and relies on skilled labour for managing the crop and for system maintenance.

Nordey et al. (2017), in their review of protected cultivation for vegetable crops in sub-Saharan Africa, concluded:

* Low-tech protected cultivation techniques are not suitable in all climatic conditions in sub-Saharan Africa and need to be combined with other methods to ensure adequate pest control.

* The profitability of protected cultivation techniques relies on the capacity to offset increased production costs by higher yields and higher selling prices to be obtained with off-season and/or higher quality products;

* Breaking with existing cropping systems, a lack of technical support and skills, and limited access to investment funding are major obstacles to adopting protected cultivation techniques by small-scale farmers.

* Life cycle assessments conducted in northern countries suggested that more efficient use of agricultural inputs would offset the negative impacts of protected cultivation techniques if they were properly managed, but further studies are required to be sure these results can be extrapolated to the context of sub-Saharan Africa.

<figure><img src="image_57.png" /></figure>
<figure><img src="image_58.png" /></figure>
CHAPTER 3

# Value chains

* Pre-harvest planning, harvesting, post-harvest handling and processing 79

* Processing 88

* Markets 96

<figure><img src="image_59.png" /></figure>
To be sustainable, the production of fruit and vegetables must be linked intrinsically to markets and consumers through stable value chains. While the term value chain typically includes production, this chapter focuses on post-harvest activities while recognizing that many of the decisions made by farmers influence the suitability of produce for post-harvest activities and markets. The value chain approach explains how a sector is organized by examining the structure and dynamics of the interaction between the different actors involved (Fernandez-Stark et al. 2012; FAO, 2014c). It is also worth highlighting that low-income consumers worldwide face challenges related to access to, and the affordability of, fresh fruit and vegetables, and that processed foods can provide a solution (FAO, 2020d). At the same time, rapid urbanization and the emergence of a middle class with growing disposable incomes in low- and middle-income countries boosts the demand for fresh fruit and vegetables. By virtue of the high value of fruit and vegetables, stable and inclusive value chains offer significant opportunities for social equity and decent work (FAO, IFAD and ILO, 2010).

Some challenges affecting social and economic sustainability include high labour demand with unregulated protection, post-harvest activities carried out by small traders (transport, grading, storage, distribution) before going to wholesale, processing or retail markets, and unbalanced income distribution due to seasonality and perishability of the products and the poor governance of local value chains. However, tangible opportunities exist for fruit and vegetable value chains to deliver decent employment and incomes for all, including women and youth, equitable distribution of wealth, and provision of societal services to supply safe and nutritious foods.

Given these diverse livelihood strategies of small-scale farmers, the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE, 2013) stressed that there is no "one size fits all" definition of small-scale agriculture, which also applies to increasing sustainable small-scale production of fruit and vegetables. Small-scale farmers need a flexible approach that recognizes the range of different livelihood strategies if they are to adopt sustainable management practices to increase their fruit and vegetable production and to ensure that they are connected to stable value chains that give them access to markets. This flexibility will ensure that all small-scale farmers, whatever their resources, will be able to upgrade their production in ways that are within their means and meet their needs.
<figure><img src="image_60.png" /><figcaption>Fruit harvesting</figcaption></figure>

## Pre-harvest planning, harvesting, post-harvest handling and processing

An important factor that contributes to the sustainability of fruit and vegetable production and stable value chains systems is prevention of loss after harvest: "the decrease in the quantity or quality of food resulting from decisions and actions by food suppliers in the chain, excluding retail, food service providers and consumers" (FAO, 2019a). Actions need to be undertaken when planning cropping systems, farm management, and harvest and post-harvest operations. Post-harvest services are commonly offered to producers who aggregate their production and enable individual small-scale fruit and vegetable farmers to overcome constraints associated with economies of scale and connection to markets.
The locations where fresh fruit and vegetables are aggregated to be prepared and delivered to markets can also serve as important checkpoints for ensuring food safety and for building consumer confidence in locally produced fresh produce. Since post-harvest facilities provide a range of services and goods to both farmers, wholesale marketers, retailers, processors and consumers, they can become catalysts for expanding and diversifying local economies and creating employment.

## Pre-harvest planning

Selecting which crops are preferred by markets, and thus will have reduced losses, requires up-to-date information. Farmers need access to seeds and planting materials of crop species and varieties whose genetic qualities are well-suited both to local growing conditions and to the requirements of their intended buyers (local consumers, more distant retailers, processors for juicing, sauces, canning, etc.).

Since produce from many small-scale farmers will be aggregated into larger volumes as it moves through a supply chain, it is best if planning is done collectively. Close coordination among members of farmer groups, cooperatives and associations can help ensure that a diverse range of fruit and vegetables are being cultivated and improve the capacity of farmers to negotiate better prices. This diversity can help meet different consumer demands and avoid an oversupply of a particular crop on the market, which can result in food loss. This collective planning can also reduce farmers' production costs through activities like procuring inputs in bulk, in addition to aggregating post-harvest services.

## The timing of harvest

Harvesting fruit and vegetable crops before they reach the required maturity or when they are over-mature contributes to food loss and reduced farm income. For fruit and vegetable crops, determining the optimal time to harvest can pose challenges. The decision will depend on numerous factors including the type of crop, how it will be consumed (fresh or processed), the distance to markets and processing centres, and whether transportation and storage will require cooling.

Fruit and vegetables may not necessarily be harvested after they have reached physiological maturity. For example, many vegetables, such as cucumber, zucchini, green beans, peas and baby vegetables, reach
their commercial potential before their physiological maturity. Some fruit (climacteric fruit) produce a hormone (ethylene) that enables them to continue ripening after harvest. Major climacteric fruit include apple, avocado, banana, mango, melon, pear and watermelon. The flavour and appearance of these types of fruit may improve after harvest (for example, pears taste better when ripened off the tree and Cavendish bananas have a better colour and taste following artificial ripening). For climacteric crops, harvesting occurs early so full maturity is achieved at the market or at the consumer's end. Non-climacteric fruit include pineapple, citrus fruit, litchi and longan. For non-climacteric fruit and vegetables, the flavour and quality will not improve if they are harvested before they are fully ripe because their sugar and acid content does not increase further.

Assessing when to harvest requires knowledge and experience. Different measures can help. It also depends on which part of the crop is harvested. For some fast-growing vegetable crops, such as radish, maturity can be measured chronologically by counting the days from planting or from flowering. For many fruit and vegetables, farmers consider their colour, size and firmness. Other methods involve more advanced technologies, such as a chemical analysis or determination of sugars in fruit (Brix), which is a direct measure of taste, quality and readiness for harvesting and marketing. Several non-destructive and destructive methods are readily available to determine Brix levels.

Examples of low-cost tools that can be used by small-scale farmers include farm record books to keep track of the calendar of crop development, calibrated callipers and tapes for measuring size, and customized colour charts. See Okiror et al. (2017) for a study on the use of these tools by small-scale farmers in Uganda.

To ensure that crops are not chemically contaminated by pesticide residues, farmers should be familiar with, and practice, GAPs. For instance, pesticides that are not approved for food production should never be used on food crops. But also, labels on authorized pesticides indicate conditions for their application, such as the minimum number of days (the pre-harvest interval) between application and harvest.

## During harvest

Many fruit and vegetable crops will have an extended harvest period. Often, individual plants in a field or orchard develop at slightly different rates and thus require staggered harvesting. Many hybrid vegetable varieties ripen at a uniform rate, which makes harvesting
and overall farm management easier and more conducive to
mechanical operations, reducing labour costs. In general, because
of their fragility and the importance of their appearance, fruit and
vegetables tend to be harvested by hand, unless intended for processing
where appearance is not important and mechanized operations are
more suitable. Small-scale farmers commonly harvest their fruit and
vegetables by hand themselves or engage hired labour for assistance.

In some cases where the farmer has sold the produce before
harvest – usually through a contract with a buyer – the buyer may
bring in trained personnel for harvesting and transportation from the
farm. The farmer needs to closely monitor the harvesting activities to
ensure that the harvesting team, which is focused on one crop, does not
inadvertently damage other crops in the field where there is a mixed
cropping system.

Fruit and vegetables need to be harvested carefully as cuts and
bruises can make the produce unmarketable and create entry points
for insects, fungi and bacteria that cause decay. Harvested produce
should not come into contact with the soil or unclean surfaces as these
can also serve as inoculum of pests and diseases. Produce should be
transferred carefully with a minimum drop height into clean sturdy
containers that have no rough surfaces or jagged edges. Often small-
scale farmers use containers made of natural fibre such as sacks,
baskets, crates. Although they are affordable, they cannot be easily
cleaned, and, because they were not designed for stacking, they can
lead to bruising and food loss (López Camelo, 2004). If available and
affordable, reusable, stackable, vented plastic crates that are easy to
clean help reduce losses, if they are handled with care and are not
overloaded.

Harvesting should be done early in the morning when it is cool, and
the harvested produce must be kept in the shade. Temperature is the
most important environmental factor that influences the deterioration
of fresh fruit and vegetables. Keeping fresh produce cool is one of the
fundamental challenges on the farm and at all stages in the supply
chain. Small storage containers that keep the produce cool using solar
power are becoming available.

Dry and hot conditions during harvest accelerate water loss, and when produce loses 5 to 10 percent of its fresh weight, it begins to wilt and soon becomes unusable (FAO, 1989). This also translates into loss of weight to sale and, therefore, to lower incomes. The rate at which water is lost varies with the type of produce; for example, leafy green vegetables are particularly vulnerable.
## Post-harvest handling

Post-harvest handling is critical to ensure quality, food safety and marketability. A number of factors such as the resources of the farmer, the type of crop harvested, the volume of production and the location of the farm will determine who is involved in post-harvest handling activities and where they will be carried out. Small-scale producers who have limited resources, produce relatively small volumes, and are not part of any farmer organization, may be entirely responsible for all aspects of preparing and delivering their produce to local informal markets. For farmers who have more resources, some post-harvest operations will be done in the field by members of the household (perhaps with additional hired labour), and the produce will then be transported to an off-farm post-harvest facility (sometimes referred to as a packhouse) for additional preparation and distribution to markets. The Codex code of practice for packaging and transporting fresh fruit and vegetables (FAO/WHO, 1995: CAC/RCP 44-1995) provides further guidance on how to maintain produce quality during transportation and marketing.

Post-harvest operations that keep the handling of produce to a minimum will reduce losses and maintain quality, as well as lower costs. Therefore, it is preferable that as much of the post-harvest handling as possible is carried out in the field. However, this is generally only an option with especially perishable products (such as leafy vegetables) or small volumes destined for nearby markets. For farms harvesting large volumes of highly perishable produce, setting up mobile structures near the harvesting site for some post-harvest operations may be an option.

In some cases, farmers may need to store produce before transporting it to a post-harvest facility. Before storing the produce, farmers need to remove damaged or diseased produce. They may be able to temporarily store vegetable crops that are less fragile (onions, pumpkins) in the field by placing them in heaps and covering them with a tarpaulin, straw or with other materials. More fragile produce will need to be stored inside or under a clean, protective and well-ventilated structure that can keep the produce dry, shaded and cool.

For farmers with adequate storage facilities on their farm, temporary storage may be a strategy for achieving higher returns by avoiding gluts (e.g. for onions). Advances in renewable energy, especially solar power, are increasing options for cold storage. For example, in drier climates, the use of simple evaporative cool storage structures can provide up to 10 °C reduction in temperature, which will double post-harvest shelf life and reduce losses due to water loss and decay. For a review of various evaporative cooling methods, see Basediya et al. (2013).

<figure><img src="image_61.png" /><figcaption>Brèdes (green edible leaves) of chayote (Sechium edulis)</figcaption></figure>
<figure><img src="image_62.png" /><figcaption>Low-cost
cooling
system
(charcoal
cabinet)</figcaption></figure>

Climacteric fruit continue to ripen after harvest, giving off ethylene, which accelerates the deterioration of non-climacteric fruit, so it is important they are kept separate.

Transportation from the farm to a post-harvest facility requires careful loading into vehicles, ideally in sturdy containers with no rough surfaces, with shade, good ventilation and free from exhaust fumes. In low-income countries, access to cold chain is hardly available or affordable to small-scale farmers but is a critical element for reducing food loss and increasing the incomes of fruit and vegetable farmers.

## Post-harvest facilities

A post-harvest facility (or packhouse) is a designated space that is protected from weather and where produce is aggregated and handled through a centralized operation (Winrock, 2009). Facilities vary in scale and technological capacity, but all prepare farm produce for further distribution and market access, and achieve greater efficiency than possible on-farm facilities due to the economy of scale and availability of appropriate technologies. Post-harvest operations reduce food loss and expand market opportunities for small-scale farmers. A compilation of recommended and cost-effective post-harvest tools and best practices is available as a free book download (Teutsch, 2019).

It is often critical to establish a cold chain to slow down the process of respiration in the harvested fruit and vegetables with cool temperatures. After harvesting, the cells of fruit and vegetables are still alive and continue
to respire, generating carbon dioxide, water and heat, reducing reserves of sugar, starch and water. Different crops have different respiration rates. For example, onions and cucumbers have very low rates, whereas for cauliflower, melons and okra they are very high. Most perishable temperate zone fruit and vegetables have an optimal shelf life at temperatures of 0 to 2 °C, while subtropical and tropical crops are best suited to handling and storage temperatures of 12 to 15 °C (Kitinoja, 2013).

These facilities can be managed by local farmer groups or associations, or by more formal farmer organizations, such as cooperatives, government agencies or private ventures. Larger facilities can be mechanized and include storage rooms and offices for arranging transactions with buyers. What is common across all types of facilities are the types of operations undertaken:

* **Sorting:** damaged, decaying and in some cases defective produce is discarded. This helps reduce food loss and preserve the quality of the produce by preventing spread of pathogens. Ideally, to avoid food loss and to diversify income options for farmers, produce that is merely defective (does not meet formal market standards for shape or appearance) but is otherwise fine should be directed to other markets (food processors or informal retailers). Also, organic waste should be composted or, if possible, used as biofuel or animal feed.

* **Cleaning:** soil and dust is removed manually from produce without water, and in larger facilities this is done using special machines with brushes.

* **Washing and sterilizing:** clean water, sometimes with a regulated amount of detergent or disinfectant, is used to remove soil, insects, sap, surface bacteria and fungi.

* **Grading and sizing:** farm produce is characterized and separated according to market requirements (size, shape, weight, colour, maturity). This can be done manually or by using tools and equipment (mechanical sizing, electronic colour grading). Sensors can be used to check some quality criterion (such as hexanol, an indicator of food deterioration) and equipment can be used to measure fruit maturity (refractometer for Brix measurement of fruit juice).

* **Waxing and treating:** food grade wax is applied to replace natural wax removed during washing to maintain the quality of the produce. Waxing reduces water loss and increases the cosmetic value of the produce. Certain produce may also be treated with chemicals (essential oils, fungicides and antibiotics) to increase shelf life. Edible coatings can also be applied to reduce respiration and water loss.
* Packing: produce is placed into appropriate containers either for storage, transport, or direct supply to markets. When being prepared for direct supply to markets, the type of packaging used can increase the attractiveness of produce to consumers and its marketability may be increased through specific labelling or branding. Innovations are being made in biodegradable and recyclable packaging materials. Modified atmosphere packaging, in which the oxygen is replaced with other gases, is used to reduce respiration.

* Cooling: fruit and vegetables are normally taken to a specially designed cold storage room with temperature and humidity set at levels according to the type of produce. Electricity is required, and this can be provided by mains supply or from a generator or solar panels. Alternatively, simple evaporative structures can be used. Some facilities may also have the capacity to control the levels of ethylene to stimulate ripening for crops such as tomato and banana. Ideally, cooling extends to transport and to market. Cold chain capacities significantly reduce food losses. For a review of pre-cooling systems for small-scale producers, see Kitinoja and Thompson (2010).

There are significant financial and technical challenges to establishing such facilities and to assuring access to small-scale producers, especially women and youth. In most of sub-Saharan Africa, packhouses are usually owned by big exporting companies and established local traders. The concept of aggregation centres equipped with basic post-harvest handling facilities has been promoted among small-scale farmers because individual farmers may not be able to afford the facilities on their own and it does not make economic sense to invest in such facilities. Such centres, which are owned by farmer groups, are also being used to train farmers/producers on better pre-harvest practices to ensure high produce quality, proper post-harvest handling practices and food safety, among other issues.

By creating a focal point where fresh produce is aggregated, post-harvest facilities can also provide an important location for monitoring the safety of fruit and vegetables before they reach different markets. This can be done either by having food safety inspectors travel to the facility or by establishing permanent safety checkpoints to evaluate pesticide residues and other chemical and biological contaminants. Undertaking food safety inspections at the post-harvest facility increases consumer confidence and market opportunities and makes it possible to identify sources of contamination and to take corrective action.

It is also important to recognize that the post-harvest facility itself can be a potential source of food contamination. It is critical that all
<figure><img src="image_63.png" /><figcaption>Low-cost
solar drier</figcaption></figure>

surfaces and tools are sterile and that regular sanitation practices are implemented using approved cleaning compounds. Workers should wear appropriate food safety garments, such as gloves, hairnets and smocks, and appreciate the importance of cleanliness and hygiene standards. The water used to wash the produce must be clean and safe to drink.

The high economic value of the fruit and vegetables handled at these facilities can drive the development of a diverse range of off-farm businesses, including: companies that can provide, install and maintain cooling systems and other equipment; transportation services that can offer the timely and safe delivery of produce from the farm to the facility and from the facility to markets and processors; information and communication equipment and service providers that can support logistical planning and networking and the management of inventories; and companies that can supply goods needed for the operation of the facility, such as pallets, containers, cleaning and office supplies. In addition to these businesses, food processing industries can take advantage of the different grades of fresh produce handled at the facility that do not meet the requirements of fresh retail markets. Subsequently, the provision of those services maintain the high value of fruit and vegetables as demonstrated in South Asia (FAO, 2017e; 2018e).
## Processing

Food processing businesses can be operated at a very small scale or at an industrial level and generate employment opportunities in the areas where the fruit and vegetables are grown. They play a critical role in reducing food loss by taking the produce that is not up to the standard for fresh retail markets and converting it into nutritious and profitable products. Processed products have the advantage of not being limited by shelf life and can be introduced to markets throughout the year. They are not sensitive to price fluctuations due to seasonal prices for fresh produce and gluts in production and can provide some out of season nutrients and affordable products.

Since fruit and vegetables are so diverse, many different types of foods can be produced including dried and canned products, chutneys, pickles, jams, sauces, pastes, snacks, oils and juices. When conditions are unsuitable for storage or for the immediate marketing of fresh produce, many horticultural crops can be processed using simple technologies including drying, fermenting, canning, freezing, preserving and juicing. Fruit, vegetables and flowers can be dried and stored for use or future sale. Technologies are evolving for drying fruit on a small-scale (e.g. for banana, Kiggundu et al., 2017), and on-farm processing and technologies suited to small-scale producers are shown on the Technologies and Practices for Small Agricultural Producers website (http://www.fao.org/teca/en/). Fermentation is popular throughout the world as a food preservation method, and over 3 500 individual fermented foods have been described by Campbell-Platt (1987). Fruit and vegetables can be canned or frozen, but processed products must be packaged and stored properly in order to achieve their potential shelf life of up to one year. Dried products must be packaged in air-tight containers (glass or plastic bottles or sealed plastic bags). Canned and bottled products must be adequately heat processed using high quality containers that provide good seals. Dried and canned or bottled products are best stored under cool and dark conditions. Post-harvest handling, transport and marketing of processed products can be much simpler and less costly than for fresh products since refrigeration is unnecessary. Dried products take up much less space than their fresh equivalents, further reducing transport and storage costs (Kitinoja and Kader, 2004).

Wherever possible, processed fruit and vegetables should contain a minimum of food additives and ingredients such as salt and sugar, in order to preserve their nutritional benefits and to make a positive contribution to fighting all forms of malnutrition.
## Labour at farm level

Sustainable fruit and vegetable production is labour-intensive and on small-scale fruit and vegetable farms much of this labour will be carried out by families. FAO has proposed the following definition for family farming:

* Family Farming is a means of organizing agricultural, forestry, fisheries, pastoral and aquaculture production which is managed and operated by a family and predominantly reliant on labour, both women's and men's (Garner and de la O Campos, 2014; Bosc et al., 2015, 2018).

## Livelihood strategies on family farms

Fruit and vegetable crops, because of their diversity and the fact that they can be grown on small areas of land, offer a tremendous range of options to families involved in small-scale farming for improving their livelihoods. On some family farms, fruit and vegetable crops may be cultivated intensively on a year-round basis in open field or protected cultivation systems. On others, fruit and vegetable crops are one component in a diversified portfolio of commercial agricultural activities that include other crops or perhaps even livestock production, tree growing, or aquaculture. In some cases, they are grown partly for household consumption and partly for sale. Elsewhere, fruit and vegetables are grown almost exclusively for household production in home or kitchen gardens and make only a modest contribution to household income.

This diversity of production options matches well with the diverse livelihood strategies that are characteristic of family farms. The quantity of labour and other resources in which farm families can invest to increase their fruit and vegetable production will depend not only on household farm labour but also on incomes earned from other employment. Off-farm employment is often a critical element in the livelihood strategies of farming families. This is not a recent phenomenon, and it is the norm in both high-income and low-income countries. Even in high-income countries, farm revenues are seldom the only source of income on family farms (HLPE, 2013).

In some families, members of the household may hold full-time salaried positions off the farm. Household members engage in their own small or medium size enterprises, either on or off the farm. These diverse sources of income make it more affordable for the family to hire temporary workers to meet the labour requirements for fruit
<figure><img src="image_64.png" /><figcaption>Example
of a home garden</figcaption></figure>

and vegetable cultivation and to invest in sustainable practices and technologies to increase production and yields. Hiring labour is not uncommon for small-scale farmers. A study carried out in four African countries found that more than half of all households hire labour (Baudron et al., 2019). Some lower-income farming families cannot afford to hire farm labour, with themselves depending on earnings from wage labour on other farms, in off-farm agro-industries or in other sectors. Remittances from family members who have migrated out of their communities may also be a crucial part of their livelihood.

The nearer farming families live to urban centres, the more options they have for diversifying their livelihoods and earning income that can be invested into their farms. In remote rural areas, the scarcity of off-farm employment opportunities and, in some contexts, the lack of farm labour, along with the distances to urban markets, can severely constrain the options and the incentives farm families have for increasing their production of fruit and vegetables. However, the remoteness may make household production of fruit and vegetables more important for family nutrition.

## Gender division of labour in fruit and vegetable production on family farms

In family farms, both women and men provide labour to grow fruit and vegetable crops. Depending on the cultural context, gender norms may significantly influence the division of labour in both household and commercial production of fruit and vegetables. In some households,
especially female-headed households, the labour requirement for fruit and vegetable cultivation can be a significant constraint.

Gender biases affect women's access to land, training, infrastructure, finance, education, information (through networks, for example) and markets. The constraints faced by women differ according to their position in the supply chain: self employment and unpaid family labour in small-scale horticultural production and wage labour in post-harvest operations, where contract conditions often discriminate against women. Case studies show that this negatively affects women's ability to capture a faire share of benefits along the horticulture value chain (Bamber and Fernandez-Stark, 2013).

## Home gardens

In many rural areas, farming families cultivate fruit and vegetables in home gardens (household gardens or kitchen gardens). Urban and peri-urban households may also grow vegetables in backyard plots, or set up micro-gardens on rooftops, balconies, or patios. In these gardens, the focus is on household consumption, but in some cases, if well managed, they can produce a surplus that can be sold at local markets or given as gifts to others to build the social status of the grower.

Since women commonly manage gardens and are also responsible for feeding household members, home gardens are seen as a particularly useful approach for combatting micronutrient deficiencies in young mothers, infants and children. However, men also contribute to home gardens, carrying some of the heavier tasks, such as soil bed preparation, and will also have a say in which foods are grown (Beaudreault, 2019; Otieno et al., 2016).

Home gardens can deliver significant nutritional benefits (Hawkes, 2013). In a study in India, Keatinge et al. (2011) calculated that a small home garden (six square metres) in which different vegetables are grown can provide much of the vitamin A and C requirement for a family of four during the entire year. An assessment of home gardening initiatives in Bangladesh indicated that the nutritional benefits gained from home gardens could translate into a significant reduction in the number of disability-adjusted life years (Schreinemachers et al., 2016a).

Despite their small size, home gardens require a certain level of knowledge, along with labour and other inputs. Close attention needs to be paid to soil management, irrigation, plant protection and the selection of seeds and planting materials. Home gardens, therefore, can provide
a space where farming and business skills can be acquired and passed onto others.

However, the heavy workload borne by women on family farms must be recognized. Women play an especially strong role in taking care of children and other family members, cooking, cleaning, as well as in farm work and other employment. Given these labour demands, for some women income-generating activities that would allow the household to buy more fruit and vegetables as well as other necessities may be a higher priority than managing a home garden. Nevertheless, even if a home garden may not be the preferred option for all families, efforts to support home gardens can serve to create awareness about sustainable production practices, nutritious and healthy diets and could stimulate local commercial production and consumption.

## Commercial production

On family farms where fruit and vegetable production has a primarily commercial focus, both women and men provide labour, with women making substantial contributions. Dolan (2001) noted that in Kenya, where families who were growing tea and coffee and were also engaged in contract farming for green beans for export, women's share of labour for planting beans was over 80 percent, for weeding it was almost 90 percent, and for harvesting it was 60 percent. Men contributed a greater share of labour on tasks that were heavier (clearing and preparing the land) but these required less time and were not done continuously throughout the season. However, Dolan (2001) also observed that gender-segregated patterns in farm labour were becoming less pronounced. A more recent survey of small-scale farmers and vegetable traders in the United Republic of Tanzania found no significant gender division in the production process, although men had a more prominent role in managing pests and diseases, purchasing inputs and selecting seeds (Fischer et al., 2018). This survey confirmed that staple crops (maize and sorghum) and cash crops (pigeon pea) are generally viewed as "male" crops, with men responsible for a significantly higher share of production management and allocation of the income. On the other hand, for leafy vegetables (amaranth, Chinese cabbage, Ethiopian mustard) and other vegetables (tomato, African eggplant, onion) the gender differences in production management and income allocation were not as pronounced, with women receiving more than half the income for some vegetable crops.

However, men's and women's roles in vegetable production can vary widely depending on the setting. For example, in many large cities
in West Africa, a high percentage of urban farmers using informal irrigation systems to grow vegetables commercially are men, up to 90 percent in some cities, whereas in a smaller number of cities (e.g. Freetown in Sierra Leone, Banjul in the Gambia) this gender ratio is completely reversed (Drechsel et al., 2006). A gender analysis of commercial vegetable production in the province of Punjab in Pakistan found that it was primarily male family members and hired male farm workers who were involved in the production of vegetables, with distinct gender divisions by crop. Men provided more than 80 percent of the labour for cauliflower cultivation and 100 percent for cucumber, whereas women's share of the workload for cultivating peas, onion, garlic and okra was higher (more than 40 percent) and involved mainly hoeing, weeding and harvesting (Taj et al., 2007).

In female-headed farming families, labour requirements for fruit and vegetable cultivation are a constraint on production. This difficulty is compounded by the fact that, in general, women farmers face greater difficulties in hiring farm labour and have less access to land and credit than men (FAO, 2011b). A gender analysis of the perceived constraints to vegetable cultivation in Nigeria showed that 98 percent of women farmers stated that a lack of land was a constraint, as opposed to only 6 percent of men. Over 90 percent of the women farmers said a lack of credit was a constraint compared with 13 percent of men, and nearly 80 percent of the women said transportation was a constraint as opposed to 15 percent of the men (Deji et al., 2013). It is noteworthy that the greatest discrepancy in perceived constraints in which men felt the greatest disadvantage was in marketing, with 90 percent of the men seeing it as a constraint as opposed to 23 percent of the women. Other perceived constraints, including inadequate supply and high prices of inputs, lack of extension services, access to water, control of pests and diseases and crop storage, were shared more or less equally by men and women.

## Casual, temporary and seasonal workers

For farming families with fewer resources, working as wage labour on other farms or elsewhere can be a critical component in a diversified livelihood strategy. Although this document focuses on sustainable fruit and vegetable production by small-scale family farmers and local supply chains, some consideration must be given to medium sized family farms, as well as to large-scale commercial fruit and vegetable operations that produce for export and agro-industrial companies involved in fruit and vegetable processing. Their operations are also critical to the global supply and availability of nutritious fruit and vegetables. These larger commercial enterprises also have high labour requirements
and the employment opportunities they offer can be an important component in the livelihood strategies of small-scale farming families. The income family members earn from waged employment, which is offered on a casual, temporary or seasonal basis, can help reduce poverty and food insecurity. In some cases, some of this income can be invested to support increased production of higher value crops, like fruit and vegetables. In Senegal, Maertens (2009) found that earnings from seasonal work on large-scale corporate farming operations (onion and mango) led to higher productivity, production and incomes for small-scale farmers. In another study of small-scale farmers in Senegal, wages from labour in large-scale commercial bean production accounted for 30 percent of the household income on average (Maertens et al., 2012).

Dolan and Sorby (2003) note that in Guatemala, the money earned by women as day labourers on vegetable farms was more than they could make from artisanal work. In Mexico, wages for avocado packers were above minimum wage. In Kenya, exporters hire women, many of whom are landless, on a casual or short seasonal basis, to work in post-harvest facilities, for weighing, grading, cutting, washing and packing the vegetables. Wages are not high, but they are typically well above the government set minimum wage (McCulloch and Ota, 2002). In a literature review from several countries, Maertens et al., (2012) found that women make up more than 50 percent of the workforce in the high value-added agriculture export industries of Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Kenya, Mexico, South Africa and Zimbabwe. They also point out that although the wages may be low, in some cases the gender wage gap in these export industries is less than it is for other sectors.

Many casual, temporary and seasonal workers on large-scale fruit and vegetable farms are migrants, moving from one farming area to another within a district or country or across international borders, in some cases as a family. In other cases, individual household members, often men, may travel alone, which increases the work burden on women who remain behind, making it even more difficult to sustain the production of labour-intensive fruit and vegetable crops. On the other hand, the remittances can be a part of the household strategy to increase financial resources that can be either invested in the family farm or used for other purposes (to purchase fruit and vegetables from markets, for example).

On large-scale farms, casual, temporary and seasonal employment arrangements are largely informal, and workers may be in precarious situations, unprotected and vulnerable to exploitation, and often without access to healthcare and other social protection measures. Women and migrant workers are particularly at risk. Employment conditions for labourers on fruit and vegetable farms often do not meet the standards of "decent work" as envisaged in SDG 8 (ILO, 2019). Even where wages
exceed the minimum wage or local alternatives, they may not cover basic needs. Labourers work in the fields for long hours and risk exposure to pesticides. If fruit and vegetables are to serve as a driver for inclusive and sustainable economic growth, attention must be paid to ensure that the labourers, whose work is essential to the sustainable production, harvesting, post-harvest handling and processing of fruit and vegetables, receive fair wages, work in safe conditions and have adequate social protection (refer to ILO's website https://www.ilo.org/global/standards/introduction-to-international-labour-standards/conventions-and-recommendations/lang--en/index.htm for further information).

## Small- and medium-sized enterprises

Fruit and vegetable production is not only labour intensive, it is also knowledge intensive and for many farmers this can be an obstacle. It is an obstacle that can be overcome through education, extension and capacity building. However, the high value that can be obtained for fruit and vegetables also allows some farmers to make use of services provided by self-employed entrepreneurs and small- and medium-sized enterprises with specialized skills and expertise. These include nurseries providing high quality seedlings and grafted seedlings, input suppliers for seed, plant health management products, drip irrigation systems and greenhouses, advisory services on soil health, crop diagnostics and plant protection, and businesses for harvesting and post-harvest services (FAO, 2018d; Liverpool-Tasie et al., 2020).

The perishability of fresh fruit and vegetables requires efficient and stable value chains to maintain the quality of the produce and achieve its market potential. This creates opportunities for small- and medium-sized enterprises and for cold chain storage and transportation. The high value of fruit and vegetables, therefore, can be a driver for diversifying and developing local economies. These small- and medium-sized enterprises also offer employment opportunities to farming family members to diversify their livelihood strategies.

## Information and communication technologies

The fact that sustainable fruit and vegetable production systems are knowledge intensive means that digitalization, data management and ICTs are of particular importance. Employment in this domain appeals to youth and can be a potential employment option for people with
<figure><img src="image_65.png" /></figure>

Mobile phones
help farmers ...

physical disabilities. ICT enterprises may be a component of the diversified livelihood strategies within a single farming household collectively managed by a group of farmers or operated entirely by entrepreneurs. The design and content of the ICTs need to be adapted to rural communities. For instance, illiterate users need a mobile application with images and pictures rather than text.

To increase their production sustainably, fruit and vegetable farmers and farmers' groups will need up-to-date information on weather forecasts and early warnings, pest and disease risks, diagnoses and management options, and on markets for produce and prices for inputs. Online networking is critical for improving the scheduling and the logistics involved in moving fresh seasonal produce through the different stages of the supply chain from rural areas to urban centres. This strengthened coordination will reduce food loss and ensure that production is responsive to demand. Through ICT networks, farming families, farmer associations and suppliers can create new markets for lesser-known fruit and vegetable crops and supply varieties that are better adapted to the local environments and preferred by markets. Time and money can be saved by ICTs that facilitate credit and financial transactions. ICTs and the data shared increase value chains' stability, profits, labour efficiency and provide off-farm employment opportunities that are attractive to young people.

## Markets

Small-scale farmers need a secure market before investing in vegetable and fruit production due to the perishability and higher costs associated with their production, harvesting and post-harvest handling. These markets will in large part determine what to grow and how much and when, which standards of quality must be met, and which post-harvest services are needed. Satisfying these demands requires collaboration between farmers, farmer organizations, agribusinesses, governments, consumers and civil society groups.

The diversity of fruit and vegetables gives producers and suppliers a broad range of market opportunities. Ideally, for farmers and suppliers, these markets should be in as close proximity as possible, as this reduces
their transport costs (and associated greenhouse gas emissions), lowers the risk of food loss, and potentially raises the quality of fresh products. Closer market connections also allow farmers and suppliers to establish direct relationships with consumers to build trust and adjust supplies based on feedback. Stronger local market linkages make the availability of fresh fruit and vegetables less vulnerable to disruptions in global supply chains brought about by a variety of risks, such as natural hazard-induced disasters, climate-related shocks, and stresses as has happened, more recently, with the COVID-19 pandemic. Fruit and vegetable production in urban and peri-urban areas is particularly strategic since it is the typical environment where small-scale farming is applicable and sustainable. Intensification is needed to make the best use of limited space and water resources in the overall context of an expanding urban population.

The diversity of fruit and vegetable value chains can be schematically represented (Figure 7) by crossing the distance from the producer to the last consumer, with the complexity of the chain explained by the diversity and number of actors involved in the value chain. The reported gradient does not follow real data regarding both the distance and the actors. What is relevant here is the relative position of the different markets on the graph. Figure 7 expresses the huge diversity of fruit and vegetable markets, from reciprocity-based exchanges to the international trade of fresh fruit and vegetables and processed products. The idea is not to prioritize one type of value chain, but to orientate strategic choices and policies towards the most sustainable one.

The increasing proximity of markets to rural small-scale farmers is becoming a more widespread reality as urban areas expand and peri-urban areas become urbanized. A central element of integrating small-scale farmers into markets will involve adapting to this demographic transition by building and strengthening rural-urban linkages (e.g. through e-commerce). In Asia, a chain of large urban areas and smaller cities can be observed, described with the term "desakota" (McGee, 2009). This blurred division between rural and urban creates new opportunities for producers in rural areas to cater to the needs of the urban populations.

<figure><img src="image_66.png" /></figure>

... connect to markets
<figure><img src="image_67.png" /><figcaption>**FIGURE 7**
Vegetable and fruit diversity of markets</figcaption></figure>

Source: Original mapping from J-M. Sourisseau, CIRAD

The overarching goal is to create sustainable food systems in which small-scale farmers can earn a livelihood in a way that is environmentally friendly, and for all consumers, no matter where they live or what their level of income, to have access to a reliable supply of safe and nutritious fresh fruit and vegetables.

## Farmer organizations

Small-scale farmers can better compete and achieve market access if they are organized into groups or organizations (Markelova and Meinzen-Dick, 2009). The increased efficiency of the collective operation and economy of scale achieved enables effective input supply systems, provision of services and market linkages (FAO, 2012c). Farmer organizations aggregate farm products, perform joint sales and purchase of inputs, share knowledge and capacities and increase bargaining power with value chain actors and markets (Kelly, 2012).
Collective actions by farmers' organizations allow for reductions in transaction costs for accessing finance, mechanization technologies, market information and certification schemes. In support of collective actions through farmer organizations, members should have as much liberty as possible to create their own rules adapted to local contexts and market demands (Markelova and Meinzen-Dick, 2009). Farmers' organizations vary from country to country, yet some success factors are common: provide flexibility to adapt to local contexts and market demands; facilitate information sharing, training and technical assistance; generate new funding opportunities and ideas; and focus on core business before expanding to new areas (Kelly, 2012). In cases where farmer organizations are not sufficient to improve market connectivity, an alternative is to bring together similar groups to form larger producers' unions, federations and networks (Arias et al., 2013).

## Informal retail markets

In low-income countries it is common for consumers to purchase fresh produce from farmers and retailers at informal markets. These informal markets are quite diverse and resist a precise definition other than they possess certain qualities such as their lack of regulation and separation from large and formal retail markets (supermarkets, hypermarkets, convenience stores) (CFS, 2015).

In cities and towns, informal food retailers may have a small shop or a fixed stall in designated areas, sell from the pavement, or engage in itinerant selling. Generally, these informal traders source their produce from wholesalers, although in some cases they may purchase direct from farmers or farmer organizations. Often members of the farming household, usually women, will market their produce informally at local markets. Although supply chains underpinning the informal trade in food are often concentrated around a city region, they can also cover longer distances. For example, in sub-Saharan Africa, the supply of fruit and vegetables to urban markets can be international, involving informal cross border trade.

The importance of informal retail food markets to ensure food security cannot be overstated. Citing a 2013 World Bank survey, FAO (2017d) highlights that 95 percent of the fresh fruit and vegetables consumed in Kenya are cultivated by small-scale farmers and supplied through informal supply chains. In the region around the Zambian city of Kitwe, about 70 percent of the fresh produce was sold in traditional open-air markets (FAO and RUAF, 2018). Even in higher income countries, the amount of fruit and vegetables that are purchased from traditional markets can be high.
Fruit and vegetables
are supplied in informal
street markets....

<figure><img src="image_68.png" /></figure>

Surveys in Chile showed that consumers obtained 70 percent of all fruit and vegetables from street markets (Arias et al., 2013).

These informal food retailers can be more responsive to the needs of low-income consumers in both rural, peri-urban and urban areas. Their flexibility and mobility can allow them to sell at strategic points in the city that are convenient to low-income consumers (near public transit hubs, for example). They can sell smaller quantities and produce of odd sizes and shapes to accommodate tighter budgets. In some cases, they can offer credit to their clients. These informal retail markets provide something crucial to rural-urban food systems by offering access to markets for small-scale farmers, providing modest incomes for less-skilled rural and urban men and women, and by providing access to fresh produce to low-income consumers.

However, there are clear drawbacks to these informal markets and vendors. The quality of the produce may be low and the risk of food contamination relatively high as food safety standards may be non-existent or ignored and hygienic conditions may be poor. The vendor's inability to keep produce cool and to store unsold produce at the end of the day results in considerable loss, and the discarded produce can lead to sanitation problems. In crowded cities, informal food retailers can contribute to congestion.

For reasons connected to the environment, public health and other aspects of urban living, city planners have a responsibility to establish regulations over the informal trade of fruit and vegetables. Aesthetic concerns often come into play as well, as the presence of informal sellers may not match planners' vision for a modern city (as has been observed in Bangkok, Thailand). However, measures to formalize the informal system must also consider the critical role that upgrading these informal markets can play in stimulating farmers to invest in more productive and more sustainable production systems, and by extension, catalysing territorial economic development. These markets also make
<figure><img src="image_69.png" /></figure>

... as well as in organized wholesale marketplaces

key contributions to the economic livelihoods and food and nutrition security of rural, peri-urban and urban households. Informal markets may be the only way for vulnerable households to access fresh fruit and vegetables in low-income neighbourhoods. To avoid the food desert phenomenon and maintain healthy food environments for improved access to nutritious foods, the physical locations of these markets must be considered carefully by city planners.

## Formal retail food markets

Supermarkets and other types of modern food retail markets have transformed food systems throughout the urban-rural spectrum. They have reduced the market share of traditional markets, altered dietary patterns, and changed food procurement practices. Because of food quality and safety concerns about fresh produce sold in informal markets, many consumers have greater confidence in fruit and vegetables from supermarkets.

In some ways, farmers and suppliers of fruit and vegetables are better placed than farmers and suppliers of other crops to adapt to the expansion of modern retail markets and to achieve some measure of market integration. Supermarkets can sell processed foods and cereal crops very cheaply because they are easily transported and stored and can be procured from global sources in bulk quantities, which makes it difficult for cereal farmers and those supplying dried and processed foods to compete. However, for producers and suppliers of perishable produce, the competitive balance is less heavily skewed, and opportunities exist for supply to supermarkets. Between 2006 and 2016, the share of fresh food distributed through supermarkets remained below 50 percent in high-income countries, below 30 percent in upper middle-income countries and around 10 percent in lower-middle income countries (The Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, 2016).
Reardon and Gulati (2008) reported that fruit and vegetables tended to be cheaper in traditional markets than supermarkets, especially in countries where the expansion of modern retail markets is less advanced. However, they point out that India, which is still at a relatively early stage in the transition to modern retail markets, is exceptional in this regard, as vegetables can be 33 percent cheaper in supermarkets than in traditional markets.

There is a greater impetus for supermarkets to source their fruit and vegetables domestically because of the costs, complexity, greenhouse gas emissions and risks (such as loss due to perishability) associated with long distance fruit and vegetable supply chains. Battersby and Watson (2018) citing a 2014 report prepared for the city of Cape Town, South Africa, reported that the four largest supermarket companies in the city sourced 56 percent of their vegetables from within 200 km of the city, but only 5 percent of their grain. Although the proximity of local fruit and vegetable farmers to supermarkets places these farmers in a favourable position, they must overcome the practical obstacles of supermarket food safety and quality standards and deliver a steady supply of the volumes of produce required.

In Kenya, farms supplying to supermarkets were found to be on average five times larger (9 to 18 ha) than those participating in informal markets, and relied heavily on hired labour (Neven et al., 2009) but remain smaller than the definition of true large-scale farms (FAO, 2017f). Farmers in Kenya who have become integrated into the formal domestic retail market achieved a 50 percent increase in household income (Rao and Qaim, 2011). In some contexts, supermarkets have called upon small-scale producers to meet their needs, such as in India where some supermarket chains have relaxed their standards in order to maintain their stock of fresh vegetables from local small-scale producers (Hampel-Milagrosa, 2016).

In Kenya, to meet with supermarket requirements for quality and volume, small-scale farmers of traditional leafy vegetables formed farmers groups with the support of Farm Concern International (FCI), a regional NGO, and entered into a contract farming arrangement with the Uchumi Supermarket chain. The farmer groups ensured that the terms of the contract were respected, and the supermarket staff carried out quality controls. After the initial contractual agreement with Uchumi, the groups signed other agreements with different supermarkets, grocery stores and even informal markets resulting in significant increases in production and incomes (Herbel et al., 2012).

One of the most recent success stories of small-scale farmers' access to market has been the entry of Twiga Foods (https://twiga.com/) into the market in Kenya. Since 2014, it sources fruit and vegetables from small-scale farmers in rural areas and supply them to traders in the cities.
## Export markets

This document stresses the importance of integrating small-scale fruit and vegetable farmers into nearby markets for increasing farm productivity and building robust local food systems that can ensure an adequate supply of nutritious fresh produce, especially in low-income countries where the prevalence of malnutrition is high and supplies of fruit and vegetables are insufficient. However, some consideration must be given to the opportunities available for small-scale farmers in low-income countries to participate in export markets. The long growing seasons and the low cost of labour in tropical countries offer small-scale farmers opportunities to earn higher incomes by capitalizing on the demand for off-season fruit and vegetables in high-income temperate countries. Increased incomes and higher productivity for these farmers would in turn contribute to local economic development and thus food security.

However, as with domestic retail markets, small-scale farmers in low-income and lower-middle-income countries face daunting challenges in participating in export markets. Governments in high-income countries have set strict food safety and traceability requirements (for pesticides, mycotoxins and quarantine pests, pathogens).

Small-scale farmers are limited by economies of scale, but contract farming is a potential mechanism to integrate them into export markets. In contract farming, small-scale farmers enter into contracts with buyers that lay out the terms and conditions for the production and marketing of farm produce, usually stipulating the price to be paid, the quantity and quality of the product, and the date for delivery. Contract buyers agree to supply inputs such as seeds, fertilizers as well as credit and technical advice plus post-harvest services to meet standards for GAP and good manufacturing practices (GMP). These contracts can contribute to increasing productivity, improving efficiency in the use of inputs and natural resources, which reduces environmental pollution, and ensuring food safety.

Contract farming has been shown to increase farmers' incomes for small-scale vegetable farmers in Kenya (McCulloch and Ota, 2002). However, a drawback with this mechanism is that contracts are made with the owners of the land, who are almost exclusively men. Even though women make significant contributions to production, the payment is made to the contractor, and this can lead to an unfair allocation of income and intra-household conflict, as observed in Kenya (Dolan, 2001). FAO has published guiding principles for responsible contract farming operations (FAO, 2012d). See FAO's Contract Farming Resource Centre (http://www.fao.org/in-action/contract-farming/en/) for further reading on contract farming.
A review of studies on the participation of small-scale fruit and vegetable farmers in export chains from seven sub-Saharan African countries showed how small-scale participation varies significantly by country and by crop (Maertens et al., 2012). In Madagascar in 2004, 90 to 100 percent of the fresh vegetables grown for export were procured from small-scale farmers, whereas in Senegal it was 52 percent and in Zimbabwe in 1998 it was 6 percent. In Côte d'Ivoire in 2002 none of the bananas were procured from small-scale farmers, but 70 percent of the pineapples were procured from small-scale farmers. In Madagascar, contract farming for green beans (mainly exported to France) constituted about half the household income for contract farmers. In addition, the inputs and the support provided by the export company (the only domestic exporter in the country) also brought other benefits. Small-scale farmers have become Global GAP certified, and they have applied some sustainable practices, such as composting, introduced for green bean cultivation to increase the productivity of their other crops. However, in Senegal, large farms became Global GAP certified, while none of the contract farming small-scale farmers were certified. Moreover, contract farming households had notably more land and non-land assets. In Madagascar, although the contract farmers had holdings that were in line with the national average (less than one ha), they had higher levels of education. Contract farming for vegetables for export markets can increase incomes for small-scale farmers, but since these farmers tend to be already relatively well off, it may have a limited overall impact on poverty reduction, although it may support the diffusion of more sustainable farm management practices. Increased earnings from wage labour on larger fruit and vegetable farms and in agro-industries supplying export markets also reduced poverty (Maertens et al., 2012). Some households however, may face important constraints to participate in this sector (McCulloch and Ota, 2002).

## Niche markets

The great diversity of fruit and vegetable crops, including NUS, and their high nutrient content and economic value, offers entrepreneurial opportunities for developing profitable local niche markets for small-scale farmers. Niche markets can be created by reaching out to different communities that have settled in nearby cities and supplying foods that are part of their culinary traditions (that can be marketed as heritage crops). These foods do not need to be delivered only through retail markets, but can include direct sales agreements with restaurants, caterers and cultural organizations. In some areas, there are opportunities to supply fresh produce directly to hotels and restaurants catering to tourists and other international visitors, including distinctive and unusual local fruit, vegetables and recipes.
Another marketing option is the organization of community-supported agriculture groups, in which consumers who are committed to eating locally grown healthy seasonal foods pay an upfront subscription at the start of the season to a farmer or a group of farmers who then provide a regular basket of fresh produce throughout the year.

## Participatory guarantee system

In general, small-scale farmers in developing countries face difficulties in complying with the standards associated with third-party certifications (GAP, Organic Agriculture and FairTrade, etc.) due to high costs and complex paperwork. Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) is an alternative certification suitable for small-scale farmers. Vegetables, fruit, and spices are the most common produce sold through such schemes. For PGS to work, it is important that there is market demand for safe and healthy foods and pioneer farmers who are willing to work together for increased economic returns (FAO and INRA, 2016).

PGS was originally used for small-scale farmers practicing organic agriculture and who were seeking to supply local and domestic markets. But PGS can also be adapted and used for all types of sustainable production. PGS is ensured by the direct participation of farmers, consumers and other stakeholders through farm visits and peer-reviews (IFOAM, 2008). This type of guarantee system is suitable for small-scale farmers as it lowers the costs of participation (which mostly takes the form of volunteering time) and reduces paperwork compared with third-party certification (FAO and IFOAM, 2018). PGS brings economic benefits to small-scale farmers because it identifies their products as safe and of good quality, which helps them to gain access to new and more stable markets.

In Namibia, where fraudulent claims about organic quality resulting from weak institutional infrastructure have been an issue, producers and consumers proposed a PGS. This resulted in consumer confidence in PGS-labelled products, higher economic returns and improved collaboration among farmers, value chain actors, markets and consumers (FAO and INRA, 2016).

<figure><img src="image_70.png" /></figure>
<figure><img src="image_71.png" /></figure>
CHAPTER 4

Enabling
environment

* Knowledge, skills and advocacy 108

* Agricultural extension and advisory services 109

* Farmer Field Schools 112

* Food and nutrition education in schools 112

* Food and nutrition education outside the classroom 114

* International advocacy campaigns for fruit and vegetables 115

* Ensuring access to resources 116

* The city region food system approach 120

* Connecting to markets 121

* Government regulations and incentives 123

* Social protection and risk reduction options 128

* Research and innovation 132

* Policies and incentives for sustainable production and food systems for fruit and vegetables 137
Sustainable production and stable value chains for fruit and vegetables require technical, financial and political support. This is necessary for global agricultural production to go beyond meeting requirements for dietary energy and to achieve critical nutritional requirements. According to FAO, there is a nutrition gap between the foods that are grown and available and the foods that are needed for a healthy diet (Mason-D'Croz et al., 2019; FAO et al., 2020). One of the key messages that came out of the 2016 FAO/WHO International Symposium on Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition was that: "There is a persisting misalignment between supply-side agrifood policies and investments and nutrition goals" (FAO and WHO, 2017). Supporting small-scale farmers to increase their sustainable production of fruit and vegetables will help close this nutrition gap and correct this misalignment (FAO, 2014f).

An enabling environment is required to support small-scale fruit and vegetable production as well as other stages of the value chain and requires mainstreaming multi-sectoral and multi-risk sensitive development strategies that includes ministries of agriculture, environment, public health, food safety, trade, education and planning. Collaboration and partnerships are needed with intergovernmental organizations, farmers' organizations, private sector, civil society and international and national NGOs. FAO in collaboration with WHO has analysed the role of different stakeholders and elaborated a strategy framework to sustain national and regional initiatives on the promotion of fruit and vegetables for health (FAO, 2004).

## Knowledge, skills and advocacy

Sustainable fruit and vegetable production is knowledge intensive, and small-scale farmers need access to technically sound guidance and quality skill development opportunities. Small-scale farmers also need access to a wide range of useful information related to weather, inputs and markets to help them to make appropriate decisions on when and what type of inputs to buy and when and where to sell their harvest. This requires engagement in capacity-building activities that introduce new risk sensitive practices, technologies and inputs (crops and varieties, water and nutrient management, soil and plant health), but also extend to commercialization. Collaboration will be needed among a particularly broad range of sectors, including agriculture, the environment, health and nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene to provide the required education and ensure stable value chains for safe fruit and vegetables.
Gender-sensitive programmes to build the business skills of fruit and vegetable farmers and their service providers (for inputs, post-harvest options and market linkages) are critical. Gender-sensitive, socially inclusive programmes that can reach large numbers of beneficiaries with a wide range of needs will require coordinated support from different groups working collaboratively at the national, subnational and local level. It will involve building partnerships among government agencies, UN organizations and other multinational organizations, national and international NGOs, farmer organizations, civil society organizations, research agencies and the private sector. Education and training at tertiary and secondary levels requires upgrading.

At the same time, advocacy campaigns to promote the benefits of eating a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables are also needed. An increased consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables will not only have a positive impact on nutrition and health, it will spur consumer demand for safe, sustainably grown fruit and vegetables, which can create new market opportunities for local small-scale farmers. Nutrition education in and outside schools is elaborated on further in this document.

## Agricultural extension and advisory services

Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services (AEAS) encompass the different activities to provide the information and services required by farmers and other actors in rural settings to assist them in developing their own technical, organizational and management skills and practices to improve their livelihoods and wellbeing (GFRAS, 2012). Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services are central to increasing sustainable crop production and need to be made more generally available (FAO, 2014d) especially for women (FAO, 2011b). Community dialogue is critical to encourage communication among farmers, practitioners, researchers and local government (David and Cofini, 2017). When designing training programmes, it is important to consider how best to encourage women to take part by considering, for example, the timing and location of sessions. Small-scale farmers struggle to access AEAS because publicly-funded schemes have a limited outreach. A diversification of AEAS providers has helped to bridge the gap between supply and demand. Sulaiman and Hall (2002) describe a range of experiences in India where diversification of AEAS providers has helped to bridge the gap between supply and demand by making better use of the private sector and civil society through input suppliers, export companies, NGOs and farmer associations, for example, and this has been further supported by advances in ICT development.
For fruit and vegetables, it is of particular importance that capacity exists to diagnose and manage pests and diseases in a sustainable manner through linkages to skilled networks (Miller *et al.*, 2009). For Uganda, the successful implementation of mobile plant clinics was dependent on creating a functioning plant health care system supported by national agricultural policies (Danielsen *et al.*, 2014; Danielsen and Matsiko, 2016).

Many seed companies, such as East-West Seeds, provide support services to small-scale fruit and vegetable farmers, including training and advice on pest management. However, private sector companies selling inputs and equipment mostly do not have access to small-scale farmers in remote rural areas compared with small, non-specialized retailers often selling a poor variety of inputs such as pesticides in villages. There are concerns that private input suppliers and agrodealers promote their own products, which may be more costly, less suitable for farmers than available alternatives, or pose a greater health risk to human and environmental health (e.g. agrochemicals). While such egregious practices exist, stronger regulation of approved products and introducing codes of practice are tackling the worst excesses of agrodealers. There is also a wider awareness that a sustainable supply of essential and affordable inputs is heavily reliant on a vibrant private sector.

One of the goals of sustainably increasing fruit and vegetable production is to ensure farmers have access to the information and services they need to accurately determine fertilizer requirements and IPM options. In one study in Southeast Asia, it was found that vegetable farmers obtaining crop protection advice from pesticide retailers spent 251 percent more on chemical pesticides than farmers obtaining advice from neighbours or extension agents (Schreinemachers *et al.*, 2017a).

The government has a continued role to coordinate advisory services provisions to ensure that they are environmentally, commercially and socially appropriate. There remains an important role for the public sector in providing extension and advisory services, particularly in areas where the prevalence of food and nutrition insecurity is high. However, delivering extension advice to large numbers of small-scale farmers is costly, and governments must weigh the environmental, economic and health benefits of this against the benefits that may be obtained from possible alternatives. There has also been a recognition that in these rural areas, educational initiatives must be more responsive to the needs of farmers and value chain actors, and not deal simply with on-farm production issues, but also address broader concerns related to market linkages, strengthening entrepreneurship, and improving access to affordable and high-quality inputs, credit and post-harvest options. Digitalization in extension and advisory services can enhance
access, delivery, scope and impact of AEAS for agricultural producers and processors, including youth and rural women through digital innovations, both with emerging technologies (blockchains, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things- IoTs) and accessible digital tools (mobile phones, knowledge management platforms, also known as e-extension, radio and TV programming).

Those working in fruit and vegetable value chains need better access to information and training. Fernandez-Stark et al (2011) identified the following priority areas for attention:

* training in food safety and how to satisfy compliance standards;

* incentives to firms to shift from flexible to a more permanent workforce to maximize the return on investment in training;

* increased partnerships between educational institutions and private sector firms to customize education programmes to meet the needs of the industry; and

* capacity development for the implementation of risk-sensitive measures within all aspects of the chain, including production, packing, storage and agroprocessing.

By themselves, public agencies cannot respond to the increasingly complex needs of farmers and value chain actors. In delivering rural advisory support, the public sector often works in partnership with other providers, which may involve different types of public-sector agencies, local, national or international NGOs, universities, private sector consulting firms or farmer organizations. Rural advisory services provided by NGOs and social enterprise models tend to be participatory and, therefore, effective in their approach but as they generally rely on donor support, longer-term provision can be a problem.

There is no single best method for providing extension advice that responds to different needs, purposes and targets. As FAO (2014d, p. 72) notes, "A crucial problem facing governments and other actors in designing effective extension and advisory support is the shortage of empirical evidence to guide choices." To address this gap, FAO and the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (https://www.g-fras.org/en/) support the development and synthesis of evidence-based approaches and policies for improving the effectiveness of rural advisory services (Blum et al., 2020).
* **Farmer Field Schools**

FFS is a participatory process of group-based learning that was first developed over 30 years ago by FAO to promote IPM in rice fields in Asia. The FFS approach has since been adapted to support development programmes in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and FFS are now being implemented in over 90 countries. This is reviewed in detail in FAO (2019e). The focus of FFS has expanded to a broad range of crops, including fruit and vegetables, and to address issues related to land preparation, nursery management, irrigation, soil conservation, variety selection, fertilizer use, composting, IPM, value chains and marketing. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, FAO organized FFS to reach more than 9 000 vegetable growers in five cities (FAO, 2010a). Basic economics of vegetables production were also introduced during sessions in Malawi, where the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development prepared a nutrition handbook for FFS in 2015.

FFS facilitators receive training on gender issues and become familiar with the concepts of social inclusion and social vulnerability. Over the years, gender-responsive good practices and lessons learned have indicated that FFS can influence social dynamics and reinforce social inclusion. Using the concept of FFS as a model, FAO developed the Farm Business School approach to assist small-scale farmers take advantage of new market opportunities and has partnered with several organizations and initiatives such as Dimitra Clubs (Box 10). See the website of the Global Farmer Field School Platform (http://www.fao.org/farmer-field-schools/home/en/).

* **Food and nutrition education in schools**

School food and nutrition programmes that teach children about healthy diets are important for addressing malnutrition and building future consumer demand for fruit and vegetables. FAO has worked with several countries and partners to develop materials and activities for professionally training nutrition educators (FAO, 2019f). A range of materials that make up the FAO planning guide for curriculum development on nutrition education in primary schools are available from the Nutrition Education in Primary Schools website (http://www.fao.org/3/a0333e/a0333e00.htm).
BOX 10. Dimitra Clubs for improved extension services. Source: FAO-Dimitra
project (http://www.fao.org/dimitra/home/en/)

Dimitra Clubs are voluntary, informal groups for women, men and youth. Members discuss shared issues related to a broad range of topics, including agriculture production and marketing, food and nutrition, and small business development. They work together to develop practical approaches for solving problems using local resources. The approach is embedded in over 30 FAO field development projects. In 2019, there were more than 5 000 Dimitra Clubs with about 150 000 members (60 percent women) in eight countries of sub-Saharan Africa. In Niger and

Senegal, Dimitra Clubs have developed close synergies with FFS. The FAO-Dimitra Programme facilitates their set up and provides training and coaching, but the clubs themselves are self-managed.

In 2014 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, members of Dimitra Clubs, after consulting with a nutrition expert, were able to push for the end to a number of customary dietary restrictions that prevented women from eating certain foods. Addressing food taboos is important as they can be an obstacle in the way of increased consumption of fruit and vegetables (Beaudreault, 2019).

The clubs are a key element of the FAO-Dimitra Programme, which provides policy advice to government ministries on the adoption and integration of gender-transformative approaches in their policies, strategies and programmes to fight poverty and hunger. Special attention is given to the inclusion of groups that tend to be marginalized, such as women and youth, so that the clubs enable those voices that are seldom heard to be listened to. The clubs develop partnerships with local radio stations, which transmit member discussions through an accessible medium.

School gardens combine nutrition education with training on how to grow and prepare fruit and vegetables, along with didactic learning of subjects such as science, business, maths and art. This helps ensure that knowledge gained about the nutritional value of fruit and vegetables goes hand in hand with the ability to obtain a safe and secure supply at the household level. Studies have shown that school gardens can help to increase children's preference for fruit and vegetables, but so far have shown limited evidence on its impact to change consumer behaviour (Schreinemachers et al., 2017c, 2019). Efforts are still needed to connect it to behaviour change, and to develop farming and entrepreneurial skills in children, which can guide the next generation of farmers and encourage them to grow crops sustainably and with nutrition in mind. FAO has prepared a set of training materials on establishing school gardens (FAO, 2005a) and has supported national school gardening initiatives in Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Bahamas, Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras, Kyrgyzstan, Nicaragua, South Africa and Tajikistan to stress the importance of fruit and vegetable consumption.
<figure><img src="image_72.png" /></figure>

School gardening for continuous and enjoyable education from the field...

## Food and nutrition education outside the classroom

Because of the critical importance of addressing malnutrition among the most vulnerable, including adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and infants during their first 1 000 days, considerable effort has been made to reach out directly to vulnerable households and communities to raise awareness of proper nutrition and to increase the supply and availability of fruit and vegetables and other healthy foods. The Scaling Up Nutrition Movement (https://scalingupnutrition.org), which is active in more than 60 countries and is supported by the UN Network, focuses its efforts on ensuring good nutrition during the first 1 000 days of life.

Participatory cooking sessions, which combine nutrition education with cooking skills, are one approach to promote the consumption of home-grown or locally available fruit and vegetables to reduce micro-nutrient deficiencies, especially targeting mothers and infants. FAO has produced practical guides and recipes for participatory cooking sessions and carried out projects in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Malawi and Zambia focused on improving complementary feeding, which infants require when they reach the age when breast milk alone is not enough to meet their nutritional requirements, using locally available fruit and vegetables and other ingredients (FAO, 2017g).

Promoting home gardens is one of the most common ways of combining nutrition education with food production, particularly vegetables. FAO
<figure><img src="image_73.png" /><figcaption>... to the plate</figcaption></figure>

has worked with countries to support families to cultivate home gardens and has prepared training materials on improving nutrition through home gardening for field workers in Africa (FAO, 2001), Latin America and the Caribbean (FAO, 2014e) and Southeast Asia (FAO, 1995). FAO has also combined nutrition education with practical training in establishing micro-gardens for peri-urban and urban households, and with community gardens, often in areas that have been affected by crisis. There is evidence that home gardening and related interventions can promote the consumption of foods rich in protein and micronutrients (Hawkes, 2013). The World Vegetable Center household garden interventions have also sought to improve the nutritional status of people vulnerable to micronutrient deficiencies by increasing the fruit and vegetable production from a home garden and offering complementary training in nutrition and health. Approaches to home gardens have been comprehensively reviewed (World Vegetable Center, 2016).

## • International advocacy campaigns for fruit and vegetables

The International Year of Fruit and Vegetables in 2021 will advocate for actions to strengthen the role of small-scale and family farmers in sustainable farming and production in order to reduce hunger and poverty, enhance food and nutrition security, improve livelihoods and contribute to better natural resource management. In particular, it will highlight the food system approach that links up field to fork, and farmers to consumers, for quality management to provide nutritious, safe and tasty fruit and vegetables, in a sustainable environment.
Since the first International Conference on Nutrition in 1992, many governments have launched campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of proper nutrition and daily exercise. In its 2010 *Global Status Report on Non-communicable Diseases*, the WHO listed public awareness campaigns about diet and physical activity as one of its best buys: "actions that should be undertaken immediately to produce accelerated results in terms of lives saved, diseases prevented and associated economic costs avoided" (WHO, 2010). Many of these campaigns, which are generally carried out by an alliance of government agencies, civil society organizations and the private sector, have specifically sought to promote the increased consumption of fruit and vegetables.

The Global Alliance to Promote Fruit and Vegetable Consumption "5 a Day", which was founded in 2012, unites 33 national campaigns. A review (Hawkes, 2013) of evidence on the impact of national fruit and vegetable campaigns in Australia, Chile, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America found that they contributed to increased fruit and vegetable consumption.

## Ensuring access to resources

To support small-scale farmers to increase fruit and vegetable production sustainably, policy makers at the national, subnational and local level need to work with a range of different actors to ensure these farmers have secure access to land, water and financial resources.

### Land tenure

Secure access to land is critical because farmers require longer time periods to test, adapt and eventually adopt technologies and practices for sustainable intensification. This is especially true for orchards and agroforestry systems with fruit trees. But vegetable farmers must make investments in land management, soil fertility and water management that cannot be recovered in one single year, or do not fully deliver the desired benefits in the first year. Lack of long-term rights to land, the absence of legal recognition of customary and other legitimate land rights, and competing tenure claims, all contribute to hinder the uptake of sustainable crop intensification practices. Many small-scale fruit and vegetable farmers, both men and women, have access to land under modern, customary or informal tenure and face the constant threat of being evicted or having their plots appropriated by others. Competitive
BOX 11. Tree tenure. Source: FAO and ICRAF (2019)

<figure><img src="image_74.png" /></figure>

In many customary systems, tree tenure is distinct from land tenure – the owner of the land may not be the owner of the trees growing on the land. Tree tenure regimes can be very complex, distinguishing between whether the trees are planted or wild, and how the tree products are used (personal or commercial use) (Bruce, 1989). Certain trees may be accessed by all community members, while other trees may be

privately owned or their use may be limited to only a few households. In Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Togo, farmers generally have exclusive rights to the trees that they plant, but trees that are naturally regenerated belong to the community. In sub-Saharan Africa, planting trees may indicate that the planter is making a claim to the land (Bruce and Fortmann, 1989), and some farmers avoid doing so to avoid conflict.

This situation can inhibit farmers from investing in farmer-managed agroforestry systems. Also, tree tenure regimes that allow for multiple users of tree products can create disincentives for individual farmers with access to land to engage in agroforestry, as they will not see the full benefit of their investment. Policies to support agroforestry practices with fruit trees will need to clearly identify statutory rights for land, trees and tree products.

tenure arrangements may be systems built on traditional or modern social hierarchies that are discriminatory against women and other groups. Tenure for fruit trees can differ from land tenure in general (Box 11).

Overcoming the challenges related to formalizing land tenure arrangements and ensuring equitable access to land for men and women
small-scale farmers is complex and challenging for many governments across the world. Solutions will depend heavily on the local context. *The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security* provides support to countries in promoting secure tenure rights and equitable access to land, fisheries and forests as a means of eradicating hunger and poverty, supporting sustainable development and enhancing the environment (FAO, 2012f). FAO also published a technical guide to achieving gender-equitable governance of land tenure (FAO, 2013b). See the FAO Gender and Landrights Database ([http://www.fao.org/gender-landrights-database/en/](http://www.fao.org/gender-landrights-database/en/)).

## Financial services

Lack of secure land tenure compounds the constraints farmers face in accessing financial services and credit. Banks and other financial institutions will generally not offer credit to small-scale farmers unless they own land that can be used as collateral. Farmers' organizations can be an important source of credit (through the collection of financial contributions from members and provision to individuals) and other services, such as support for input purchases, advisory services, post-harvest services and connections to markets. However, membership in some farmer organizations may be restricted to farmers who own land or who have legally-recognized land tenure. Policies that can facilitate small-scale farmers' access to credit, particularly long-term loans, is essential to enable them to invest in natural capital such as soil fertility and good agricultural practices (GAP) and which will in turn boost sustainable production. Equally, access to credit, recent advances in mobile phone mediated banking, such as M-Pesa in Kenya and the United Republic of Tanzania, may enable farmers to access innovative techniques and technologies for more sustainable production and marketing strategies.

## Urban agriculture planning

Insecurity over land access is particularly acute in peri-urban and urban settings where competition for land is intense and changes in land use can be sudden. For many urban and peri-urban farmers, secure long-term access to land does not often exist. In many countries, urban farming, which is dominated by vegetable production, is not acknowledged in agricultural policies and urban planning. Farmers often operate without permits from municipal authorities, or on land granted
under customary law (FAO, 2010b, 2014b). The insecure tenure that characterizes horticulture producers reduces their capacity to invest in equipment and infrastructure (e.g. irrigation equipment) and makes them more vulnerable. In the context of land scarcity, the value of land for other non-agricultural uses is much higher and cultivations are seldom protected by secure tenure arrangements.

However, in many cities there is a considerable amount of underutilized open space and usable land, which could be allocated or leased for vegetable production (terraces along rivers or landslide-prone areas). Land use inventories and recent advances in geographic information system-based spatial mapping need to be undertaken in conjunction with research to determine tenure status and ownership, access to water and the different options for crop production (FAO, 2010b, 2014). However, there is evidence of how lessons learned from urbanization in such places as China can provide guidance to countries in Africa (Dercon et al., 2019).

In many countries, there are no policies for land planning and management for long-term, sustainable agro-urban development. Land tenure arrangements for food production need to be considered by local authorities as part of an overall urban and territorial planning that includes land use policy that supports sustainable agricultural development. Through zoning and regulations, urban land policy should recognize and provide security for fruit and vegetable production in both rural and urban areas and build stronger connections between rural, peri-urban and urban producers and consumers. This will require multi-stakeholder platforms that include representatives from different ministries of the central government, municipal public health, education and land tenure authorities, representatives of producer but also consumer associations, inputs suppliers, water resources managers, NGOs and micro-finance providers (FAO, 2010b). The benefits of having green spaces and infrastructure in cities is largely undervalued. Apart from the aesthetic benefits, green spaces can be strategically placed in areas along rivers or on hillsides to reduce fatality risks during flash flooding or landslides in extreme weather, they can reduce the heat island effect, increase urban biodiversity and contribute towards improved air quality. A growing number of municipalities are recognizing the importance of having urban and peri-urban agriculture and forestry to increase resilience to disasters and climate-related shocks and stresses and farmers need to be incentivized to provide these environmental services.

There are examples of policies that cities have adopted to support access to land for urban fruit and vegetable producers:

* In the municipality of Rosario in Argentina, grant tax exemptions have been extended to landowners who allow low-income urban farmers to use vacant private lots.
* In Cape Town, South Africa, low-income urban farmers are given support in the form of secure access to irrigation water, tools and compost.

* In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, municipal consultation committees, representing local authorities and growers' associations, were set up with the assistance of a FAO project to process requests for secure leases to approximately 1 200 ha of market gardens (FAO, 2010b; 2014a).

## The city region food system approach

A significant number of fruit and vegetable producers are located in peri-urban areas and associated rural hinterlands. In these areas, formal and informal farm units operate intensive semi- or fully-commercial farms and produce high-value crops given the proximity to urban consumers and markets. Food produced in peri-urban areas and rural hinterlands guarantee supplies for both urban areas and their rural surroundings, while urban areas supply the markets upon which agricultural livelihoods depend. Specifically, resilient city region food systems (CRFS) (http://www.fao.org/in-action/food-for-cities-programme/overview/crfs/en/) improve access to markets and promote recognition of alternative markets (farmers' markets, community supported agriculture). This includes promoting local and regional food hubs and shorter value chains and, more broadly, efficient and functioning agricultural supply chains that link hinterland producers to market systems. More integrated production and supply also means reducing food loss and waste, which is particularly significant for perishable products.

Nevertheless, considering the competition for land and water with other uses, the constant and rapid growing of urban areas, as well as the complex policy and tenure environment for production in these areas, farmers struggle to connect to markets and make a decent livelihood. In these contexts, promoting CRFS better connects farmers to markets and makes fruit and vegetables more easily available to cities.

The CRFS approach offers a concrete policy, including for ministries of agriculture and programming, and opportunities within which development issues can be addressed, and through which rural and urban areas and communities can be directly linked. CRFS improves economic, social and environmental conditions in both urban and nearby rural areas, promotes shorter value chains and recognizes the need to promote local produce for resilient food systems in response to the COVID-19 pandemic (http://www.fao.org/3/cb1020en/CB1020EN.pdf).
<figure><img src="image_75.png" /></figure>

Food and nutrition security of a city depends on the integration of its food system within its region. Illustration inspired from FAO-RUAF (2015) http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4789e.pdf

## Connecting to markets

It has been increasingly recognized that policies and programmes that focus exclusively on introducing farmers to sustainable approaches to increase or diversify their production of high-value crops are not enough to ensure that farmers will adopt the practices. The barriers to adoption are often related to the inability of farmers to deliver their produce to market or a lack of market demand resulting in poor returns on investments. Policies and programmes must include a sound analysis of proposed markets, and must also be gender-sensitive to ensure social inclusivity (FAO, 2014c; OECD and FAO, 2016; FAO, 2018c).

Farmers' organizations play a key role in supporting small-scale farmers to connect to markets because of economies of scale. Aggregated farmers can secure post-harvest services and market linkages that would be impossible if farmers operated independently. Policies designed to increase the production of sustainably grown fruit and vegetables, and to supply these nutritious foods to low-income consumers, can be achieved by promoting farmers' organizations, and post-harvest and marketing enterprises. International Fund for Agricultural Development (2016) developed an online toolkit that provides guidance on developing sustainable partnerships with farmers' organizations within its projects.
## Infrastructure

For fruit and vegetable farmers, barriers to selling their fresh produce are often linked to poor roads, intermittent or non-existent power, a lack of a cold chain and limited mobile phone or internet connectivity to coordinate the exchange of information between suppliers and buyers. Investments in infrastructure such as roads, waterways, railways, electrical networks and ICTs can better link farmers, value chain actors, markets and consumers. In addition, infrastructures, particularly to improve storage, conservation and transportation are crucial to reduce food losses, which are significant for perishable products such as fruit and vegetables. These major public investments are costly and will necessarily be undertaken as part of a much larger territorial development plan, beyond horticulture.

Examples of policy for infrastructure and logistics can include:

* providing a reliable electricity supply and access to the internet;

* constructing or improving roads, rail or shipping links from farms to collection centres, storage facilities and marketplaces;

* building collection centres in remote areas near production sources;

* creating post-harvest facilities equipped for sorting, grading, washing, sanitation, packaging and storing;

* investing in technologies and facilities to process fruit and vegetables into value-added products with extended shelf lives while ensuring nutritional contents; and

* establishing regulatory frameworks for food safety and quality standards (FAO, 2015a).

## Public procurement

Governments can provide a market for small-scale fruit and vegetable farmers by procuring fresh produce from them for social protection schemes that offer safe and nutritious food for vulnerable groups and public schools. Brazil's Family Farming Food Procurement Programme, established in 2003, purchases food directly from family farmers to supply institutions serving vulnerable populations and to replenish government stocks. In 2009, Brazil also launched the National School Meals Programme, which obliges public schools to dedicate at least 30 percent of their food budget to direct purchases from family farmers (FAO, 2015b).
To ensure transparency, avoid market distortions and reduce waste, public procurement processes can often be highly regulated and involve time-consuming bureaucratic procedures and complex accountability mechanisms. These pose significant obstacles to the participation of small-scale farmers in school-feeding programmes, as farmers' organizations may not be able to obtain recognized formal status. To overcome this constraint, governments can adopt policies that favour small family farmers in public procurement processes, including:

* allocating fixed percentages or quotas of public purchases to small-scale farmers;

* adopting tender processes specifically designed for small-scale farmers; and

* dividing up large purchases so that small-scale farmers can respond (FAO, 2015b).

At the international level, the World Food Programme (WFP) established programmes for procuring food from local farmers. Its Purchase for Progress (P4P) pilot initiative (2008–2013) sourced 10 percent of its food purchases from small-scale women and men farmers, provided them with training and assets to improve crop quality, facilitated their access to finance and promoted marketing. It also encouraged national governments and the private sector to buy food in ways that supported small-scale farmers. Another initiative was the Purchase from Africans for Africa (PAA) programme (2013–2016), which was modelled on Brazil's Food Purchase Programme. PAA worked to support small-scale farmers in growing, processing and selling produce, including fruit and vegetables, to meet WFP's quality standards for its school feeding programmes in Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, the Niger and Senegal (FAO and WFP, 2014; Gyoeri et al., 2016; Devex, 2016).

## Government regulations and incentives

### Pesticides

To protect the health of farmers and consumers, and the agroecosystems as well, fruit and vegetable production must be free as much as possible from any chemical inputs. Investment is needed in the development, registration and accessibility of biological control agents. National governments must establish and enforce regulations on pesticides, including effective systems of governance for registering and
distributing pesticides as covered under the *International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management* (FAO and WHO, 2014). See the complete set of technical guidelines ([http://www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/thematic-sitemap/theme/pests/code/list-guide-new/en/](http://www.fao.org/agriculture/crops/thematic-sitemap/theme/pests/code/list-guide-new/en/)) for the implementation of the International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management.

Any perverse incentives that encourage the misuse of chemical pesticides, such as price subsidies, should be eliminated, and governments should heed the guidance provided by the Rotterdam Convention ([http://www.pic.int/Partners/FAO/tabid/4392/language/en-US/Default.aspx](http://www.pic.int/Partners/FAO/tabid/4392/language/en-US/Default.aspx)) on which pesticides should be excluded from registration or use. Policies should be considered to promote the judicious use of pesticides and even the reduction of them, through the use of, and access to, environmentally friendly biological pesticides and biological control methods.

## Soils and fertilizers

A national policy framework and enforceable regulations are needed to promote sound land husbandry and to encourage farmers to adopt sustainable farming systems that maintain healthy soils. Government regulations are also required to promote farming practices that mitigate soil degradation and environmental pollution.

If direct or indirect fertilizer subsidies are provided for farmers, governments must ensure that the fertilizers that are produced and used as a result of these subsidies are managed in a responsible manner according to *The International Code of Conduct for the Sustainable Use and Management of Fertilizers* (FAO, 2019b). The use of organic fertilizers should be encouraged, as well as slow-releasing nitrogen fertilizers that make more nutrients available to plants and decrease greenhouse gas emissions, and fertigation systems that can deliver fertilizers with greater precision to ensure that the profile of nutrients supplied is the most appropriate for the types of fruit and vegetables being cultivated.

Policies should create incentives and support mechanisms to help farmers find organic alternatives to plastic mulch. In the absence of immediately available alternatives, governments should encourage the use of thicker types of plastic mulch that have a longer life and are easier to collect, recycle and dispose of. Governments should also create schemes for establishing private-public partnerships that can provide coordinated services to support farmers to deal properly with used plastics. Policies related to plastic materials and their reuse, recycling and disposal should also extend to other plastic inputs used in fruit and vegetable production, especially plastic materials in drip irrigation systems, and plastic sheeting in protected cultivation structures and plastic used for packaging.
Seed and planting materials

Governments have a responsibility to ensure that farmers benefit from seed security, i.e. they have timely access to sufficient quantities of the quality seeds and planting materials of their preferred and well-adapted crop varieties. Many low- and lower-middle-income countries have not developed or implemented effective seed regulatory frameworks, which weakens their capacity to provide small-scale farmers with the seeds and planting material they need (FAO, 2015c). In establishing seed policies, laws and regulations, governments need to strike the right balance between adequately protecting farmers and imposing undue restrictions on their access to suitable varieties of fruit and vegetables, farmer seeds in particular. Burdensome regulations can also make it difficult for seed companies and local seed associations to register improved varieties and supply low-cost seeds through local markets. The policy and regulatory framework must recognize the needs of different stakeholders from both the formal and informal seed systems and must be formulated in a participatory manner. To support countries in drafting seed policies, FAO has published the *Voluntary Guide for National Seed Policy Formulation* (FAO, 2015c). The very comprehensive review of the status of seed legislation and policies in the Asia-Pacific region demonstrates the need for governments to partner with the private sector (FAO, 2020b).

The costs of implementing seed laws and regulations can be high and governments may not have the resources to manage an effective seed quality control scheme. To provide governments with a lower-cost alternative that is flexible enough to accommodate crops that may not fit within a conventional seed quality control scheme, FAO has developed the Quality Declared Seed System (QDS) and the Quality Declared Planting Material System, which include many fruit and vegetable crops (see Box 12). However, it is a matter of concern that the informal status of most indigenous varieties and species of fruit and vegetables makes producers vulnerable to prosecution for illegal multiplication, use or marketing of seeds and plants.

Most national seed regulations were originally designed with cereals and other field crops in mind. Fruit and vegetable crops are significantly different and planting material and seed regulations need to reflect the specific characteristics of these crops. Certification is often obligatory for the major cereals, and roots and tubers, but is less common for fruit and vegetables. The growth of global and regional trade in plant materials and improved varieties, and the rapid release of plant varieties, means that an underfunded government-run testing system may block farmers from obtaining the latest varieties and create perverse incentives to find these varieties through unofficial channels, which increases the risks
BOX 12. Quality declared seed and planting material systems.

<figure><img src="image_76.png" /></figure>

The Quality Declared Seed System (QDS) provides guidelines and protocols on the production of quality seed for small farmers, as well as seed specialists, field agronomists and agricultural extension services. Designed for countries with limited resources, it is a semi-formal system for seed quality assurance that is less demanding than full seed quality control systems but

guarantees an acceptable level of seed quality (FAO, 2006). In the QDS, seed producers (contract farmers) who have been selected and trained in seed production and management are responsible for the quality control of the seed production, and government agents check only a small portion of the seed lots and seed multiplication fields (FAO, 2008). The QDS, which was developed by FAO in 1993

and revised in 2006, covers over 30 varieties (both open-pollinated and F1 hybrids) of vegetable crops and varieties. FAO has also developed the Quality Declared Planting Material System (FAO, 2010c), which sets out guidelines and protocols for multiplying planting materials for fruit crops, and has a section on bananas, plantains and other species in the Musaceae family.

of fraud. For vegetable seed obtained through private sector suppliers, information on plant performance and quality assurances are better provided through validation trials carried out by the breeder or importer, with less government control (FAO, 2020a).

Water management

Water management policies and governance to support fruit and vegetable production need to be based on sound water accounting, which is "the systematic study of the current status and trends in water supply, demand, accessibility and use in domains that have been specified" (FAO, 2012g). With accurate water accounting, policies can be adjusted to address any imbalances between supply and demand, as well as improve the efficiency, equity and sustainability of water allocation and use. These policies should support integrated water
management and irrigation practices, which are comprised of four main elements: a system of water allocation, incentives to use water efficiently, the promotion of water-efficient technologies, and decentralization and partnership approaches to water management (FAO, 2011c).

To support fruit and vegetable production in peri-urban and urban areas where competition for water is high, policies will need to be integrated into a broader strategy for territorial development that includes water treatment plants, promotion of rainwater collection and storage, and will involve a consultative process that includes farmers' organizations and other stakeholders.

## Wastewater use

Efficiency use and reuse of water resources are concrete measures to reduce vulnerability and increase the resilience of farmers by reducing the use of scarce water resources. The use of recycled or reused wastewater also helps to decrease the demand for fresh water supplies and the discharge of wastewater into rivers, canals and other surface water sources (Buechler et al., 2006). Wastewater is a reliable supply of water that allows farmers to grow crops throughout the year. It also contains nutrients that can improve crop growth. Furthermore, it is often the only water available, so farmers, especially in urban areas, have no choice but to use this wastewater to irrigate their crops (FAO, 2012a). However, vegetable production in peri-urban areas can be compromised by contaminated or polluted wastewater. To reduce the risk of contamination, it is necessary to handle wastewater safely and select suitable crops. This includes treatment units that allow producers to irrigate horticulture plots with the greywater discharged from kitchens, showers, and if properly treated, from toilets. The guidelines by WHO (2006) describe the levels of treatment needed for agricultural uses.

## Food losses and waste

In countries where food insecurity is high, policy makers should focus on actions that address food losses at the early stages of the supply chain, as this is where impacts on food security are likely to be strongest, whereas in high-income countries waste at the consumer level tends to be higher (FAO, 2019a).

Policy options include creating incentives for developing and promoting sustainable low-cost on-farm cooling technologies (evaporative pre-cooling, zero energy cold rooms and night-time
ventilated cool storage structures) or more mechanical cooling
technologies that use renewable energy resources generated from
local off-grid or micro grid-based energy systems. A recent evidence
synthesis provides policy guidance and details on specific post-harvest
interventions shown to reduce losses for certain horticultural crops in
sub-Saharan Africa and South Asian countries (Stathers et al., 2020).
Provisions could be made to assist small-scale farmers in purchasing
cooling equipment powered from renewable resources (Kefalidou,
2016). Because a certain amount of volume and quality of food is needed
for the private sector to invest in cold chain development, policies to
support food producers to organize into groups or associations should
be encouraged. Policies to expand the use of cooling systems to
reduce fruit and vegetable post-harvest losses are more cost effective
and deliver benefits to a wider number of people if they are targeted
to off-farm post-harvest facilities where the produce of many farmers is
aggregated and prepared for market (Kitinoja, 2013). In collaboration
with the private sector and farmers' organizations, policy makers need
to formulate strategies for cold chain development that are integrated
with larger national development strategies and action plans, so that
cold chains contribute to food and nutrition security, strengthen the
livelihoods of small-scale producers, create off-farm employment and
support agro-industrial growth.

To reduce losses of fruit and vegetables, governments at different
levels should also consider providing incentives for public-private
partnerships to improve dry-storage facilities, for example, by
establishing systems that can supply farmers with sturdy stackable
plastic containers that can be cleaned easily and reused for their
harvested produce, or to improve transportation conditions of both
cold and dry chains.

● Social protection and risk reduction options

For small-scale farmers, there are many expenditures and risks
associated with sustainable fruit and vegetable production. Enhancing
risk-sensitive and shock-responsive social protection schemes
contributes to the implementation of vulnerability reduction measures
in order to prevent, when possible, and/or mitigate the impact,
respond better and adapt to multiple shocks and stresses, and make
it more feasible for small-scale growers to invest in new crops and new
production methods. Many of the farm labourers who play such a large
role in fruit and vegetable production, harvesting and post-harvest
handling, and who work on an informal basis under casual, temporary
or seasonal arrangements, have no access to social protection that could
help ensure their employment meets the standard of decent work.

Social protection involves:

* social assistance (non-contributory programmes, such as cash transfers, public work programmes);

* social insurance (contributory programmes such as old age pensions, unemployment insurance, maternity leave); and

* labour market regulation (control of labour standards promoting decent work such as minimum wage and prohibition of child labour, and protection by training workers and providing benefits to unemployed) (Morlachetti, 2016).

In many countries, social protection legislation explicitly excludes agricultural workers and labourers hired under informal arrangements for seasonal field work such as fruit or vegetable harvesting. Also, in contributory social insurance schemes, the financial costs can be too high both for employers and employees, especially those with irregular incomes. Delivering social protection services such as health care to workers, especially to migrants who are often spread out over a large area, is costly and administratively complex. To address these challenges, policy makers need to consider expanding and adapting legal frameworks for social protection and integrating financing and contribution schemes that can accommodate a range of different types of employment, make contributory programmes more affordable for low-income workers (e.g. subsidized contributions) and enhance capacity to deliver services (Allieu and O Campo, 2019).

International instruments, such as certification schemes (Fair-trade or Participatory Guarantee System [PGS]) can be used to create markets and encourage producers and suppliers to follow labour standards that help ensure decent work. The high costs and paperwork involved in third party certification schemes needs to be addressed and opportunities for PGS explored, especially when supplying local markets. National legislation on organic agricultural production requirements can also include an adherence to labour standards, as has been done in Brazil, Costa Rica and Mexico. Some national legislation regarding specific commodities can also be used to ensure labour practices. For example, in Kenya, the horticulture produce
legislation, requires producers supplying the export market to ensure
worker hygiene and health, provide access to medical services, abide
by the regulation of wages and conditions of employment, and maintain
formal labour records (Yeshanew, 2018).

Index-based insurance

Fruit and vegetable crops are high-risk due to their vulnerability to pests, diseases, climate shocks and stresses, and perishability. Fruit and vegetable crops also face a higher risk of loss than other crops because appropriate cool storage facilities are not always available. Shipping delays, such as those that have occurred because of the COVID-19 pandemic, can also be a threat. Agricultural insurance in various forms is readily accessible to many farmers in higher-income countries, but they are rarely available for small-scale farmers in developing countries due to the high costs of verifying claims and the a poor understanding by insurance providers on risks faced by small-scale farmers. There are many climate- and weather-related risks faced by small-scale farmers in developing countries including droughts, floods, cyclones and erratic weather. Yet, financial and insurance services to reduce the vulnerability of small-scale farmers confronted with these shocks are limited. Weather index-based crop insurance aims to address the challenges of insuring small-scale farmers. Insurance providers no longer need to perform an in-field loss assessment when weather-indexed crop insurance is combined with automated weather stations, satellite imaging and geotagged small-scale farmers using mobile phones (Mattern and Ramirez, 2017).

There are factors limiting adoption of index insurance including incomplete risk coverage, high cost for farmers, lack of flexibility in making payments, lack of trust on the provider's side and misunderstanding of the insurance product (Carter et al., 2017). Another reason is the limited amount of weather stations in many countries, especially African countries (CCAFS and CGIAR, 2013). It is likely that weather-index insurance will remain expensive for developing countries in the short term. It is important, therefore, to provide ready solutions to reduce farmers' vulnerabilities, in particular by ensuring that they have timely access to contingent savings, indexed emergency credit lines, and sufficient quantities of the quality seeds and planting materials of crop varieties that are tolerant to abiotic stresses and resistant to pests and diseases (Carter et al., 2017). Governments and donors can support the uptake of this type of insurance by providing subsidies to poor farmers for equity reasons while having exit strategies for long-term financing (Hess and Hazell, 2016). New schemes can be piloted and tested for their suitability (Box 13).
BOX 13. Green insurance pilot. Source: Global Index Insurance Facility (2018)

<figure><img src="image_77.png" /></figure>

were organized, yet only 200 farmers having 129 ha of tomato production bought the premium for 61 days (subsidized by 75 percent) in 2016. When unseasonal rainfall occurred, the farmers were notified within one week of the claim through the NGO working with them and received their payment within 15 days of the insured event. For the following season of cucumber and bitter gourd, 1 200 farmers bought the Weather Index Insurance product without any subsidy, and no claim occurred during this pilot. In 2017, 2 000 farmers bought the premium for the entire tomato cycle. During the tomato fruit development phase, the temperature fell below the trigger and farmers received the payment. The insurance claim helped compensate farmers for their economic losses. Since these pilots, farmers in Chitalmari growing vegetables, especially those producing tomatoes, are eager to purchase Weather Index Insurance.

farmers' associations, banks, seed companies and contract farming entities). Based on the input of the farmers and on weather data, IFC customized a Weather Index Insurance for tomato farmers in Chitalmari. More than 15 awareness-raising events about Weather Index Insurance, targeting more than 2 000 farmers

In 2015, The Global Index Insurance Facility (GIIF) in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Green Delta Insurance Company (GDIC) launched the Weather Index Insurance pilot for tomato production in Chitalmari, Bangladesh. A weather data grid was created by IFC and used by GDIC to design and monitor the Weather Index Insurance products even at the most remote location in the rural communities. To reduce transaction costs and build local networks at community levels, IFC and GDIC linked with farmers through organizations and institutions providing services or products to farmers during the production cycle (NGOs,

<figure><img src="image_78.png" /></figure>
## Research and innovation

National agricultural research systems in many low-income countries are underfunded and are not as responsive to the needs and priorities of low-income small-scale farmers as they ought to be. A series of steps to improve research on sustainable crop production include:

* strengthening national research systems, starting at local levels and giving priority to small-scale farmers;

* increasing funding for research, notably on the most sustainable production systems;

* explore and make value of all farmers' traditional knowledge in combination with academic knowledge and science-based innovations;

* linking research with extension; and

* focusing research in areas with high environmental and social potential.

At the international level, research on fruit and vegetables has been largely neglected compared with staple crops. Although the Alliance of Bioversity International and The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) does significant research on banana and to a lesser extent on fruit trees, the network of Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) centres has historically focused on staple crops, with many individual centres devoting their research to one major staple crop. The World Vegetable Center, which was created outside of the CGIAR system, is the principal international agricultural research centre dedicated to vegetable research and development with a focus on small-scale farmers in lower-income countries. Nevertheless, given the tremendous diversity of vegetables, the World Vegetable Center cannot be expected to cover all vegetable cropping aspects and is necessarily obliged to make strategic choices about research priorities. A core partnership among the *Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement* (CIRAD), FAO and International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) has raised the visibility of the sector and engaged civil society, scientists and policy makers through a global approach. An assessment of possible future strategies to better integrate fruit and vegetables into international agricultural research efforts suggests that international agricultural research should strongly focus on developing strategies for IPM, biological pest control and improved water use efficiency, in combination with the private sector. Moreover, publicly funded research could help find low-cost solutions for infrastructure-related aspects such as post-harvest handling and storage (cooling and drying), where renewable energy sources show substantial potential (Anderson and Birner, 2020).
As climate change and the decrease of biodiversity, including in the soil, are the two greatest challenges faced by fruit and vegetable farmers, research is needed on an environmentally-friendly integrated approach that:

* combines soil fertility and water management not only to lower the financial risk for the farmer, but also to ensure equivalent or higher incomes;

* is based on the use of bioinputs and cropping practices, such as genetic tolerance to climate shocks and stresses combined with plant associations and biopesticides for major fruit and vegetable pests and diseases that can replace the chemical approach "one target - one pesticide"; and

* converts informal data and evidence-based experience or experiments into well-documented reports to influence policies, regulations and behaviours.

## Knowledge gaps

The diversity of fruit and vegetables presents particular challenges to developing methodologies for compiling reliable statistics on production, area under cultivation, and yield. The fact that in many countries fruit and vegetables are often sold through informal markets means much of their economic value is unaccounted for. This scarcity of production and economic, social and environmental data makes it difficult to determine needs to target policies and public services and to monitor the impact of these. Improving statistical information about fruit and vegetable production in rural, peri-urban and urban settings, the role these crops play in sustaining livelihoods, and the contribution they make to local diets, is a research priority.

There are also large gaps in knowledge about the genetic characteristics of fruit and vegetable crops. Actions needed to address these gaps include:

* conserving genetic diversity in public genebanks;

* characterizing the diversity, especially the nutritional characteristics, through testing;

* understanding the fine mechanism of plant genetic regulation and the trade-off between plant growth and defence against biotic and abiotic stresses; and

* making this diversity accessible to farmers and countries through access and benefit-sharing schemes.
BOX 14. Digital Agriculture to meet the needs of small-scale farmers and value chain actors. Source: Faye et al. (2019)

<figure><img src="image_79.png" /></figure>

Despite the importance of fruits and vegetables for food and nutrition security, the lack of reliable data in Africa affects all stakeholders of the value chains – from farmers to national and international institutions. On the field, farmers need accessible and accurate information for making decision pre-harvest; fruit yield forecasting, fruit size and colour grading, fruit set monitoring over the year are all key parameters for growers to better manage their crop by making the right agronomic or economic choices (Sarron et al., 2018). Moreover, agricultural statistics such as mean yield and productive areas per cropping system are crucial for stakeholders all along the value chain to provide clear knowledge and extensive information on the sector. For governments, agencies and NGOs as well,

agricultural data such as yield gaps and regional production per market are required for agricultural policy making and to evaluate the outcomes of these policies. Also, researchers need large scale and accurate data to measure the performances of cropping systems and to quantify the limiting factors (Carletto et al., 2015).

In this context, digital agriculture, which relies on the use of technologies, is one of the pathways for data and value chain improvements in Africa. It allows data acquisition, standardization, availability and sharing between farmers and stakeholders. In particular, data acquired by farmers' participative monitoring using their smartphone will increase the availability of accurate information at the field scale on yields, sanitary status, water

stress, etc. This is the challenge that CIRAD addressed by developing the project PixFruit in a co-conception process and user-centered design. PixFruit aims to provide a participative and digital data manager for estimating mango production in West Africa. By bringing together the latest artificial intelligence embedded in smartphones for real-time and cost-free fruit counting with remote sensing technologies and agronomic models, PixFruit attempts to address the needs of small-scale farmers (yield assessment) and stakeholders of the fruit value chain (production statistics at the regional scale). Consequently, digital agriculture will overcome the challenge of data sampling and availability, thereby offering a direct contribution to poverty reduction and food security at large scale by strengthening the fruit value chain.
It will be particularly important to expand research programmes to include local varieties of fruit and vegetable crops, particularly NUS and how they can be further commercialized or contribute to adapt to the changing climate (FAO, 2018b).

Addressing these knowledge gaps is important for breeding improved varieties of locally adapted crops and for the conservation of threatened crop diversity. A major initiative in this area is being carried out by the African Orphan Crops Consortium (http://africanorphancrops.org/), which is working to sequence, assemble and annotate the genomes of 101 traditional African food crops with the aim of improving them genetically.

## Participatory agricultural research and plant breeding

Because new varieties may take many years to produce, especially in fruit tree species, breeding programmes have to be stable, competently staffed and adequately funded. Both the public sector and increasingly private breeding companies must involve the farmers in order to develop varieties for sustainable cropping systems.

To enable small-scale production systems to respond better to the impacts of disasters and climate change, research needs to be done in collaboration with local farmers to identify crops and varieties that are tolerant to water or salt stress, floods, higher temperatures and greater climate variability, and at the same time can meet market demands. Participatory research and plant breeding are also needed to develop pest- and disease-resistant crops, which would reduce the need for farmers to apply chemical pesticides, promote biopesticides and lower their production costs.

Other critical areas of agricultural research for developing the resilience of small-scale fruit and vegetable production systems include investigating the range of potential cropping systems that incorporate crop rotations and crop associations adapted to the prevalent growing conditions, and that contribute towards maintaining healthy, pest-free soils and respond to market requirements.

## Technological innovation

Research and development are needed to produce and test affordable biodegradable plastics that can replace the non-biodegradable plastic materials that are currently and widely being used for mulch and
in drip irrigation systems and greenhouses. Biodegradable bio-based mulches that can be tilled back into the soil have been developed, but there are performance and cost issues that need to be overcome before they can be widely adopted.

High priority should be given to innovative low-cost technologies that use renewable energy for crop management, post-harvest storage and transport (Box 14). In low- and low-middle-income countries, innovations in low-cost, low-carbon cooling technologies are needed to maintain a continuous cold chain for fruit and vegetables as they move from the farm through the supply chain to the consumer, especially for informal markets. FAO has developed a methodology (http://www.fao.org/energy/agrifood-chains/energy-sustainable-technologies/en/) to assess the environmental, social, economic and financial costs and benefits of investing in renewable energy for food chains, including vegetables.

Research and innovation also need to be directed to technologies for food processing to create products that safeguard nutrient content, taste, texture and increase consumer acceptance and market opportunities. Affordable and reliable practical tests for food-borne pathogens as well as pesticides and other contaminants are also needed.

## Distributed ledger technology and blockchain

Distributed ledger technologies (DLT), which are often referred to as blockchain (although technically blockchain is one particular type of DLT) are an area where policy actions along with research and innovation can support small-scale farmers in general and fruit and vegetable farmers in particular. DLTs are used to create a digital database that records, tracks and monitors transactions of physical and digital assets in real time.

For example, DLTs can improve food safety by significantly increasing the traceability of products in agricultural supply chains, allowing for the rapid identification of the source of contaminated products and the mobilization of quick responses to minimize health impacts and financial losses (Mattern and Ramirez, 2017). By establishing transparent and secure records of provenance from producers to retailers, DLTs can increase consumer confidence in the safety of the produce and in the production methods that were used, and provide incentives to farmers and suppliers to adopt GAP.

DLTs can also overcome some of the major challenges involved in providing agricultural insurance to small-scale farmers. By establishing
unalterable insurance contracts, linked to mobile wallets with weather data generated regularly by sensors in the field and confirmed by weather stations, DLTs can automatically deliver immediate pay-outs in the case of drought or flooding, which would eliminate costly verification procedures, reduce transaction costs, and increase transparency for both insurance providers and clients. Smart contracts used by DLTs can also provide secure digital payments in real time to reduce transaction costs between producers, suppliers, wholesalers and retailers.

The use of DLTs could also create greater transparency and security in land registration, especially for the rural poor, and would safeguard land records even during natural hazard-induced disasters or civil conflicts. Secure digital land titling can be linked to the creation of a broader digital ID that can ensure small-scale farmers and small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs are able to confirm their assets easily, and confirm the quality and quantity of agricultural products and their creditworthiness to financial institutions.

Using DLTs to support small-scale farmers and suppliers presents significant challenges, including an absence of enabling policies and regulatory frameworks, inadequate infrastructure, failures of interoperability and other technical issues, and the lack of digital skills in farming communities. Multinational agri-food companies will be the first to adopt DLTs. To ensure that all farmers can benefit from these technologies, governments and intergovernmental organizations will need to work together to raise awareness about the potential of DLTs, build the capacities of agricultural stakeholders and strengthen international cooperation between the public and private sectors and civil society groups to design and implement collaborative programmes to develop inclusive DLTs (Tripoli and Schmidhuber, 2018).

## ● Policies and incentives for sustainable production and food systems for fruit and vegetables

As a complement to this chapter on the required enabling environment for sustainably producing and marketing fruit and vegetables, Table 4 highlights guidance to policy makers on the regulations and incentives required. It is essential that ministries work together to develop and implement appropriate regulatory frameworks that provide a conducive environment for a thriving private sector, to include ministries of agriculture, environment, public health, education, trade, finance, planning and international cooperation.
<table><caption>TABLE 4
Policies and incentives for sustainable production and food systems for fruit and vegetables</caption><thead><tr><th>COMPONENTS</th><th>POLICIES OR INCENTIVES</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Crop and variety genetic resources</strong></td><td><ul><li>Strengthen seed, field and in vitro genebanks to conserve, characterize, evaluate, document and make accessible the widest possible spectrum of the germplasm of the target species, including neglected and underutilized species. In particular, evaluate the accessions for tolerance to abiotic stresses such as salinity, heat, drought and flooding and biotic stresses (i.e. pests and diseases), for quality traits (especially micronutrient contents), and for post-harvest and marketing characteristics (shelf life, transport durability, suitability for processing, colour, shape, taste, texture).</li><li>Strengthen the conservation of wild relatives (usually the sources of desirable traits) in nature where the evolution of adaptive traits may continue.</li><li>Enhance on-farm intra- and interspecific diversity which will also help to improve the resilience of the production systems.</li><li>Develop and implement, according to applicable international norms and national legislations, equitable and fair access and benefit-sharing mechanisms in order to make accessions available to crop breeders and other scientists.</li><li>Develop international networks to increase the synergy between separate genebanks, phenotyping and breeding initiatives.</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Genetic improvement</strong></td><td><ul><li>Public or private crop breeders to develop varieties that are productive, nutritious, resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses, are well adapted to target agroecologies, and meet consumer preferences and market demands.</li><li>Broaden the genetic base of the improved varieties through pre-breeding, i.e. generating intermediate materials by crossing non-adapted germplasm that possess novel traits with standard breeding lines.</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Seed delivery systems</strong></td><td><ul><li>Enhance farmers' access to quality seeds and planting materials of traditional as well as modern varieties through:<ul><li>Strengthening the institutional and human capacities along the entire seed value chain, from production and processing through quality control to packaging, storage, and marketing;</li><li>Strengthening the value of farmer seeds and confirming the seed sovereignty of farmers; and</li><li>Strengthening community-level seed production with suitable quality assurance regimes, including quality declared seeds and quality declared planting materials protocols.</li></ul></li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table><thead><tr><td>COMPONENTS</td><td>POLICIES OR INCENTIVES</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Seed delivery systems</td><td><ul><li>Developing and implementing national seed regulatory frameworks that enable the participation of a multiplicity of actors ranging from farmers to cooperatives and small- and medium-scale seed enterprises to the private sector opportunities.</li><li>According to the International Seed Testing Association, seeds meet the set standards for trueness to type, absence of physical damage, contaminants and diseases, and of optimal physiological status. https://www.seedtest.org/en/home.html</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td>Land and water tenure</td><td><ul><li>Develop initiatives to ensure equitable access to land and water.</li><li>Implement schemes to recycle and reuse water and for organic waste recycling and composting.</li><li>Provide incentives to growers who conserve and enrich soils and who ensure clean water runoff (environmental service linked payments).</li><li>Implement regulations to monitor and prevent water pollution.</li><li>Develop an international network of facilities to test water.</li><li>Promote initiatives to allocate land and water in urban and peri-urban sites to growers to create shorter value chains for fresh and nutritious produce (and to reduce food loss and waste).</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td>Good agricultural practices (GAP)</td><td><ul><li>Implement GAP that promote sustainable production and protection of fruit and vegetables.</li><li>Promote GAP through schools, universities, and extension services.</li><li>Certify education and extension agents providing credible advice.</li><li>Regulate quality of inputs such as fertilizers, crop protection products, irrigation, plastics and trellises.</li><li>Support farmers' access to inputs and appropriate technologies and mechanization (irrigation, greenhouse, machinery).</li><li>Develop standards for plastics based on biodegradability and use, and schemes for collection, cleaning and recycling.</li><li>Incentivize affordable extension services.</li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table><thead><tr><td>COMPONENTS</td><td>POLICIES OR INCENTIVES</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Good manufacturing practices (GMP)</td><td><ul><li>Secure availability and access to quality tools and equipment especially those locally made in rural areas (front line hardware stores).</li><li>Implement GMP for post-harvest services, processing, distribution and marketing.</li><li>Implement GMP for sanitation and quality control.</li><li>Certify actors providing credible advice by third parties as well as in a participatory way.</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td>Food safety</td><td><ul><li>GAP to include capacity to diagnose cause of disease in order to recommend best control options.</li><li>Integrated pest and disease management options developed and incorporated into GAP to avoid chemical pesticide.</li><li>Implement the international code of conduct on pesticide management.</li><li>Prevent use of dangerous pesticides through active engagement with the Rotterdam Convention.</li><li>Prevent distribution of quarantine pests and diseases through adherence to the International Plant Production Convention.</li><li>Prevent transfer of food-borne pathogens through appropriate sanitation (GMP).</li><li>Provide incentives to grower cooperatives and value chain actors that ensure food safety.</li><li>Develop international networks and laboratories with capacity to test and report food safety.</li><li>Establish and/or strengthen national food control systems harmonized with Codex Alimentarius.</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td>Research and technology innovations</td><td><ul><li>Develop capacity for improved genebank management and breeding strategies, including farmers' ones.</li><li>Develop capacity to improve GAP recommendations for specific fruit and vegetable propagation and cropping systems.</li><li>Develop new environmentally friendly IPM strategies.</li><li>Develop international expert networks to monitor pest and disease impacts, new variants and incursions.</li><li>Develop capacity to improve post-harvest handling and reduce losses.</li><li>Develop food processing options (food technologies to preserve nutrients and market traits in processed products).</li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table><thead><tr><td>COMPONENTS</td><td>POLICIES OR INCENTIVES</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Research and technology innovations</td><td><ul><li>Develop international expert networks and laboratories with capacity to test and report food safety issues.</li><li>Prioritize development of technologies and practices that target small-scale producers and existing extension services.</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td>Market access</td><td><ul><li>Create reliable and risk-proof road, rail and water freight options to link growers to markets efficiently.</li><li>Develop cold chain, transport and storage systems.</li><li>Incentivize credit services and insurance mechanisms for growers and value chain actors.</li><li>Implement awareness campaigns to inform consumers of the health benefits of diversified diets containing fruit and vegetables.</li><li>Establish public procurement policies to promote supply from the most responsible small-scale farmers and encourage consumption in public facilities.</li><li>Promote the cost benefits of diverse and nutritious diets compared with health care costs from poor diets.</li><li>Foster dialogue between markets and producers on expected qualities and quantities of produce.</li><li>Create price monitoring schemes.</li><li>Support development of e-commerce platforms that link producers with consumers.</li><li>Promote and support short supply chains targeting local markets including support to traditional and territorial markets.</li><li>Promote market branding through certification standards for fair trade, sustainable practices, promotion of biodiversity, organic production, equitable returns and gender opportunities.</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td>Entrepreneurial skills</td><td><ul><li>Develop capacity to empower individuals and small- and medium-sized enterprises in business acumen.</li><li>Target women and youth in off farm, value chain enterprises (input supplies, digitalization for data management, maintenance and repair services, post-harvest, storage, transport, processing, distribution, and marketing, as well as early warning systems).</li><li>Incentivize innovation and scale effective technologies.</li><li>Focus on entrepreneurship development for specialized mechanization hire services to overcome peak labour demands for planting, weeding, plant protection and harvesting with emphasis on job creation for youth.</li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table>

<figure><img src="image_80.png" /></figure>
<figure><img src="image_81.png" /></figure>
CHAPTER 5

The way forward

<figure><img src="image_82.png" /></figure>
A fundamental
shift toward
more
nutritious
crops in more
diversified
cropping
systems
is necessary

Previously, there has been a focus on single commodity supply chains with supporting agricultural policies, especially for carbohydrate-rich staple crops or for export, as the model to create wealth, targeting subsistence farmers to become businessmen. Recently, it is recognized that cultivating more nutritious crops in diversified systems is necessary to protect the environment, generate incomes and decent jobs, while adapting to changes in climate, and safeguarding nutritional security for the increasing global population.

To achieve SDGs 2 and 3, fruit and vegetables must be made available and affordable to consumers. Sustainable production of fruit and vegetables, combined with stable value chains, is therefore a national, regional and global priority to meet global nutrition requirements.

The immense diversity of fruit and vegetables offers small-scale farmers options for sustainable production by selecting species, varieties and combinations of each that are adapted to different environmental conditions (water and nutrient availability, length of growing season, for dealing with common pests and diseases), and for market access to achieve SDGs 1 and 15. It is relevant that the fruit and vegetables currently categorised in FAOSTAT only represent a fraction of the global diversity of fruit and vegetables and that many are labelled as neglected and as underutilized species. Yet fruit and vegetables have enormous potential to achieve multiple SDGs due to their high nutritive contents, adaption to cultivation under different environmental conditions, and their resistance to prevalent pests and diseases. Data collection and reporting mechanisms need to be strengthened to capture this potential and to inform agricultural policies and not overcomplicate this into agricultural policies.

Fruit and vegetables are high value. Cultivating them can be profitable because they can grow on relatively small amounts of land and with less water and nutrients than are required by other crops in rural, urban and peri-urban environments. They can move a country towards attaining SDGs 1, 3 and 11. The high-value and yet perishable nature of fruit and vegetables offer significant opportunities for new businesses and decent work. These include technical advisory services, input supplies (seeds, trellising, protected cultivation systems, drip irrigation, fertilizer, pest and disease management technologies), post-harvest services (grading, washing, sterilizing, packaging, processing, transportation, storage) and market linkages (food technologies, branding, marketing, participatory guarantee systems, digitalization, traceability schemes and blockchain). The labour and knowledge intensive demands from fruit and vegetable value chains can generate on-farm and off-farm employment opportunities, especially for women and youth, to achieve SDGs 4, 5 and 8.
Empowerment of the fruit and vegetable sector through technical guidance and public-private partnerships will increase the efficiency of value chains to reduce food loss and waste (to address SDGs 2 and 12), and to directly support women who are commonly responsible for fruit and vegetable production and marketing. Further, recognition of the importance of the need for high-quality agricultural inputs (including biological control agents for managing pests and diseases), and regulation of products, suppliers and distributors, is needed to encourage a thriving, innovative and private sector to develop. These benefits have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has demonstrated the importance of short value chains for fruit and vegetables to sustain regular supplies of fresh and nutritious food when imports and other global supply chains are disrupted due to travel restrictions for goods and labour. Natural disasters, biodiversity erosion, and climate change, have demonstrated the need for policies to support sustainable fruit and vegetable production. The impact of COVID-19 has also shown the importance to efficiently link small-scale farmers to markets, and for improved urban, peri-urban and rural planning such as through CRFS (FAO, 2020c; FAO, 2020d). Good practices and policies on natural resources, disaster and climate risk management are at the core of resilience building and are essential for the overall achievement of the development of economies in low- and middle-income countries (plus the continued success of higher-income countries).

The UN Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016–2025) and the UN Decade for Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030) emphasize the need for land to be managed in a sustainable manner to increase the productivity and availability of nutrient-dense foods while providing livelihoods to support global communities. UN Member States have committed to undertake 10 years of sustained and coherent implementation of policies, programmes and increased investments to eliminate malnutrition in all its forms, while leaving no one behind and simultaneously protecting the continued productive capacity of natural environments. Furthermore, the UN Decade of Family Farming (2019–2028), is providing the international community with an opportunity to address family farming from a holistic perspective (Bosc *et al.*, 2018), in order to achieve substantial transformations in current food systems to contribute to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (FAO and IFAD, 2019). Embracing the family farming model, while also recognizing the benefit of mid-scale, commercial and contract farming systems, require integrating strategies related to:

* food security and nutrition;

* crop diversification;

* the resilience of food systems;

<figure><img src="image_83.png" /></figure>
* adaptation to climate change;

* the protection of biodiversity; and

* the creation of decent jobs, especially for women and youth.

Technical and institutional innovations are strongly linked to each of these areas; safe and nutritious fruit and vegetables benefit from a huge diversity of varieties, a wide range of cropping systems, ranging from open field with mulching and fertigation, to hydroponics or to plant factories with soilless systems.

Sustainable fruit and vegetable production is knowledge intensive, particularly with regard to the conservation of soil fertility, managing water resources, developing and implementing biodiverse strategies to control pests and diseases, and ensuring stable market linkages. Progress in ICTs and digitalization make access to knowledge possible and can strengthen local advisory services. Management of this knowledge for high value fruit and vegetables offer the opportunity for several off-farm businesses (e.g. for post-harvest services) that are attractive to youth and can provide decent rural employment to mitigate the migration to urban areas.

However, global investment in horticultural sciences is diminishing, both in high-income and low- to middle-income countries. Curricula, training courses and research investments need to encompass the rich diversity of fruit and vegetables and include NUS. A solution is to integrate fruit and vegetables into the global food system approach, as a key contributor to greater ecological, economic and social equilibrium to achieve the SDGs.

Participatory investigation involving scientists, producers and food system actors (both public and private) is needed to analyse multiple-criteria effects on sustainable production and stable value chains. Fruit and vegetables present a unique diversity of combinations of short- and long-cycle (perennial) cropping systems and opportunities for greater integration with other forms of agriculture. These pathways can generate higher incomes and decent work for family farming systems in low- and low-middle-income countries.

Policy support and business prospects to recycle grey water, compost manure and organic waste, development of environmentally compatible options to control pests and diseases, and to manage natural resources are critical, as is the equitable provision of land, water, inputs and access to finance and technical guidance.

<figure><img src="image_84.png" /></figure>
A territorial approach is essential to link rural, peri-urban and urban communities and businesses to guide planning interventions to promote short value chains for local farmers to supply safe, affordable and nutritious fruit and vegetables and that involves all government ministries, civil society and the private sector. The benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption to create stable markets, and innovative and sustainable production practices, high-quality inputs and reliable post-harvest services need to be prioritized and incentivised for policy makers.

To influence policy makers, credible evidence is required that is based upon scientific evidence and on policy briefs. Especially for the informal sector, improved efficiency is necessary for better connectivity, organization and visibility. For this more reliable data is needed, which is currently restricted to export markets. Investments are needed to capture the data on production, impacts on soil, water and nutrients, pests and diseases, processing, food loss and waste, and consumption to better inform management decisions. Reliable data linked to nutrition delivery through diets would encourage farmers to consider their production responsibility based on market opportunities and it would encourage consumers to reconsider their spending priorities.

In summary, it is necessary to incentivize the provision of sound technical guidance, high-quality inputs and services, and new business opportunities to enable the fruit and vegetable sector to drive the transition from food security to global nutritional security. This can only be achieved if there is market demand from consumers who are encouraged to consume nutritious foods, and if there are political incentives for industrial food manufacturers to distance themselves from unhealthy foods and to formulate appropriate media messaging.

<figure><img src="image_85.png" /></figure>

**The fruit and vegetable sector has to drive the transition from food security to global nutritional security**
<figure><img src="image_86.png" /></figure>
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