World Food Policy Volume/Issue 2-2/3-1 Fall 2015/Spring 2016 | Page 54

What’s Old Is New Again

“cultivation methods including the
amount of agrochemicals input” (Endo
2014). Under contract farming, retailers
or large suppliers exert more control
over the entire cultivation process (Endo
2014).

Within any food supply, priority
should be given to the availability of
a variety of foods, because a varied
diet optimizes health and reduces
morbidity (Walquist, Lo, and Myers
1989; Ogle, Hung, and Tuyet 2001).
“Maintenance of the variety of food is, in
turn, dependent on the maintenance of
biodiversity” (Walquist, Lo, and Myers
2012). This principle requires policies
which support the sustainability of the
bio-regional characteristics of local food
systems. In summary, it is important to
understand the supermarket revolution
as it “cut[s] across the entire economy”
and that “understand[ing] the impact of
supermarkets presents serious analytical
and policy challenges” (Timmer 2009).

For many centuries, fresh
markets have played a key role in the
bio-economies of rural Thailand and
they continue to play a role in providing
the population with fresh produce that
is both diverse and has been sustainable
up till now. Protecting fresh markets
and their supply chains through policy
initiatives can provide a mechanism for
supporting a healthy food system so that
Thais continue to easily access affordable,
healthy, culturally acceptable foods.

although the country has stood out in
South East Asian for its rapid transition
to supermarkets (Mutebi 2007; Shannon
2009). Supermarkets first appeared
in Bangkok in the 1960s and rapidly
spread to other cities and rural areas
following a well-defined pattern (Kelly et
al. 2015). This spread was facilitated by
partnerships between foreign owned and
Thai firms. During the financial crisis of
1997, these relationships were dissolved
and transnational food companies,
mainly European in origin, proceeded to
massively expand their operations along
with Thailand’s own Chaoren Pokphan,
the market leader in this category,
and the Siam Makkro chain (Tokrisna
2007; USDA 2000). The supermarket
expansion was accompanied by an
annual loss of around 25,000 small
retailers (Hawkes 2008). New legislation
in the 2000s slowed the growth of foreign
owned supermarkets somewhat, but
they nevertheless continue to spread,
along with convenience stores (Banwell
et al. 2013; Endo 2013). As a result, the
number of fresh markets has declined
nationally, falling from 160 to 50 in the
past decade in Bangkok alone (Sriangura
and Sakseree 2009).

This article reports on a synthesis
of a number of studies conducted in
Thailand by the research team over a 10
year period starting in 2005. During this
time, the team has addressed a number
of research questions including: how has
food retail changed in Thailand, how are
fresh markets responding to the growth
Thailand’s Retail Transition
in supermarkets; who is using these
hailand’s
recent
history different food retail formats and why, and
exemplifies these major nutrition what effect is the food retail transition
and retail transitions. Food retail having on population diets and health
has traditionally been via fresh markets, risks? In this article, we synthesize

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