The China-SPAR project is an example of fruitful cooperation between science and business. The project resulted in improved fresh supply chains of SPAR and in a better understanding of the fresh supply chains in emerging countries. The project was concluded in April 2010 with a SPAR strategy seminar in Taiyuan, Shanxi province and a research symposium at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing. The proceedings of this symposium will be published mid-2010.
Since 2008, LEI was leading a project in China that was aimed at exploring the possibilities for integrating small-scale farmers into modern agri-food chains. In practice, the project focused on improving the fresh supply chains of the newly established SPAR supermarkets in China.
During the SPAR strategy seminar supply agreements were signed between SPAR and cooperatives in the province Shanxi and SPAR International presented a strategy for developing sustainable fresh chains.
One part of the strategy is the cooperation between SPAR retailers in China with the Dutch seed company Rijk Zwaan. Through its extensive network of seed dealers and demonstration sites all over China, Rijk Zwaan will provide advice and guidance to cooperatives with respect to cultivation and crop management so that they can deliver their products according to SPAR specifications.
The other part of the strategy that SPAR International presented was the proposal to the SPAR China partners to set up SPAR stores in rural areas and combine these stores with a collecting centre where farmers can deliver their fresh products. In that way SPAR not only seeks to achieve more efficient logistics but also improved quality of life in rural regions, because these centres could be linked with other rural services such as banks, advisory services and a community centre. The future will learn whether this approach is successful.
The theme of the concluding symposium "Priority topics for food economy research in the next 20 years" attracted many renowned economists from various research institutes and universities in China.
The issues presented and discussed included expected changes in consumers’ behaviour, global changes in food supply chains, competing claims between food, feed and fuel and climate change as well. This broad range of topics illustrates the large variety of research themes in which Wageningen UR can cooperate with Chinese partners.