HCMC – In the past few months the portfolio of clients contracting Fresh Studio for quality assurance assignments has been growing rapidly.
Fresh Studio now assists several clients in developing their QA systems to comply with the following standards: BRC, GLOBALGAP, Ethical Trade Initiative standard (ETI) and HACCP.
These QA projects cover a variety of products, ranging from fruits, fish, and vegetables to special packaging materials used by the agricultural sector.Also interesting to read:
WAGENINGEN – During the 9th WICANEM conference in the Netherlands, Fresh Studio’s marketing director, Sigrid Wertheim, presented a paper titled: “Avocados in Vietnam: value chain development beyond donor support”. This conference brought approximately 200 participants from the world of science and business to share experiences.
This is the abstract of Sigrid’s paper (with authors: S.C.O Wertheim-Heck, P. Quaedackers, N.T. Anh and M.S. Van Wijk): Numerous initiatives have been implemented by international donors in Vietnam, aiming for elevation of rural communities out of poverty, predominantly focusing on farmers. Unfortunately many of the initiatives have experienced difficulty in realizing sustainable businesses.
This paper describes how the development of an avocado value chain in Vietnam became an engine for rural growth, which was sustained beyond donor support.
It describes a VC development approach in which: (1) the focus was on the domestic market of Vietnam, (2) the lead firm was not a MNC, but a small local trader, (3) the commodity chain involved new product introduction which required demand creation, where the retail sector did not act as chain integrator, (4) and choices were made which preferred long term sustainable business-building rather than short term all-inclusiveness, and significant income gains.
Ingredients for success have been: participatory chain analysis, focus beyond farmers, participatory stakeholder selection, incorporation of consumers, and a step-by-step approach with achievable goals and small pilots.
For those interested in reading the whole paper, please contact Fresh Studio.Also interesting to read:
HANOI – For one of its public sector clients, Fresh Studio assisted in the development of an organic vegetable value chain.
The client had already developed several organic vegetable farming groups, which were certified using the IFOAM acknowledged PGS certification system.
For more information see www.ifoam.org
Fresh Studio worked with the client to develop a distribution and marketing system for their organic vegetables. The main challenge was to gain the trust of Hanoi consumers, as marketing research revealed that 81% of modern supermarket shoppers in Hanoi distrust any food safety claims.
To win this trust, a Triple A marketing campaign approach was developed and implemented (Attention-Attraction-Adoption). Marketing materials developed for this triple A approach enabled Hanoi consumers to understand what organic vegetables are, how the certification system works, who the farmers are, and where and how the vegetables are produced. Through in-store campaigns in Hanoi supermarkets, thousands of consumers were reached, with very good sales as a result.
