America Latina estudios de casos 2005

Acceso de pequeños productores de tomate a los supermercados en Guatemala (in Spanish). Ricardo Hernández, Thomas A. Reardon, Julio A. Berdegué, Fernando Balsevich and Pilar Jano.

The study has evaluated three tomato value chains in Guatemala -- two to supermarkets and one to the traditional market. It has addressed questions that arise from the fast growth of the supermarkets in Latin America, and their effect on the small and medium producers.

The systems of supplying of supermarkets with tomatoes still depend on wholesalers (dedicated and not dedicated) and not specialised producer-retailer supply chains. In both the supermarket chains, they conduct tomato procurement in a centralised manner, which incurs a greater uniformity and control of the physical quality of the product.

The major differences between the technological requirements between supermarkets and the traditional markets were the irrigation in the property. This is not a requirement of the supermarket, simply a comparative advantage of the producers, since it gives producers a longer production season which increases the possibilities of access to supermarket. Nevertheless, a large technological difference between the producers of both channels does not exist. This is understandable, considering that supermarkets are supplied with tomatoes originating from the traditional market.

The study observed that at the producer level, there were no significant differences between the supermarkets and the traditional market in terms of income. The higher yields of producers for supermarkets were outweighed by higher costs. So small and medium producers of tomato can access the supermarkets, since the size of their property does not increase possibilities of participating in this channel. The uninterrupted supply which irrigation allows is one of the characteristics appreciated by the wholesalers who supply the supermarkets. And producing in a traditional production area increases the probability of selling to a supermarket.