Towards informal private sector-led food system innovation in Tanzania: How social capital impacts the performance of informal fruit and vegetable retailers and wholesalers in the Arusha region

Poor diets are a primary cause of malnutrition and a leading constraint to public health in Tanzania. The consumption of fruit and vegetables in Tanzania is well below the recommended standard as recommended by the WHO. Increasing the intake by consumers of fruit and vegetables requires a year-round availability of these foods, as well as their affordability, accessibility and acceptability. The objective of this study is to contribute to an improved understanding of the informal market of fruit and vegetables in the Arusha Region of Tanzania to better address food loss and waste and food safety issues in the fruit and vegetable chains. To do so, it is important to better understand the motivations and business operations of informal midstream actors, who are key in connecting farmers to most consumers. Through a literature review and survey data among 260 traders, we assessed how social capital of midstream actors in the informal fruit and vegetable sector is related to the performance of the individual firms. We conclude that members of groups that exchange business information have both higher self-reported business performance as well as higher calculated revenues. Members of groups that engage in joint sourcing or price setting have higher revenue, and members of groups that engage in the regulation of physical market space or outward representation have higher self-reported business performance. Finally, we found that traders that are part of a trading group have higher self-reported business performance, but we did not find a significant difference in calculated revenue.