Tag: Albania

Farm to school (F2S) programmes ensure school pupils receive an appropriate diet, fight malnutrition, and motivate children to attend school. The participation of local smallholders in F2S schemes contributes to these objectives, but also provides a market opportunity for local small farms. This is particularly important in the case of developing or emerging economies that are characterised by malnutrition among children and where smallholdings often struggle with limited market access, as is the case with Albania. The aim of this paper is to explore the main factors affecting farmers’ willingness to participate in a F2S scheme using data from a structured farm survey. Regression analysis results show that economically based motivation (farm-related factors such as size and post-harvest losses) intertwined with social capital factors and attitudinal indicators (experience and attitudes towards cooperation, reliance on local governmental support, information, and product safety perception level) affect farmers’ willingness to participate in F2S schemes. For farmers to participate viably in such schemes, it is necessary to provide knowledge, awareness, and support for ensuring compliance with food safety and quality standards and for improving cooperation.

mountainous areas and the valorisation opportunities arising from the certification of origin. The study explores consumer preferences toward the main attributes of goat-kid meat such as origin, weight and quality-certification. A Conjoint Choice Experiment was utilised to design the survey and a Latent Class Analysis Model employed to analyse the results of a survey carried out with 250 residents living in urban areas of Tirana. Origin was found to be the most important factor for all three identified consumer classes. This result can be used to producers’ advantage if labelling and other marketing tools are available to inform consumers of the products’ origin. Implementation and enforcement of origin identification should be a priority for the government and other stakeholders.