Transformation of the Agrifood Industry in Developing Countries - The Oxford Topic of Food, Politics, and Society - page 795

sectorinvestmentandmodernizationofwholesale/logisticsinthelate1990sandespe-
ciallythe2000s.
The fourth section discusses the paths of transformation of food processing, which
also had an early partial transformation with government-driven changes such as
parastatalsfromthe1960son,thenenteredamodernizationphasewithliberalization
mainlyinthelate1980sandintothe1990s.
heithsectiondiscussesthepathsofretailtransformation.hereisanimportant,
but little appreciated, initial transformation via government cum cooperative action,
such as fair price shops and cooperative and state retail chains (little discussed in the
retailordevelopmentliterature),beforethe1990s,otenforfoodsecurityreasons,then
theriseofmodern-privateretailinthe1990sand2000s.
The sixth section begins with a discussion of the “symbioses” among the three trans-
formedagrifoodindustrysegments,emphasizingwaysinwhichtheyreinforceeach
other and enter preferred supplier relations with each other. This sets the stage for dis-
cussing emerging impacts of the previously mentioned transformations on small and
mediumenterprises(SMEs)andfarmers,focusingonrecentevidenceandnotinggaps
in current knowledge.
The seventh section discusses a new set of policy/program drivers is emerging in the
form of programs to develop linkages that encourage a faster, more integrated, and more
inclusivegrowthpathforthesetransformationsoverthenextdecade.Itisfartooearlyto
tell if these new programs will be successful, especially in keeping small farmers in food
supply chains or promoting their welfare.
Determinants and General Diffusion
Path of Transformation
There have been two “broad phases” of agrifood industry transformation over the past
50 years: “preliberalization/preglobalization” (mainly 1960s-mid-1980s) and “liber-
alization/ globalization” (mainly mid-1980s to now) (Reardon and Timmer, 2007).
Contained within those two stages are the successive transformations of the three seg-
ments of the agrifood industry. The timing of the transformation of each segment is
approximate,becauseitdifersbyregionandcountry:(a)transformationof wholesal-
ing ,intwowaves,withapublic-sector-drivenstagemainlyinthe1960s-1990s,anda
private-sector-drivenstage,mainlyinthe2000s;(b)transformationof processing , with a
colonialandpublic-sectorphasemainlyupthroughthe1970s,andthenaprivate-sector
stagemainlyinthe1980stonow;(c)andthenthetransformationof retailing , with a
smallpublic-sectorstageinthe1960s-1980s,thenaprivatesectorstagemainlyinthe
1990s-2000s.
Roughly shared over segments is a set of mutually conditioning determinants of
transformation, with the specifics of the determinants differing somewhat by segment.