World Food Policy Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2015 | Page 67

World Food Policy

carried out by inter-groups on a monthly
basis. Inter-groups are comprised of the
farmer association, a panel of farmers,
a panel of consumers, and a technician
from ADDA. The monthly meeting is an
opportunity to take stock of quantities
available, PGS certificates issued, disease
outbreaks, and means of dealing with
them. It is difficult to determine the
frequency of inspections upstream
from getting the PGS certification and
the makeup of the group of inspectors.
In practice, consumers do not inspect
the fields. They declare themselves as
lacking the competence required to
evaluate the degree of rigor present in the
development of safety standards and their
control. But when the fields are visited at
different times during the year, they can
get an idea of the production conditions.
In 2010, the NGO was performing a
number of incidental sample analyses.
The group leaders were paying 6 USD a
year for PGS certification. Once a year,
random samples were taken from four
families for two types of vegetables.
These were analyzed using a quick test.
However, it was difficult to tell whether
consumers were trusting the PGS system
or the NGO, since both were mentioned
on the label, and no survey has been
conducted to investigate the matter.

have developed an efficient marketing
strategy (Moustier and Nguyen 2010b).
Of these nine cooperatives, six are regular
suppliers of supermarkets, and six
(including three selling to supermarkets)
have market stalls or shops where they sell
directly to consumers. An approximate
total of 500 farmers are involved in these
cooperatives. All of the nine cooperatives
are regular suppliers of canteens.
Compared with the supply of traditional
markets—which is characterized by
a chain of collectors, wholesalers and
retailers—the distribution of vegetables
labeled as “safe” generally involves zero
or one intermediary. While direct sales
represent 60% of the sales of cooperatives
of SVs, it is less than 10% for conventional
ones (Moustier and Nguyen 2010a).

Direct sales are increasing
quickly: in 2002, there were 22 points of
sale for “safe vegetables,” including 20%
managed by cooperatives. In 2008, there
were 54 points of sale, 70% of which
were managed by cooperatives. This
development is also observed for organic
vegetables, for which direct sales look
more sustainable arrangements than
contract farming as shown by the history
of the development of the sector. In 2002,
Hanoi Organics private company was
distributing organic vegetables via its
own shop, as well as delivering directly
to the consumers and to schools. The
company signed two-year contracts with
six families of producers in the TuLiem
district (Hanoi province) and 32 farmers
in Chuong My district (Ha Tay province),
specifying the production regulations and
frequency of controls, while quantities
and prices were renegotiated every three
months (they amounted to two to three
times the prices of ordinary vegetables

The development of direct sales

A final observation relates to the
recent development of direct sales (or at
least short, with only one intermediary)
between producers and consumers,
especially to promote specific attributes
of quality, be it in terms of safety or a
specific geographical location. Nine of
the 27 cooperatives certified as “safe”
66