The importance of and experience
in building the capacity of informal markets,
especially in the context of sub-Saharan Africa
Kristina Roesel
Brussels Policy Briefing no. 52 “Food safety in Africa”
Brussels, Belgium
19 September 2018

CGIAR
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Target group:
Informal markets in sub-Sahara Africa
© ILRI/Danilo Pezo
© ILRI/Dave Elsworth
© ILRI/Stevie Mann
• Provide food and jobs for billions
• Very heterogenous & overwhelming to organize
• Interventions for better local health outcomes
© ILRI/Ben Lukuyu
© CSRS/Valentin B. Koné
© ILRI/Dave Elsworth
© ILRI/Apollo Habtamu

How to deal with informal markets?
Ban or promote?
Previously mostly unsuccessful:
regulation/inspection
• lack of prerequisites to meet standards
• lack of enforcement of standards
• vested interests
Compromise:
professionalize, not criminalize
© Erastus Kang‘ethe, 2014
(ILRI/BMZ Safe Food Fair Food)

 Evidence: value-chain based, risk-based
 Interventions: pilots and rigorous evaluation
 Impact: Policy engagement, food safety champions
Our approach

Gaps in understanding how to manage
food safety in informal markets
Where to intervene?
Intervention on farm
Intervention at market
How to intervene?
Technological
(i.e. aflasafe™, resistant based variants)
Institutional
(i.e. T&C milk traders)
Technically effective?
Contribution to improved
food safety and nutrition?
Cost-effective? Will they take up the
intervention?
How many beneficiaries
do we reach?

bulking
© ILRI/Stevie Mann
© ILRI/Ben
Lukuyu
© ILRI/Apollo Habtamu
© ILRI/Brad Collins
© ILRI/Stevie Mann © SUA/Fortunate Shija
© ILRI/Dave Elsworth
Why target raw milk traders??

Technological interventions coupled with
training of value chain actors
savings on firewood / month
= 900,000 UGX (260 US$) + >100 trees
Reach:
50% of all pork butchers and
their 3,500-14,000 customers in Kampala

Gumboots (6US$)
Tippy tap (1US$)
Bar of soap (0.50US$)
250mL bleach (0.70US$)
Laminated poster and certificate (6 US$)
= ca. 15 US$ per kit
Reach:
All butchers and their customers
in the study sites
50% of all pork butchers and their
3,500-14,000 customers in
Kampala

Uptake by
the private sector
Initiated by PPM
2017: 5,000 people
2018: 15,000 people

Pulling at the consumer end
of the supply chain

Pull approach
(demand for safe food)
Push approach
(supply of safe food)
Reduced burden FBD, professionalizing informal sector, appropriate governance
ENABLING
ENVIRONMENT
Consumers recognize &
demand safer food
VC actors respond to
demand & incentives
Inform, monitor &
legitimize VC actors
Build capacity &
motivation of regulators
Consumer campaign for
empowered consumers
Gather baseline information for detailed intervention planning and advocacy
Harness market place drivers of progress

Senegal
Ghana
Ethiopia
Kenya
Tanzania
MozambiqueSouth Africa
Mali
Acknowledgements
Uganda
Côte d’Ivoire
Nigeria
And all the local and national governments, NARS,
students and value chain actors.

The presentation has a Creative Commons licence. You are free to re-use or distribute this work, provided credit is given to ILRI.
Kristina Roesel
Project coordinator “Safe Food, Fair Food” (2012-2016)
Jointly appointed scientist
Freie Universität Berlin / International Livestock Research Institute
k.roesel@cgiar.org
https://safefoodfairfood.wordpress.com/
https://aghealth.wordpress.com/
Better lives through livestock
www.ilri.org
ASANTE SANA - THANK YOU!