumers’ socioeconomic status, use of different modern and traditional retailers, and dietary patterns in urban Zambia. Use of modern retailers is positively associated with higher consumption of ultra-processed foods. However, the use of traditional stores and kiosks is also positively associated with the consumption of ultra-processed foods, suggesting that modern retailers are not the only drivers of dietary transitions. »

This article focuses on the relationship between informality and food deserts in African cities. Informal settlements in rapidly-growing African cities are urban and peri-urban spaces with high rates of formal unemployment, poverty, poor health outcomes, limited service provision, and chronic food insecurity. Traditional concepts of food deserts developed to describe North American and European cities do not accurately capture the realities of food inaccessibility in Africa’s urban informal food deserts. »

This paper explores correlations and linkages between neighbourhood food environments and household food environments, with particular emphasis on the risk they pose for obesity. The results reveal that household food environments promoting obesity appear correlated with neighbourhood food environments, which make obesogenic foods accessible and available. They also suggest that poverty is a powerful determinant not only of household consumption and purchasing but also of local food environments. »