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100 PIPPA CHENEVIX TRENCH, CLARE NARROD, DEVESH ROY, AND MARITES TIONGCO


approaches to health risks along the value chain. They are targeted and take into account the political, social, and economic feasibility of interventions as well as impacts on the health and livelihoods of the poor. Respond to market failures. While private standards are driving better food


standards for export markets, they cannot be relied on to ensure the delivery of safe food to poorer consumers in the least-developed countries. Governments have a key role to play in ensuring delivery of safe food, through regulation and oversight (through financial and legal sanctions), even where government resources are scarce. Governments can take the following actions to give consumers the protection that markets do not:


• Support and promote collective marketing groups among small-scale farmers. Collective action, such as rural producer organizations and cooperatives, can provide an important means to address cost constraints for small-scale producers. Contracts between producer groups and retail organizations that place a value on food safety standards can help reduce fixed costs of production and market- ing (the dairy cooperatives in India provide a concrete example). Such collective action, however, requires significant inputs and up-front effort to support local capacity and to maintain the networks and relationships needed to ensure consis- tent food safety practices along the value chain. Contract farming also typically only applies to a small segment of the smallholder sector.


• Identify where there is potential for market failure and the need for a public- health-driven approach. Awareness campaigns and the dissemination of food safety education and knowledge are public goods that require public investment.


• Government regulation and oversight, as well as public information campaigns, are also essential to providing the drivers for technological innovation to reduce the costs of producing and delivering food that is safe to eat.


• Respond to government failures. Governments frequently lack the resources and capacity to deliver solutions that are cost-effective and appropriate to local conditions. Where effects of poor food safety are chronic and not readily visible, governments may lack political incentives to invest in immediate action. There are several ways to respond to these government failures:


» Promote greater activism by civil society, consumer watchdog organizations, and other organizations that can hold government accountable. Such activism also creates greater incentives for producers to address food safety concerns, where food is sold through the markets.


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