Merchandizing Agri-Food Products By Means Of Short Food Supply Chains In Mureş County

Short food supply chains (SFSCs) are a viable alternative to conventional food supply chains, accessible to small-scale farmers. SFSCs hold multiple benefits from the socio-economic, cultural, environmental and health improvement points of view, meeting the farmers’ need to reconnect to end-consumers. Firstly, SFSCs contribute to some extent to helping small-scale farmers and processors to sell their agri-food products. Secondly, SFSCs mostly meet the urban population’s need to consume minimally processed, healthier and cheaper food. Located in central Romania, Mureș County, as a result of its soil, topographic and weather conditions, is well known for its wide array of agri-food products, ranging from cereals, industrial crops and medicinal plants to processed food products (bakery and pastry products, frozen/canned fruit and vegetables, sugar, beer, dairy and meat products). Due to its multicultural population, it can be noted that entrepreneurial activity is quite intense and widespread in Mureş County. According to the available statistical data for 2015 from the Harghita Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Agency, there were 2,000 registered animal and non-animal processing units, located mainly at the outskirts of the towns Târgu-Mureş, Reghin, Luduş, Târnăveni and Sighişoara. The paper highlights the role and economic activity of small-scale farmers, most of whom still use traditional processing, supplying and selling methods and techniques, specific to SFSCs: sales directly to consumers, on-farm sales, sales on farmers’ markets, roadside sales, sales near tourism sites, sales occasioned by food festivals, their own retail outlets, butcher shops, meat processors, bakeries, groceries, milk vending machines, exhibition stands, mobile food carts and on-line shops.