Challenges and Obstacles to Dairy Consumption in Iran from Stakeholders’ Perspectives Using a Food System Approach

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This article is the latest analysis on developments in the challenges and obstacles to dairy consumption in Iran from stakeholders' perspectives using a food system approach. The subject matter aligns perfectly with the focus of the journal sustainability. Here are a few suggestions to enhance the manuscript quality.

1)      Improve the quality of abstract; main imp points/findings should be highlighted

2)      In the line 54-55, justify how more milk consumption increased the non-communicable diseases

3)      In the line 54-55, what are the macro level factors other than government policies

4)      Improve the figure 1 quality

5)      Mention the governmental organizations involved in the sampling process

6)      In the line 180-181, explain in detail about deductive and inductive content analysis method

7)      In the line 243-244, what are the unfavorable conditions for milking and transportation

8)      The quality of Fig-2 must be improved.

9)      In the line 248, what are the macro-economic policies, government should include

10)  In the line 582-583, which type of promoting programs, justify them clearly

11)  In the line 629-630, justify why government intervention should be decreased in the pricing policy

12)  Improve the quality of conclusion and it should be revised

13)   Recent citations must be included

14)  References are not according to the journal requirements

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The title of this manuscript is Challenges and Obstacles to Dairy Consumption but mainly deals with the challenges faced by Iranian dairy producers. According to the authors, these are enormous: production costs are high, inputs are expensive, also because a lot of feed has to be imported and there is hardly anything to earn in the sector. Policy interventions turn out disastrous. The poor competitive position suggests that there is no future for the dairy sector. The analysis culminates in a recommendation to introduce a Smallholder Dairy Production System, without however explaining this system, what transitions are needed and how policy can contribute to this.

The study is based on 39 interviews and is qualitative in nature. Data on the structure and important economic indicators of the dairy sector (at the primary level and of the dairy industry) are lacking, but would help to better assess the economic strength (and weaknesses) of the sector. The description given of the sector between lines 192-199 is really too little.

In section 3, the text largely repeats what can also be read in the (very long) tables, without giving much analysis and interpretation to the results (eg also by comparing the results with findings from other literature). Interpretation is also missing in section 4 (Discussion). There is even a lot of repetition of what is also in section 3.

I miss the role that imports can play in the analysis. Dairy imports can lower domestic prices for consumers and promote consumption of dairy products. The authors completely overlook this.

As a future perspective for the sector, the possibilities of the Smallholder dairy production system are pointed out in the conclusion section (line 630). This system has already been referred to in section 4 (lines 556-559), but without explaining what it entails and how policies can help introduce it. It is also not clear how the issues related to the expansion of small-scale milk production (see lines 551-553) are addressed in such a production system.

The study concludes that ‘Consumers’ concern regarding the safety of milk and dairy product and doubts about the necessity of dairy consumption are about the major reasons for avoiding dairy consumption’  (line 573-575). But can you really say that, based on the (rather small number of) interviews of which it is not clear who speaks on behalf of the consumers? I don't find that very convincing. Authors should substantiate this further with other studies (or additional consumer research).

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Thanks for submitting the paper! The manuscript is generally well written.

      Abstract: A bit of re-organization is needed (line 36- onwards). Others seem OK.

1.     Introduction – overall ok, and it brings adequate number of facts and figures. Conceptual framework is presented well.

2.     Material and methods: sampling- need a bit more clarification. How many people were interviewed and how many from each category would make more sense to the reader.       

(Are there any special reasons related to the time from December 21 to October 2022 – it is about 10-11 months)

3.     Results - OK, we can see the sample size here (should be at methods as well).

Suggestion: Line 211 to the rest up to the discussion - in certain discussions, you can bring a certain percentage of responses (though the study is more qualitative type). For instance, instead of the majority you can give the percentage. That would bring more value to the presentation.

4.   Discussion: Justified model is good, has addressed almost all findings. Overall, a good discussion

5.     Conclusions: OK

References: We would like to suggest that a few more recent articles can bring more value to the manuscript (especially for policy related discussions).

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx