Thesis Re-print: Does Selling Fruits or Vegetables - Department of ...

The first thing to notice about these tables (1-4) is the very high concentration of
sales value. The top fifth of sellers in every category earns 80% or more of the
smallholder share of national value obtained from these crops’ sales. The bottom 60% of
sellers account for only an average of 7% of the value for fresh fruit or vegetable sales,
and these 60% do not earn more than an average $10-20 at best over the given survey
year, with values higher for vegetable sales than for fruit. The bottom 60% of maize
sellers has average sales ranging up to $20-30 in a year. Also among the commercialized
top selling quintile, maize sellers are doing quite a bit better than fresh produce sellers,
with average sales $30-145 higher than average sales for fresh fruits and vegetables
(FFV). A cross-country comparison of the high concentration of sellers between
Mozambique, Zambia and Kenya can be found in Figure 6, showing nearly identical
concentration in each country. Figure 7 shows concentration across all three crop
categories in Mozambique, demonstrating that all these crops’ marketing pattern is
similarly concentrated.
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