Sources say that fruit and vegetable consumption is extremely low in Ethiopia, even compared to other neighboring countries. This is leading to nutrient deficiencies and making its population vulnerable to a range of largely preventable diseases. High prices and low incomes help explain the low levels of fruit and vegetable consumption, but even the relatively wealthy eat less fruits and vegetables than the WHO recommends.
Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), such as traders and retailers, play a key role in supplying consumers with fruits and vegetables, especially in urban areas. One way to improve fruit and vegetable consumption is to target the barriers that MSMEs face in growing their businesses.
To learn about those barriers, researchers from the CGIAR Initiative on Sustainable Healthy Diets through Food Systems Transformation (SHiFT) commissioned a mixed methods case study of FV value chains in late 2022/early 2023 in both urban and rural areas of Ethiopia.
In the study, MSMEs reported that various factors limit their business expansion. At least one factor—high price volatility—is inherent to these specific value chains, since FV face a higher risk of spoilage than grains and legumes. Another factor—the general lack of cold chains—would require substantial coordinated investment to overcome.
Source: cgiar.org