ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain.
Sec. Sustainable Supply Chain Management
Toward more sustainable food supply chains: insights from short food supply chains in Jordan
Provisionally accepted
- German jordanian university, Amman, Jordan
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Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs) are promoted as a pathway to more sustainable agri-food systems. Jordan's fresh‑produce sector, which relies heavily on local markets, offers a valuable setting to examine how SFSCs support sustainability. This study qualitatively explores how the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainability manifest, and occasionally trade off, within Jordan's fresh-produce SFSCs. This study analyzed a qualitative dataset comprising 30 semi-structured interviews with farmers, intermediaries, and retailers, using deductive thematic analysis. Codes were organized around economic, environmental, and social sustainability dimensions. Results show that sustainability benefits are evident across all three pillars: (1) Economic: local sourcing cuts transport costs, buffers actors from global price shocks, and keeps value within communities. (2) Environmental: short distances, minimal packaging, and rapid turnover reduce fuel use, emissions, and waste. (3) Social: SFSCs create local jobs, strengthen producer and consumer ties, and widen market access for smallholders and women. In conclusion, Jordan's SFSCs deliver measurable sustainability gains despite infrastructural and financial constraints. Targeted improvements, such as community cold storage, clearer payment systems, and consumer "buy local" initiatives, could amplify these benefits. The findings extend SFSC research to a developing‑country context and highlight practical steps for policymakers seeking sustainable food networks.
Keywords: Agri-food systems, economic sustainability, Environmental sustainability, fresh produce, Jordan, Short food supply chains, Social sustainability, sustainability
Received: 15 Sep 2025; Accepted: 13 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Alsoussi, Abdulkareem and Shbikat. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Abdelrahim Alsoussi
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