Rapid Growth and Transformation of Wholesale Markets and Wholesalers in Africa and South Asia
Paper Session
Monday, Jan. 5, 2026 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM (EST)
- Chair: Thomas Reardon, Michigan State University
Growth and Transformation of Horticultural and Fish Wholesale and Retail Markets in Odisha, India
Abstract
The paper presents the findings of a unique detailed field survey of 300 wholesale and retail markets in six districts of Odisha, India, one of the poorest states. The markets sell a wide variety of vegetables and fish. The sample allows a comparison over state-regulated and non-regulated markets, a key policy issue in India; it also allows comparison of markets in lagging or hinterland zones (mainly “tribal areas”) and non-tribal coastal urban areas. This divide is important to the debate on inclusion (of women and youths as well as of tribal area traders and wholesalers) and development in India, and hitherto there has not been an analysis of how market growth, inclusion, and performance differ over the areas as well as regulated versus not. Both of these zones have experienced rapid growth of markets concomitant with large public investments in roads, rapid urbanization in the state, and the emergence of “spontaneous clusters” as well as some assisted clusters of vegetable and fish production in the State. The paper also analyzes the ways in which sweeping intra-India “imports” from earlier-developing states north and south of Odisha condition – complementing or competing with – the emergent wholesale sector in this state of 50 million people.Dis-intermediation in the Wholesale Segment of Agrifood Value Chains in Africa and South Asia
Abstract
Dis-intermediation is a term for a phenomenon usually written of and observed in the modern food industry, such as supermarket chains shifting from procuring produce from farmers via the intermediated step of wholesalers, to buying direct from farmers or agribusinesses. Far less documented and studied in the food markets and international development literature is dis-intermediation occurring in relatively traditional agrifood value chains (AVCs) such as those dominant in Africa and South Asia, the poorest regions. However, a series of detailed and unique “stacked surveys” in these regions in the past 15 years have showed that AVCs have experience dis-intermediation in which urban based wholesalers have shifted from reliance on rural brokers (village traders) and instead source from farmers by setting up their own networks and dispatching third-partly logistics (3PLS) small firms to fetch the produce. The extent, determinants, and effects on trader’s relations with farmers (such as whether they implement informal “relational contracts” or not) and on the overall performance of AVCs has not been assessed. This paper addresses that gap and compares evidence mainly from our detailed recent primary surveys over various countries in Africa and Asia. We assess the implications for research and the policy agenda.Who Participates in Odisha’s Vegetable Value Chains as Wholesalers & Retailers, and on What Terms?
Abstract
In this paper we draw on surveys of vegetable markets and marketing intermediaries in Odisha, India, to answer the empirical question of who participates in markets, and on what terms. We explore how gender, caste, and ethnicity influence the extent and form of participation in vegetable marketing activities, and the scale of benefits derived from this participation. We also explore how different forms of market governance (state, private, hybrid) interact with social institutions and identities to produce more or less equitable outcomes for marketing intermediaries, producers, and consumers.JEL Classifications
- O1 - Economic Development
- Q1 - Agriculture