Strong growth in per capita income combined with the highest urban population growth in the world is beginning to generate rapid changes in African food systems. Combined with high income elasticity for fresh produce among consumers in Mozambique, the focus of this thesis, demand for fresh fruits and vegetables (FFV) is expected to multiply between four and six times between 2000 and 2030, providing local Mozambican farmers a great opportunity, although this opportunity has not yet been realized by many. Meeting this challenge will require major changes in the structure of production, including a greater role for larger-scale commercial operations to complement increasingly commercialized smallholder production. Strengthening the ability of the local sector to meet rapidly rising fresh produce demand must take into account differences and similarities across fruit, vegetable and maize sellers, and can be done with the investments of both the public and private sectors.
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