The Coronavirus disease pandemic has disrupted survey systems globally and especially in low- and middle-income countries. Phone surveys started being implemented at a national scale in many places that previously had limited experience with them. As in-person data collection resumes, the experience gained provides the grounds to reflect on how phone surveys may be incorporated into survey and data systems in low- and middle-income countries. Reviewing evidence and experiences from before and during the pandemic, the paper provides guidance on the scope of and considerations for using phone surveys for agricultural data collection and the integration of phone interviews with in-person data.

Objectives This study assessed the completeness of child health records maintained and collected within community health information system in Ethiopia. Methods A household listing was carried out in 221 enumeration areas in food insecure areas of Ethiopia to determine the presence of a child less than 24-months. This list of children was then compared against the information stored at the local health posts. A household survey was administered to a sample of 2155 households that had a child less than 24-months of age to assess determinants and consequences of exclusion from the health post registers. Results Out of the 10,318 children identified during the listing, 36% were found from the health post records. Further analysis based on the household survey data indicated that health posts that had adopted nationally recommended recordkeeping practices had more complete records (p < 0.01) and that children residing farther from health posts were less likely to be found from the registers (p < 0.05). Mothers whose child was found from the registers were more likely to know a health extension worker (p < 0.01), had a contact with one (p < 0.01), and their child was more likely to have received growth monitoring (p < 0.05). Conclusions for Practice The incompleteness of the data collected at the health posts poses a challenge for effective implementation of the national health extension program and various complementary programs in Ethiopia.

Traditional food marketing systems in developing countries are often not trusted. In consequence, policy makers frequently try to regulate them and modern marketing arrangements are increasingly emerging to address some of their presumed deficiencies. However, it is unclear how trustworthy these markets actually are. The purpose of this study is to look at these issues in the case of coffee marketing in Ethiopia. Coffee markets in Ethiopia present an interesting case study due to the high price and quality differentiation linked to a number of both easily and not so easily observable characteristics. Moreover, modern marketing practices, such as modern retail, branding and packaging, are becoming increasingly common in Ethiopia’s urban coffee markets. When we define and examine trustworthiness in the Addis Ababa coffee market as a function of weights and quality, we find that traditional traders are relatively trustworthy on observable quality characteristics and weights. However, there is a consistent pattern of over-representation of not so easily verifiable quality characteristics. We further find that modern marketing outlets or formats, including modern domestic retail and branded packaged products, deliver higher quality at a higher price, but are not more trustworthy than traditional marketing arrangements in terms of these dimensions of trade transactions.

Purpose Despite the large interest in urban food markets, there are, however still relatively few good studies that have empirically documented the functioning of retail markets in developing countries, especially in Africa. The purpose of this paper is to look in particular at the case of Addis Ababa, a city of more than four million people and the capital of Ethiopia, one of the most populous countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. To better understand urban food retail, the authors rely on a large primary survey. Design/methodology/approach To better understand urban food retail, the authors rely on a large primary survey. Based on a stratified sampling scheme representative for the city as a whole, 1,226 urban food retail outlets were interviewed in March and April 2012. Findings The authors find increasing differentiation in food retail markets in recent years. Despite the prohibition of foreign direct investment in food retail, a domestic modern private retail sector is quickly emerging. However, its share is still very small and, in contrast to roll-outs of modern retail in other countries, it has not yet entered the cereal sector, which remains in the hands of local flour mills, cereal shops, and cooperative retail outlets. The importance of cooperative retail is growing even more rapidly. It is especially important for those products where supply chains are controlled by the government. On the high-end, domestic private modern retail outlets deliver high-quality products at significantly higher prices, ceteris paribus . At the other side, the authors see cooperative retail that delivers food at significantly lower – and subsidized – prices. However, the latter shops are characterized by typical price control problems, reflected in regular lack of supplies and queuing. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to the city of Addis Ababa and it seems useful if similar studies could be conducted in other cities in Africa. Originality/value Despite the large interest in urban food markets, there are still relatively few good studies that have empirically documented the functioning of retail markets in developing countries, especially in Africa. The paper therefore contributes to fill this lacuna by studying urban food retail markets using new and unique data for Africa.