From farm to market: institutional pathways to food safety in the Bangladeshi dairy sector

Abstract The safe and sustainable production and supply of dairy products are essential for food and nutrition security, rural livelihoods, and the resilience of agri‑food systems in developing countries. In Bangladesh, however, the dairy sector is largely informal and food safety practices are weakly regulated at the farm level, leading to persistent food safety risks and undermining value‑chain performance. While prior research has focused mainly on technical, household, or farm‑level determinants of food safety practices, empirical evidence on the role of institutional arrangements from farm to market remain limited, particularly across diverse agro‑climatic contexts. This study assesses how institutional factors influence the adoption of food safety practices among market‑oriented dairy farmers in river, dry, and coastal regions of Bangladesh. Primary data were collected from 495 dairy‑producing households, and negative binomial regression was employed to explain variation in the intensity of food safety adoption, accounting for institutional, market, infrastructural, and farm characteristics. The findings reveal overall low adoption levels, with substantial spatial heterogeneity across agro‑climatic zones. Household and farm structural factors showed different effects for different household groups. In contrast, formal veterinary and public extension services exhibit overall limited influence, indicating weak institutional outreach and enforcement within existing institutional settings around food safety. Participation in dairy‑specific training programs, however, significantly and consistently enhances food safety adoption, highlighting the importance of targeted training interventions. Market institutions emerge as critical drivers: farmers supplying private buyers and structured milk collection centers demonstrate higher compliance, whereas cooperative channels perform poorly in promoting food safety practices. Additionally, improved transport infrastructure at the village level is positively associated with food safety adoption, underscoring the role of market connectivity in safer dairy production. From an agri‑food systems and food security perspective, the results indicate that food safety adoption is shaped by interacting institutional, market and infrastructural factors rather than isolated farm‑level decisions. Policy efforts should therefore prioritise coordinated institutional reforms, including strengthening extension and veterinary services, scaling up dairy‑specific training, and improving incentive structures within dairy value chains. Importantly, policy design should be differentiated according to agro‑climatic diversity and observed adoption patterns.