Regional benchmarking of the fruit and vegetable supply chains in the context of the Euro-Mediterranean free trade area

Abstract

This paper deals with the economic impact of agricultural trade liberalization on the fruit and vegetable marketing chains of five EU Mediterranean countries. The theoretical tools of this research are based on industrial organization (Scherer, 1973), strategic analysis (Wernerfelt, 1984), global commodity chain concept (Gereffi, 1994)and A. Sen’s capabilities approach (Sen, 1985, 1993). A “synthetic regional vulnerability index” (SRVI) is built through an inter-regional benchmarking. The SRVI itself is calculated from a range of indicators taking into account the following aspects: concentration and production specialization in fresh and processed fruit and vegetable supply chain, different forms of organization and public incentives, average period dynamics, economic and firm performances, sector-based and macroeconomic environmental constraints. The SRVI aggregates 4 linear functions. An impact simulation, combining 4 scenarios suggests a typology with 3 groups of euro-Mediterranean regions: strong vulnerability (10 regions), average and low vulnerability (10 regions for each category), highly linked with GDP/capita