Background: Diets in rural India are cereal based with low intakes of micronutrient-rich foods. The value chains for nutrition approach aims to study supply and demand of such foods. This may aid in development of interventions to improve diets and livelihoods. Objectives: (1) To identify how fruit and vegetables are accessed, (2) to describe and map the structure of value chains for exemplar foods, (3) to understand how foods are priced, and (4) to explore factors that affect decisions about which crops are grown, marketed, and sold. Methods: After stakeholder consultation, we identified 2 fruits (mango and guava) and 2 vegetables (shepu and spinach) as exemplar foods. Criteria for these exemplar foods were that they should be known to participants and there should be variability in intakes. We held 24 interviews with value chain actors including farmers, wholesalers, and vendors of the exemplar foods. Data collection was stopped when no new information emerged. We used inductive thematic coding for our analysis. Results: The value chains for each of the exemplar foods were relatively simple and involved farmers, middlemen, and vendors at either city or village level. The main themes identified as being factors considered when making decisions about which foods to grow and sell were (1) farming resources and assets, (2) quality of produce, (3) environmental conditions, (4) financial factors, (5) transport availability, and (6) consumer demand. Conclusions: There are opportunities to intervene within fruit and vegetable value chains to increase availability, affordability, and access to produce in rural India. Future research is required to determine which interventions will be feasible, effective, and acceptable to the community and other stakeholders.

中文翻译：

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印度农村的水果和蔬菜市场如何运作？供需对营养安全影响的定性研究

背景：印度农村的饮食以谷物为主，富含微量营养素的食物摄入量较低。营养价值链方法旨在研究此类食品的供应和需求。这可能有助于制定干预措施以改善饮食和生计。目标：(1) 确定水果和蔬菜的获取方式，(2) 描述和绘制示范食品价值链的结构，(3) 了解食品的定价方式，以及 (4) 探索影响决策的因素关于种植、销售和销售哪些作物。方法：经过利益相关者的咨询，我们确定了 2 种水果（芒果和番石榴）和 2 种蔬菜（谢普和菠菜）作为示例食品。这些示例性食物的标准是参与者应该知道它们，并且摄入量应该存在差异。我们对包括农民、批发商和示范食品供应商在内的价值链参与者进行了 24 次访谈。当没有新信息出现时停止数据收集。我们使用归纳主题编码进行分析。结果：每种示例食品的价值链都相对简单，涉及城市或村庄级别的农民、中间商和供应商。在决定种植和销售哪些食物时，主要考虑的因素是 (1) 农业资源和资产，(2) 产品质量，(3) 环境条件，(4) 财务因素，(5) 运输可用性，以及 (6) 消费者需求。结论：有机会在水果和蔬菜价值链中进行干预，以提高印度农村的农产品供应、可负担性和获取途径。