The role of coordination in the safe and organic vegetable chains supplying Hanoi

Recent economic, political and demographic changes in Vietnam have led to a growing urban demand for quality vegetables. Despite consumers' concern for food safety (especially with regard to pesticide residues) and both public and private initiatives taken to promote the production and marketing of IPM and organic vegetables, the market for these vegetables is still limited to less than 5% of household consumption in Hanoi. We explore the problems of intra-chain coordination which may explain this situation. Based on insights from institutional economics, we compare different coordination devices (signs, standards, horizontal coordination, vertical coordination) in the chains labelled as quality vegetable chains (safe and organic), and in the chains of "ordinary" vegetables, using quantitative and qualitative surveys conducted between 2002 and 2004 on consumers, traders and producers of leafy vegetables supplying Hanoi. The research shows that those chains that are successful in selling safe and organic vegetables have developed strategies to integrate production and retail marketing in the form of direct retail marketing or contracts between farmers and traders. Quality control is mostly organised in an internal way within the cooperatives. Only the organic vegetable company has recourse to an external body. The paper concludes with the factors necessary for the development of safe and organic vegetable chains, including the promotion of horizontal and vertical coordination, and the design and enforcement of clear standards on food safety by the state. (Résumé d'auteur