Roman DELMOTTE

gris Doctorant en économie
gris Institution : AgroSup Dijon – université Bourgogne Franche-Comté
gris Mail : roman.delmotte@inrae.fr
gris Tel : +33 (0)3.80.77.23.04

Thèse :  « Understanding supply chain organisation of local food systems and measuring food flows to cities. A Franco-Vietnamese comparative study of the vegetable sector ».

Encadrants:

  • Directrice : Corinne Tanguy (Professeure en Sciences Economiques – Agrosup Dijon)
  • Co-directeur : Hai-Vu PHAM (Maître de conférence en économie – Agrosup Dijon)


Résumé:

How food is provided to city’s consumer today? At the beginning of the 21st century, this question has received much of attention by contemporary authors (Sonnino and Morgan, 2010) (Morgan, 2014) (Aubry and Kebir, 2013). The reason is that urban concentration has risen globally. The UN report (2014) predicts that by 2050, 66% of the world population will live in urban areas. Most of them will be in Asian countries: China, India, or South-East Asia. Cities continue to attract people by creating employment, generating income and offering more services. But at the same time, they create many negative effects: air pollution, social and financial inequality, rural exodus. Food security, in terms of quantity and also of safety, is now a big concern for cities. Thus, urban food has become a key issue in the new global food equation (Sonnino and Morgan, 2010).

The thesis studies the way that foods are provided to urban consumers, through three case studies: Dijon Metropole in France, Hue and Hanoi agglomerations in Vietnam. It mobilises a double approach to analyse the food system of these cities. On the one hand, geographical study will identify city foodsheds and different local food movements. Foodshed could by defined as a geographical area of food supply, where agricultural activities provide food for a community in a harmonious way with the ecosystem. Foodshed is a metaphor based on the idea of a watershed, an area where water is naturally collected and drains off into a common river, with the force of gravity. It links a city with its surrounding territory, and reconnects human beings with the land (Kloppenbourg, 1996). One the other hand, we target food supply chain to study food operators and their organisation. This approach is based on the supply chain’s literature framework.

The thesis focuses on an emblematic product: fresh vegetables. Comparative case studies help to identify underlying factors that condition successful application of local food system. The methodology includes 1) quantitative studies on food system data to estimate different foods flow into these 3 cities in a spatial approach; 2) surveys and qualitative analysis of the survey’s results in two countries: Vietnam and France toward agro-food operators (Farmers and agricultural cooperatives, Collectors, Wholesalers, supermarkets…).