Notes from the field: Community-centric approach to interviewing local retailers

Over the past year, I have had the fortune of travelling to Hyderabad multiple times to work on various components of the Action Against Stunting Hub’s ‘Food Systems’ theme with experts from the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), India. Collaborating with Dr Archana Konapur, my co-investigator from NIN, I navigated the dense network of Adda Gutta’s residential neighbourhoods to interview local retailers of dark green leafy vegetables (DGLVs) in the area. The interviews this time built on the earlier development, pre-testing and roll-out of the Food Environment Experience tool, which explored household consumers’ experiences towards their local food environment for DGLVs.

Why Dark Green Leafy Vegetables?

As the Hub’s work focuses on understanding the multidimensional causes of stunting through a whole-child approach, DGLV consumption remains critical to achieving a diverse and nutritious diet, being essential sources of Vitamin A and Vitamin C and various macro-nutrients. Also, their inherent sensitivity to moisture and heat presents multiple challenges in their transportation, storage, and marketing. For example, spoilage issues from pathogenic and microbial contamination present complex health hazards at various supply chain points between farmers and consumers.

The interviews

Accordingly, we split our interviews across four different modules: (i) seasonal retail dynamics (e.g., numbers of customers, costs, profit margins), (ii)  the drivers of supply (e.g., price variations, market governance structures, perceived difficulties in sourcing supply), (iii) the feedback loops between retailers and customers (e.g., price negotiations, food safety concerns, food wastage), and (iv) the adaptive actions of retailers during unseasonably hot weather (i.e., with an eye to impending climate changes).

Diverse geographies and retail landscape

We aimed to interview 30-40 DGLV retailers throughout January and February and would supplement them with interviews with household consumers. Whilst the task appeared straightforward in principle, we quickly encountered several interesting challenges associated with the complexity of the DGLV supply chain and marketing infrastructure in Adda Gutta.

First, the geographical limits of Adda Gutta are fuzzy, with various clusters of informal settlements forming a patchwork across the neighbourhood. Fortunately, the boundaries became clearer after consulting with a hand-drawn map on display at the neighbourhood’s (UPHC) and multiple conversations with our trusty auto-rickshaw Yadagiri bhai – a local born and raised in Adda Gutta!

Second, the potential retail sources are incredibly diverse, even for a single food group in one neighbourhood. We know from initial analysis of our Food Environment Experience tool that mobile vendors, permanent markets (i.e., open every day with multiple sellers), permanent vendors who always sell from one location and weekly markets tend to be the most popular options.

However, kirana stores (i.e., small ‘mom and pop’ stores), supermarkets and places of worship also form important sources in particular localities and communities. In turn, sources such as mobile vendors and weekly markets are highly dynamic over space and time. After including the early morning visit to the wholesale market, mobile vendors working on foot may cover upwards of 10 km daily, while vendors using motorbikes or ‘lunas’ may travel around 50 km.

Informal retailing through street vending

Moreover, the street vending of DGLVs often remains precarious and informal, with retailers often attracting the attention of police if they encroach too far into the road or make too much noise after nightfall. Accessible land is also a critical issue; we spoke to one retailer who explained how he and his wife had been lucky to befriend a wealthy family, who for the past 20 years has allowed the couple to sell vegetables every day on the narrow strip of pavement outside their house.

Navigating challenges

To try to get to grips with this complexity, Archana and I spent the first week getting familiar with the field context, for example, by walking transects across Adda Gutta and introducing ourselves and the project’s aims to potential study participants. We also answered initial questions and provided a copy of the participant information sheet during these initial meetings. Following this, we scheduled to meet the participants a week later to complete the formal consent and interview process. Yet, even after our best scheduling efforts, we often caught ourselves hopping into Yadagiri bhai’s auto as the next potential interviewee suddenly became available.

We were also significantly helped by NIN’s auto-rickshaw driver team, who frequently ferried us between interviews with a minimal warning!

Building trust is the key!

Critically, to further build rapport and trust, we signposted the potential interviewees to our contact details attached to the information sheet and encouraged them to reach out when they felt ready and comfortable to be interviewed. In addition, we also employed a form of snowball sampling, asking vendors to share our information with any friends/family that may also be in the DGLV trade in Adda Gutta. This approach worked particularly well for recruiting mobile traders, whose practice of roaming around the neighbourhood’s dense streets and alleyways makes them particularly difficult to find.

Celebrating the unsung heroes

Besides the challenges in the field, Archana’s incredible language skills across five languages, namely Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, Urdu, and English, made this research possible! We were also significantly helped by NIN’s auto-rickshaw driver team, who frequently ferried us between interviews with a minimal warning! Finally, I am grateful to the team members at the NIN field office in Adda Gutta, who could always find space to conduct our discussions when we needed somewhere quiet, even at short notice.

Watch the space for more…

Excitingly, with the transcription and translation phase starting imminently, converting the shared information into thematic insights and a systems model of DGLV marketing will soon begin. Whilst it was impossible for retailers, often with 20+ years’ experience, to impart all their knowledge within a 45-minute interview, these discussions will be vital to understanding how DGLV retailers interact with customers, especially when it comes to setting prices in diverse types of markets and at other times of the year (e.g., during the lean season).

Whilst the relative balance between supply and demand is critical, there is also a complex web of perceptions and negotiations between buyer and seller about product freshness, geographical source, and food safety concerns. As we know, such candid discussions can often require a certain level of trust from interviewees. I would encourage anybody conducting similar interviews to spend as much time reasonably building rapport and getting to know the local environment before formal data collection.