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| 1 |
ID:
125790
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2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Southeast Asian food systems are changing rapidly. Populations are growing and urbanising, production and consumption choices are shifting, and food value chains are experiencing a myriad of ripple effects from rural hinterlands to city marketplaces. These systemic changes are inconsistent, however, and variable challenges define key sectors. Distribution chains, wholesaling, food processing, retail and supermarkets, and other midstream and downstream segments of regional food systems are undergoing transformative and largely unhindered change. On-farm modernisation and trade liberalisation are occurring more haltingly. Previous advances in food production technology and methods have lost momentum, and much of the region faces confronting questions about how to produce adequate and appropriate food in light of shifting demographics, environmental stress, land scarcities, market manipulations and other defining regional characteristics. This paper juxtaposes these challenges with remarkable distribution chain evolutions, and focuses upon three impediments to further shifts in regional food systems: (1) the perpetuation of agrarian mythologies, (2) push-back against rice market integration, and (3) regulatory barriers to the adoption of genetically modified (GM) plants. These seemingly disparate dynamics actually have points of convergence, and are unified in their negative overall impacts on regional food security. This paper explores reasons behind the pervasiveness of these impediments and argues for supply-oriented improvements in the regional food systems.
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| 2 |
ID:
124629
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2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
A significant proportion of the world's greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed, directly or indirectly, to corporate activities. An increasing number of companies have set targets and have adopted initiatives to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, raising the question of what sorts of outcomes can realistically be expected from corporate action on climate change? This paper aims to shed some light on this issue through an analysis of the climate change performance of the UK supermarket sector. This sector is directly responsible for around 1% of UK greenhouse gas emissions, but it has been estimated that indirectly it may be responsible for up to 10% of emissions. In the period between 2000 and 2010, the major UK supermarkets transformed their approach to climate change. This paper examines the outcomes that resulted from these actions. It finds that there have been significant and steady improvements in energy efficiency, but that these efficiency gains are often outstripped by the impacts of business growth. For most companies, short of a radical redesign of their business activities, or an expansion of the scope of their energy management initiatives to include their indirect emissions, total greenhouse gas emissions will tend to increase over time.
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| 3 |
ID:
093885
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2010.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Supermarkets are often seen as marking the transition of food economies from traditional, informal, low-quality markets to more sophisticated, quality-based modes of food retailing. Focusing on Lusaka, Zambia's capital, this article critically assesses the claim that supermarkets 'revolutionize' food economies in Africa. While supermarkets have been successful in expanding their investment reach in Zambia, the article shows that they are not the only players in the food economy, neither are they the most dominant. The article argues for a more critical engagement with supermarkets and their role in urban Africa by drawing attention to contextual changes in the local food economy and factors in the regional political economy that drive/resist the process. It argues that the 'supermarket revolution myopia' sidelines evidence of other potentially transformative processes by which the transition of food economies is made possible, and shows that 'informal' food markets, made up of complex networks of interaction, present a considerable challenge to the claims that supermarkets transform food economies in urban Africa. Transitions in the regulation, governance, and physical infrastructure of these markets suggest that they are progressively more resilient and competitive, despite the growth of supermarkets.
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