Social embeddedness of pig value chains in Myanmar and its implications for food and nutrition security

Agricultural intermediaries – traders and middlemen/women – play a critical role for food security in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Yet, their role in improving or undermining food safety, an indicator for food quality, is not well understood. As middle-class citizens increasingly demand high-quality perishable and nutritious produce, food safety has become an important issue in LMICs. The existing literature offers limited insights as to whether and, if so, how intermediaries manage information regarding food safety in LMICs. This article fills this gap based on an in-depth qualitative study on pig value chains in Myanmar. We document that intermediaries helped reduce transaction costs of trade by linking farmers to buyers based on an intricate socio-economic relationship. While we find no evidence of intermediaries actively concealing facts about invisible (i.e. microbiological or chemical) nature of pig products, they facilitated selling sick animals. On the other hand, intermediaries withheld information about potential buyers and sellers in order to maintain their role along the value chains. In order to improve food safety in LMICs, policies need to reduce transaction costs of trade as well as access to public health expertise.