Abstract

Food system is a process that takes place right from growing to consumption to disposing it. Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) supports its member states in improving nutrition outcomes through employing a food systems approach on both supply and demand dimension.

Aims and objectives

The main aim of the project is to develop and pilot test a Food Systems Assessment for Healthy Diets (FSAHD) Tool for urban areas to identify elements and activities within the food system that limit the attainment of healthy diets.

The objectives of the project are to:

• Develop and pilot a holistic tool to assess nutrition and food systems in urban areas with the aim to guide policies, programmes and investments towards a range of potential food system actions that promote better nutrition and healthy diets, especially for the nutritionally vulnerable residing in urban areas;
• Pilot the FSAHD tool in four cities: Ahmedabad (India), Pune (India), Pokhara (Nepal) and Kathmandu (Nepal);
• Disseminate the findings of the FSAHD tool among nutrition and food systems stakeholders in these cities.

Methodology and tools

The data collection as part of the project was completed during the period from 12th October 2020 to 24th November 2020.

The participants included in this study were, food traders, intermediaries, wholesalers and processors (n=217), peri-urban/urban farmers (n=181), retailers and food service organizational workers (n=242), consumers (n=1801) and municipal and government representatives from every city.

The total number of participants included in this study were 2430. The eligibility criteria for participation were as follows: > 18 years of age, belonging to one of the survey categories and willing to provide informed consent. The data was collected through face to face interviews and focus group discussions. The average duration of the interview was 35 minutes.

In order to recruit participants for food traders, intermediaries, wholesalers, processors survey, the physical map of metro area was accessed. The number of respondents were selected with respect to the food commodities. The farmers were recruited from the peripheral areas of respective city. The farmers were distributed and selected with respect to the type of crop production. For retailers and food service workers, two representative wards were selected. The respondents were distributed with respect to the retail shop they owned. For consumer survey, two representative wards were selected, which consisted of consumers from all socio-economic strata. The two representative wards for each city are as follows, Kothrud and Aundh-Baner in Pune (India), Paldi and Maninagar in Ahmedabad (India), ward no. 6 and 16 in Kathmandu (Nepal), ward no.10 and 27 in Pokhara (Nepal). Convenient sampling method was used in all the surveys to recruit participants. For key informant interviews (KII), representatives from the municipal authorities, licensing authorities, ministry and policy makers were selected as per their availability. A total of 12 KII’s were conducted.

Four questionnaires and a topic guide were developed for each survey which was translated to Gujarati, Marathi and Nepali. Food traders, intermediaries, wholesalers, processors survey questionnaire included questions on, source of food, supply of food, seasonality of supply, type of goods sold, transportation and distance from production to market, quality of service and food, quantity, expenditure, affordability, convenience, terms of trade, food wastage, strategies used to reduce wastage, storage, value added activities, food safety, mitigation strategies, profits, risks, constraints and associated environmental factors.

The Peri-urban/urban farmers survey consisted of information related to cropping system, type of crop, quality and quantity produced, buyer profile, farmers profile, post-harvest activities, storage, wastage/loss of product, food safety concerns, sales expectation, impact factor for business, water source, terms of trade, mode of delivery, transportation, expenditure and profit, mitigation strategies, major problems and issues.

The retailer and food service deliverer survey had questions on staff employment, the working hours, terms of trade, list of items, frequency of purchase, source, quantity, flow of supply, accessibility, storage, safety, expenditure and profit, quality of service and food, issues, wastage, strategies to reduce wastage, food safety, infrastructure and advertisement.

The consumer survey questionnaire collected information regarding sources from which consumers obtain their food, what food they buy, frequency, expenditure, access, selection, concerns, wastage, preparation, hygiene and safety and security.

For KII’s, a topic guide was prepared with topics on institutional units, policies, issues, possible improvements with respect to food systems.

For data analysis, data cleaning and coding was done using SPSS software. For quantitative data, frequencies and percentages were obtained for categorical data and means and standard deviations for continuous data. ANOVA and Z-test were used. Cross tabs were incorporated to analyze food groups with various parameters. The questions that were qualitative in nature were subsequently recoded and analyzed

For qualitative analysis, the interviews were translated to English and then retranslated to Nepali language. Manual analysis was initiated. The data was organized and reviewed. Initial coding was done. The codes were reviewed and themes were derived from them. These themes were presented in a cohesive manner.