Call for proposals for a firm to conduct a survey on measuring markets and consumer access to fruits and vegetables in Sri Lanka

Background

Poor diets are a primary cause of malnutrition and the leading cause of diseases worldwide. Improving diets, including increasing fruit and vegetable intake, could save one in five lives lost annually. Micronutrients and dietary fiber are essential for health; micronutrients obtained from fruit and vegetables have a lower environmental footprint than from other foods, making fruit and vegetables essential to healthy and sustainable diets. Globally, fruit and vegetable intake is far below recommended levels, however, the extent and nature of the problem is poorly understood due to insufficient dietary and food environment-related data, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

Increasing fruit and vegetable intake will require starting with consumers, understanding dietary patterns, and addressing barriers to access. In Sri Lanka, barriers to food access are thought to have increased considerably due to the economic crisis that took hold in 2020, exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis, which eventually led to the country declaring bankruptcy in 2022. The crisis had broad impacts on the food system, affecting both supply and demand, and in particular the affordability of food, but specific impacts on fruit and vegetables are still unknown.

The CGIAR Research Initiative on Fruit and Vegetables for Sustainable Healthy Diets (FRESH), aims to use an end-to-end approach to increase fruits and vegetables intake, improve diet quality, nutrition and health while also improving livelihoods, empowering women and youth, and mitigating negative environmental impacts. In Sri Lanka, one of four FRESH focus countries, such an end-to-end approach needs to be informed by up-to-date contextual evidence on how the economic crisis has altered marketing and consumers’ access to fruit and vegetables.

Under the FRESH initiative, IFPRI will examine the impacts of the economic crisis on marketing and consumers’ access to fruit and vegetables, including by exploring impacts on the cost of a healthy diet, and margins for different supply chain actors, which could drive retail prices that consumers are exposed to. Additionally, the project would put in place regular monitoring of the cost of a healthy diet moving forward and pilot new approaches for assessing retail-level fruit and vegetable losses.

The proposed study will utilize primary data—including producer, wholesale, and retail food prices—which would be collected by the collaborator, to carry out new analyses into the impacts of Sri Lanka’s economic crisis on marketing and consumers’ access to fruit and vegetables, as well as the cost and affordability of a healthy diet.

Overview of the study

The study under this consultancy will take place from November 2023 through December 2024.

This study will include the examination of the marketing of fruit and vegetables will be a margin analysis, focusing on two main vegetables (tomatoes and beans) and three main fruits (banana, mango, and papaya), which will compare the margins captured by different actors along the supply chain, including farmers, collectors, wholesalers, and retailers, before and after the economic crisis. The study will also examine whether temporal retail price fluctuations in the selected fruit and vegetables have changed due to the economic crisis, and whether the spatial integration of prices across the retail markets has changed. Lastly, the study will pilot a new method for assessing the quantities of fruit (bananas only) and vegetables (tomatoes and beans) lost at retail level, which may include markets as well as stores and/or wholesale markets.

Changes in consumers’ access to fruit and vegetables will be analyzed through calculation of the cost of a healthy diet, which considers the cost of adhering to Sri Lanka’s national recommendations for daily fruit and vegetable intake, among other healthy food groups. The study will analyze cost of a healthy diet in the aftermath of the crisis relative to income and wage-levels to provide evidence on the affordability of a healthy diet, including fruits and vegetables.

Activities

The collaborator will coordinate the activities that will be conducted as part of the project, including all necessary supplies and services for data collection, data processing, and data analysis. These activities will include the following:

A. Data collection preparation

• Provide experienced enumerators to carry out producer, wholesale, and retail food price data collection, as well as enumerators to pilot the new approach for assessing fruit and vegetable losses.
• Develop and share standard operating procedures documenting the methods used to gather producer, wholesale, and retail food prices (including sampling of farmgates, wholesale markets, and market vendors, as well as vendors within markets), as well as protocols for ensuring data quality.

B. Data collection, data entry, and data cleaning

• Compile and share historical price data before and after the economic shock.
• Compile and share ongoing, cleaned price datasets, including prices of the expanded food list including additional fruits and vegetables, as well as data on unskilled worker wages collected in markets.
• Test new approach for assessing fruit and vegetable losses in retail markets, wholesale markets, and shops.

C. Data analysis

• Carry out analyses of impacts on marketing of fruit and vegetables, including margin analysis, analysis of temporal price fluctuations, and analysis of spatial integration of prices for selected fruit and vegetables.
• Carry out analysis of impacts on consumers’ access to fruit and vegetables, by estimating the cost of a healthy diet and assessing its trends in the aftermath of the economic crisis, using weekly data.
• Utilize food loss data from pilot study in retail, wholesale, and/or shops to characterize levels/volumes of losses for selected fruits and vegetables.

D. Dissemination

• Produce a research report synthesizing findings from the margin analysis, price fluctuation analysis, and co-integration (spatial variation) analysis of selected fruits and vegetables.
• Produce two research reports sharing findings on the cost of a healthy diet and its affordability, including one for the second two quarters of 2023, and the second for the first two quarters of 2024.
• In coordination with IFPRI co-authors, draft a policy brief paper and a journal article.

Timeline of activities

The proposed timetable for the work is as below:

Deliverables (due dates to be determined)

• With input from IFPRI team, developed standard of procedures and protocols to conduct successful enumerator training and data collection. Documents will be created in Sinhala and/or Tamil and translated in English.
• Field plan for collection of primary data, including food price and loss data, in a format to be co-developed with IFPRI
• In a format to be agreed upon with IFPRI, a written research report documenting trends in the cost of a healthy diet and affordability for the second half of 2023, and upon successful completion a similar written report for the 1^st and 2^nd quarters of 2024.
• In a format to be agreed upon with IFPRI, a study protocol on margin analysis, temporal price fluctuation analysis, and spatial co-integration analysis, comparing before and after economic shock.
• In a format to be agreed upon with IFPRI, produce a research report synthesizing findings from the margin analysis, price fluctuation analysis, and co-integration (spatial variation) analysis of selected fruits and vegetables.
• In a format to be agreed upon with IFPRI, plants to develop a pilot new data collection method for assessing fruit and vegetable losses.
• Report on piloting new data collection method for assessing fruit and vegetable losses.
• In coordination with IFPRI co-authors, draft a policy brief paper on the impact of the economic shock on marketing and consumers’ access to fruit and vegetables.
• In coordination with IFPRI co-authors, draft a journal article on the impact of the economic shock on marketing and consumers’ access to fruit and vegetables.

Required qualifications

• Company, non-governmental organization, or organization with proven professional experience in leading studies in Sri Lanka.
• Proven experience in coordinating with Sri Lankan bodies of government.
• Proven knowledge of fruit and vegetable market and market systems in Sri Lanka.
• Track record of submitting deliverables on time.
• Experience working with international and national researchers or research organizations.
• Excellent communication skills in English.
• Experience conducting fieldwork while observing preventive measures to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Technical and financial offer

The following items must be included in the technical offer:

• A presentation of the firm/organization/institute and previous experience in conducting similar studies
• Detailed CV of people who will be involved in the study
• Detailed budget proposal for each activity, accompanied by a budget narrative