Re-framing post-harvest losses through a situated analysis of the pineapple value chain in Uganda
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8944449 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Katharine Tröger (0000-0001-6381-0615, University of Kassel), Margareta Amy Lelea (0000-0002-7113-2014, University of Kassel, corresponding author), Oliver Hensel (0000-0002-7732-0278, University of Kassel), Brigitte Kaufmann (University of Hohenheim) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 111 |
| Pages | 48-61 |
| Publication date | 2020-03-10 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Geoforum (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0016-7185 • E-ISSN: 1872-9398 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.02.017 |
| OpenAlex | W3010850119 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 65 |
Post-harvest loss (PHL) assessments are usually commodity-oriented and approaches for reducing these losses tend to rely on technological interventions for improving product handling and quality. However, such narrow problem framing neglects the situatedness of PHL, particularly when perishable crops of heterogeneous quality are traded through networks of small-scale value chain actors, as is common in the Global South. To illustrate our critique, we lean on systems as a conceptual construct to unpack PHL with the empirical example of the pineapple value chain in Uganda. Specifically, we aim (i) at surfacing multiple actors’ perspectives related to the spectrum of losses and (ii) to improve understanding of their strategies to deal with related problems. We draw from participant observation, semi-structured interviews and group meetings with farmers, brokers, traders and interlinked actors such as small-scale processors and pig farmers. Our study shows how they navigate existing resource constraints and how their practices to recover potential food losses are embedded in their local food systems. The contextualized understandings of quality and the consequences of what can be considered a loss, challenge dominant narratives about high levels of PHL in Sub-Saharan Africa. Extending system boundaries beyond the fresh-fruit value chain revealed how interlinked actors were able to benefit from using ‘damaged’ fruits. Our findings encourage going beyond generic quality systems towards more diverse understandings of quality and loss. Investigating losses in a systemic and context-specific way can put local perspectives at the forefront to encourage actor-driven approaches for sustainable PHL reduction
Agriculture · Business · Context (archaeology · Food security · Food systems · Framing (construction · Geography · Narrative · Situated · Sociology · Supply chain · Value chain · Computer Science · Food Waste Reduction and Sustainability · Innovation and Socioeconomic Development · Marketing · Organic Food and Agriculture
Theorising food quality
Quality in economics
Drivers of food waste and their implications for sustainable policy development
Food waste within food supply chains
The emergence of Southern standards in agricultural value chains
Fruits of Gregory Bateson’s Epistemological Crisis
The challenge of characterising food waste at a national level—An Australian example
Scientific boundary work and food regime transitions
Towards a systemic research methodology in agriculture
Decoupling from international food safety standards
Identifying attributes of food system sustainability
Moving away from technocratic framing
Tradition and change in postharvest pest management in Kenya
Convention theory in the Anglophone agro-food literature
Measurability, austerity and edibility
Culture, conventions and colonial constructs of rurality in south–north horticultural trades
Unpacking Postharvest Losses in Sub-Saharan Africa
Profit, reputation and ‘doing the right thing’
[Re]Valuing Surplus
Metamorphosing waste as a resource
From smallholders to transnationals
Rural Europe Redux? Reflections on Alternative Agro‐Food Networks and Paradigm Change
"The Market for "Lemons
Pluralising progress
Epistemological Pluralism
Resources in Economic Geography
Constructing Quality
Quality, Nature, and Embeddedness
From Risk to Waste
New! Improved? The Transformation of the Global Agrifood System
Situated knowledge in cross-cultural, cross-language research
Waste management and sustainable consumption
Quality standards, conventions and the governance of global value chains
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,4 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2023 (3) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |