Bangladesh is experiencing an increasing prevalence of diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Considering daily total requirement of 5 servings as minimum recommended amount, 95.7% of people do not consume adequate fruit or vegetables on an average day in the country. Imposition of lockdown during COVID-19 created disturbance in fresh fruits and vegetable production and their retailing. This incident can make these dietary products less affordable by stimulating price and trigger NCDs. However, little is known about the supply chain actors of healthy foods such as vegetables and fruits in urban areas, and how they were affected due to pandemic. Aiming toward the impact of COVID–19 on the business practices and outcomes for the vegetables and fruits retailers in Bangladesh, a survey of 1,319 retailers was conducted in two urban areas, namely Dhaka and Manikganj from September 2021 to October 2021. To comprehend the impact of COVID-19 on the profit margin of the retailers and on the percentage change in sales, a logistic and an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression were estimated. Significant difference in the weekly business days and daily business operations was observed. The average daily sales were estimated to have a 42% reduction in comparison to pre-COVID level. The daily average profit margin on sales was reportedly reduced to 17% from an average level of 21% in the normal period. Nevertheless, this impact is estimated to be disproportionate to the product type and subject to business location. The probability of facing a reduction in profit margin is higher for the fruit sellers than the vegetable sellers. Contemplating the business location, the retailers in Manikganj  faced an average of 19 percentage points less reduction in their sales than those in Dhaka (a large city). Area-specific and product-specific intervention are required for minimizing the vulnerability of retailers of vegetables and fruits and ensuring smooth supply of fruits and vegetables and increasing their uptake to combat diet related NCD. Bangladesh, a lower middle-income country in Southeast Asia, is experiencing an increasing prevalence of diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). It is estimated that about 580,000 deaths are caused by NCD annually, representing more than 67% of all deaths in Bangladesh , and unhHouseholds reduced their consumption of necessary commodities due to the adverse impact of COVID-19 and the lower income households were affected mostly compared to those from the richest quintile . The impConsidering the increasing prevalence of NCDs, little is known about the supply chain actors of healthy foods such as vegetables and fruits in urban areas and the impact of fiscal policies and regulatory measures in Bangladesh. This research conducted a survey among the vegetables and fruits retailers in Bangladesh with a general objective to explore the barriers and facilitators for promoting vegetables and fruit intake and to identify the gap in required fiscal and regulatory policy support. There is a lack of evidence in Bangladesh on the impact of COVID-19 on the fruits and vegetable retailers in terms of the magnitude of profit margin, daily sales, and business operation. Specifically, the current analysis aimed towards scrutinizing the impact of COVID–19 on the business practices and outcomes of vegetables and fruits retailers in Bangladesh. Functioning of the value chain of perishable goods were highly affected due to the imposition of countrywide lockdown .Because The research objective was met answering the questions as follows, were the fruits and vegetables retailers being affected by COVID-19?, did the impact vary with retailers characteristics? and what was the magnitude of impact compared to the pre-COVID level in terms of daily sales, profit margin, business operation, etc? The structure of this paper contains introduction in section 1, methodology of the paper in section 2, descriptive and econometric results are discussed in section 3 and finally the discussion based on the results and conclusions are presented in section 4.This research is part of a sequential mixed-methods study in Bangladesh for promoting healthy diet. The study had three specific interconnected components: i) Point of Sale (POS) vendors survey; ii) In-depth interviews of vegetables and fruits supply chain actors; iii) Key Informant Interviews (KII) with policymakers and other relevant stakeholders. The quantitative component (POS survey) was used to design and developed the study tools and analytical aspects of qualitative components (in-depth interviews and KIIs). The study has an implementation span from January 2020 to December 2022. Exploiting the quantitative component i.e., POS survey data the current research output is developed.A questionnaire-based face-to-face survey of the vegetables and fruit retailers was conducted in two urban areas–Dhaka, a mega city, and Manikganj, a medium-sized city in Bangladesh. The survey areas were purposively selected based on the size of the city corporation. Inside Dhaka city corporations, 6 thanas (administrative sub-districts)–Badda, Lalbagh, Pallabi, Tejgaon, Mohammadpur, and Uttara–were randomly selected and inside Manikganj district, 2 thanas (administrative sub-districts)–Manikganj Sadar and Singair were selected to conduct the survey. Since an official list of fruits and vegetable retailers was unavailable, to find their number and location, a geo-mapping of markets and sellers was conducted before going to the actual field survey.kth retailer where k = 3. The non-response rate was around 11%. The sample size consisted of 1,319 vegetable and fruits POS retailers; 1,121 were from Dhaka and the rest 198 were from Manikganj. The survey used a mixed strategy with a composite sampling approach. Followed by a purposive selection of two study sites, random selection was made for selecting the subdistricts. These subdistricts were the Primary Sampling Unit (PSU). The smaller administrative areas named “ward” under the subdistricts in each study site were considered for enumeration. All WM, SS, and SUP were mapped under each selected enumeration area from PSU. The survey participants were fruits and vegetables retailers doing their business as sellers at WM, SS and MV. Systematic simple random sampling was followed to select them from those markets. More specifically, one-third of the retailers in each study site was surveyed by approaching every A consecutive 7 weeks field during September-October 2021 was performed by 6 enumeration teams consisting of 2 enumerators for each. At first, all 21 enumeration blocks from Dhaka were completed for the survey, followed by 18 enumeration blocks from Manikganj were approached. For gender parity, an equal number of male and female enumerators were appointed for constructing the team. Multiple rounds of training were completed to familiarize and make the enumerators compatible with the data collection tool. The questionnaire was structured to obtain information about the business (revenue and profit) of the sellers, COVID-19 effect on business, costs of running a business and sellers’ views about difficulties of doing business. Followed by paper-based development, the questionnaire was transferred to SurveyCTO , a mobilEthical and community considerations are of prime importance for any study involving the collection of field information. There can arise insecurity issues from several aspects for the study participants. For instance, sellers in WM or in SUP might feel insecure as they need to answer queries on pricing, profit, and tax. Also, surveying them during business time might hamper their regular activities. Moreover, they might feel threatened further because of the potential disclosure of their personal and business secret. Our research team was considerate of all these aspects and requested the participants written consent during recruitment. While all potential participants were conversant about the study beforehand by the enumerator, they had the freedom of choice regarding participation. The rights of interview participants were given the highest priority and enumerators were specially instructed not to create any difficulty against facing any unwillingness of answering any question. The National Research Ethics Committee of the Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC)  provided the ethics clearance for the study.t–test, χ2–test, F-test etc. were performed in due requirement for testing the hypothesis. 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Though the reviewers comments were not that much critical but my own reading of the paper found that you need further improvement of the paper before we can proceed for publication. please consider the followings:1. please reply in details of the issues raised by the two reviewers.2. please highlight your Novelty of this study. Why do you consider that this paper is bringing something new that we do not know yet? how your findings or methodologies are innovative and contribute to the current knowledge?3. please improve the discussion section by adding comparison and contrasting with current literature.4. please explain clealarly both theoretical and practical contributions.5. please Edit the paper before re-submision.[Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.]Reviewers' comments:Reviewer's Responses to Questions  Comments to the Author1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?  The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented. Reviewer #1: YesReviewer #2: Yes**********  2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?   Reviewer #1: YesReviewer #2: Yes**********  3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.  The Reviewer #1: YesReviewer #2: Yes**********  4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?  PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.Reviewer #1: YesReviewer #2: Yes**********  5. Review Comments to the Author  Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. Reviewer #1: Several comments have been made regarding this paper that need to be improved. Appropriate numbering for each section need to be considered if neededa) Introductioni) The introduction section is shallow. An extended discussion of the topic of the study, and the necessary aspects and keywords need to be discussed at length to set a comprehensive background of the studyii) The paper has no objectives. You need to mention and discuss the objectives of the study from the definition of the research problemb) Literature Reviewiii) I also advice that you need to include the literature review, and discuss the findings of the previous studies, and the research methodologies appliedc) Material and Methodsi) This section is well presented and discussed, in terms of study design, study site and sampling frame, Sampling Strategy, Survey Participants, and Sample Size as well as Field Design and Implementation, Data Collection Tools, and Data managementii) The data analysis techniques adopted in the study is also discussediii) However, this section takes a big section as compared to the previous section. I believe that this section can be streamlined to flow and add the other previous ‘introduction’ and ‘literature review’ sectiond) Resultsi) The result section is well presentedii) However, I believe that the section need to be numbered. Numbering like 4.1, 4.2 etc to establish a flow of subsectionsiii) In writing the percentage in symbols, the numbers and percentage symbol should be one word not two words. i.eIn line 252 it should be 2.20% and not ‘2.20 %’e) Discussioni) The discussion of the study is well presented in terms of addressing the topic of the study; however, please consider citing the following studies:https://doi.org/10.3390/su10113948Hoque, A., Mohiuddin, M., & Su, Z. (2018). Effects of Industrial Operations on Socio-Environmental and Public Health Degradation: Evidence from a Least Developing Country (LDC). Sustainability, 10(11), 3948. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.ijdns.2021.12.001Chaveesuk, S., Khalid, B., & Chaiyasoonthorn, W. (2022). Continuance intention to use digital payments in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 virus. International Journal of Data and Network Science, 6(2), 527–536. https://doi.org/10.5171/2021.578902Khalid, B., & Kot, M. (2021). The Impact of Accounting Information Systems on Performance Management in the Banking Sector. IBIMA Business Review, 1–15. ii) The previous literature findings has also been addressed in relation to the findings of the current studyf) Conclusionsi) The conclusions of the study does not seem to address the relevant informationii) The conclusion should summarize the findings of the study. it should also state whether the set objectives of the study has been met or notTwo section should also be included in addition to conclusioni) The study implications discussing both managerial implications and theoretical implicationsii) The recommendations for future studiesReviewer #2: A study of 1,319 retailers was undertaken in two urban regions, namely Dhaka and Manikganj, between September 2021 and October 2021 with the goal of determining the influence of COVID-19 on the business practices and outcomes for the vegetables and fruit retailers in Bangladesh. This manuscript has met the quality requirements for publication in 'PLoS ONE' I wish the writers continued success in their efforts to improve the paper.**********  6. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.  Reviewer #1: NoYes: Mohammad Delwar HussainReviewer #2: Green Business SchoolGreen University of Bangladesh**********https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, AttachmentReviewers Evaluation Report of Manuscript # PONE-D-22-20793.docxSubmitted filename: Click here for additional data file. 30 Sep 2022Vegetables and fruits retailers in two urban areas of Bangladesh: Disruption due to COVID – 19 and implications for NCDsDear Respected Editor,On behalf of all the authors, I thank the academic editor, all the reviewers and the editorial team for their comments and feedback on our manuscript. We feel that the reviewer’s comments have been really helpful in rectifying the gaps in the manuscript. We have tried our best to address each comment and incorporate the suggested changes in the revised manuscript. Our responses to the academic editor, reviewers and the editorial team and the corresponding edits can be found below: Response to the Editorial Team on Journal RequirementsObservation 1: Please ensure that your manuscript meets PLOS ONE's style requirements, including those for file naming. Response to Observation 1:The revised manuscript followed the PLOS ONE style templates for formatting the Title, Authors Affiliation and Main body of the text. We believe the format is now in line with the PLOS ONE journal style and policy.Observation 2: We note that Figure 1 in your submission contain [map/satellite] images which may be copyrighted. All PLOS content is published under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which means that the manuscript, images, and Supporting Information files will be freely available online, and any third party is permitted to access, download, copy, distribute, and use these materials in any way, even commercially, with proper attribution. For these reasons, we cannot publish previously copyrighted maps or satellite images created using proprietary data, such as Google software . We require you to either (1) present written permission from the copyright holder to publish these figures specifically under the CC BY 4.0 license, or (2) remove the figures from your submission:a) You may seek permission from the original copyright holder of Figure 1 to publish the content specifically under the CC BY 4.0 license.b) If you are unable to obtain permission from the original copyright holder to publish these figures under the CC BY 4.0 license or if the copyright holder’s requirements are incompatible with the CC BY 4.0 license, please eitheri) remove the figure or ii) supply a replacement figure that complies with the CC BY 4.0 license.Response to Observation 2: https://data.humdata.org/dataset/cod-ab-bgd). Also authors utilised Python software for drawing the maps. It can now be considered as property of this research and has no legal bindings for publication. The figure is replaced in PP7 in Line 139 under section named “Study Sites and Sampling Frame”.Thanks to the editorial team for raising this issue and guiding us to solve it accordingly. The Figure 1 is now replaced with a new version of graph drawn by the authors which is incompliant with CC BY 4.0 license. The drawing was done by authors themselves using required district wise and subdistrict wise shape file of Bangladesh  and profit loss like other small and medium entrepreneurs in Bangladesh ”In PP18 Line 377 – 379 it mentions using existing research evidence:“Developing strategies to promote accessibility and availability of fruit and vegetables round the year for all people, and subsequent utilization by women, children, poor and distressed households have been identified as a priority in Bangladesh.[26]”In PP16 Line 366 – 368 it mentions using existing research evidence:“…Also, in Bangladesh, within fruits and vegetables supply chain, many actors plays crucial role including several intermediaries like locally called bepari, aratdar and wholesaler before reaching the retailers…[23]”In PP18-19 Line 380 – 388 it mentions using existing research evidence:“In the absence of government support, they become more vulnerable as there is a lack of sufficient resources, financial capacities, and shock resilience. Their income is also highly dependent on their daily sales from a small number of consumers[27]. So, their business survival capability due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic is very low compared to larger business enterprises. Street or mobile vendors don’t have enough financial and business infrastructural and access to the formal capital market compared to the well-established grocery store that sells similar types of products along with other products[28]. Impact of COVID-19 on the sales of fruits and vegetables is associated with the compromised livelihood of retailers[7].”Comment 4: Please explain clealarly both theoretical and practical contributions. Response to Comment 4: The discussion part of the revised manuscript contains the suggested amendment. Authors included the empirical contribution to the intended theoretical field and also provided the practical and policy implications. It also mentioned about the strength of the research along with potential limitation and future scope of research. In discussion section PP20 Line 410 – 420 includes the following to meet the purpose:“The modelling exercise registered the importance of location of doing business for dietary foods. The varying severity of impact due to COVID is an empirical contribution to the theoretical field of research concerning “location model”[33]. Also, the findings has valid policy implication from practical perspective elucidating that for fiscal intervention location consideration as well as the consideration of product type is of vital importance to make the realistic impact on the group of interest. The study design, implementation and the analysis has the rigor to establish the findings. Nevertheless, it has few limitations too. The sampling frame included only two urban areas from Bangladesh thus generalization of the findings is limited. The impact was examined for the retailers only, however such impact on the other supply chain actors and on the consumers are obvious. All these can be considered as further scope of research.”Comment 5: Please Edit the paper before re-submision.Response to Comment 5: All the formatting edits suggested by the editorial team has been performed following the PLOS ONE guideline in the revised manuscript. Regarding the edits in terms of content and clarifications all the necessities were addressed following the suggestion from reviewers and academic editor. All the changes are highlighted in green in the marked manuscript. The authors believe that the revised version has a substantial improvement as demanded by the reviewers and academic editors. Response to the Reviewer CommentsComments from Reviewer 1:Several comments have been made regarding this paper that need to be improved. Appropriate numbering for each section need to be considered if needed.Response:Authors are thankful to the anonymous reviewer for the valuable suggestions. Following the suggestion numbering is introduced for each section and subsections in the revised manuscript. Also, as suggested in Introduction under PP5 Line 101-104 we have mentioned the article structure by numbering the section as follows:“The structure of this paper contains introduction in section 1, methodology of the paper in section 2, descriptive and econometric results are discussed in section 3 and finally the discussion based on the results and conclusions are presented in section 4 and section 5 respectively.”Comments Regarding Introduction and Literature ReviewComment 1: The introduction section is shallow. An extended discussion of the topic of the study, and the necessary aspects and keywords need to be discussed at length to set a comprehensive background of the study. Response to Comment 1: Thanks for raising the issue. We have revised the introduction section following the guideline mentioned. The revised version included the discussion of aspects related to the study title and coherence has been maintained while extending the story to set the background. It now includes the discussion on important key words as follows:In PP3 Line 45 and subsequent lines mentioned about NCD status,“It is estimated that about 580,000 deaths are caused by NCD annually, representing more than 67% of all deaths in Bangladesh, and unhealthy lifestyles and diets play a leading role in this epidemic [1].”In PP3 Line 50 and subsequent lines mentioned about fruits and vegetables intake status,“In Bangladesh, overall daily per capita consumption of fruits was 1.7 servings and of vegetables was 2.3 servings [4]. Considering the daily total requirement of 5 servings as the minimum recommended amount [5], 95.7% of people do not consume adequate amount of fruits or vegetables on an average day [4]”In PP3 Line 62 and subsequent lines mentioned about COVID – 19 and its related implications “….Households reduced their consumption of necessary commodities due to the adverse impact of COVID-19 and the lower income households were affected mostly compared to those from the richest quintile [6]. The imposition of lockdown and maintenance of social distancing created a disturbance in fresh fruits and vegetable production and their retailing [7]. Both the demand and supply side of the fruits and vegetable industry are disrupted due to the COVID–19 pandemic….”In PP4 Line 69 and subsequent lines mentioned about type of retailers for fruits and vegetables and COVID – 19 implications and disruptions for them: “Besides the Wet Market (WM) and Super Shops (SUP), vegetables and fruits in the cities of lower and lower-middle-income countries are mostly sold by Street Shops (SS) and Mobile Vendors (MV). Fresh fruits and vegetable vendors play an important role in providing these dietary foods at a lower price, especially to the low income and vulnerable populations[8]. A comparison between the pre and post pandemic time reveals that, of the identified vendors before COVID–19, 35% of the vendors were absent or closed business during the pandemic[7].”In PP4 Line 82 and subsequent lines mentioned about the work approach and knowledge gap: “This research conducted a survey among the vegetables and fruits retailers in Bangladesh with a general objective to explore the barriers and facilitators for promoting vegetables and fruit intake and to identify the gap in required fiscal and regulatory policy support. There is a lack of evidence in Bangladesh on the impact of COVID-19 on the fruits and vegetable retailers in terms of the magnitude of profit margin, daily sales, and business operation.”Comment 2: The paper has no objectives. You need to mention and discuss the objectives of the study from the definition of the research problem.Response to Comment 2:In the revised version of manuscript, the introduction section now clearly mentions the research gap and the objective of the research. Also, it specifies the research questions addressing those which helped to meet the objective. In PP3-4 Line 64 and subsequent the research gap is mentioned as follows,“The imposition of lockdown and maintenance of social distancing created a disturbance in fresh fruits and vegetable production and their retailing. Both the demand and supply side of the fruits and vegetable industry are disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the direction and magnitude of the impact are ambiguous…… There is a lack of evidence in Bangladesh on the impact of COVID-19 on the fruits and vegetable retailers in terms of the magnitude of profit margin, daily sales, and business operation.”In PP4-5 Line 87 and subsequent the research objective is mentioned as follows,“…the current analysis aimed towards scrutinizing the impact of COVID-19 on the business practices and outcomes of vegetables and fruits retailers in Bangladesh……The existing pieces of literature mainly focused on the COVID-19 disruption and the corresponding implication on food security. This paper contributes to the current literature in terms of examining the direct impact of COVID-19 disruption on the fresh fruits and vegetables retailers in the urban areas of Bangladesh”In PP5 Line 98 and subsequent the research questions are mentioned as follows,“…were the fruits and vegetables retailers being affected by COVID-19?, did the impact vary with retailers characteristics? and what was the magnitude of impact compared to the pre-COVID level in terms of daily sales, profit margin, business operation, etc”Comment 3: I also advice that you need to include the literature review, and discuss the findings of the previous studies, and the research methodologies applied. Response to Comment 3: Thanks for the raised concern. As per our understanding and what we have seen in the manuscript guideline for PLOS ONE the convention of including a separate section on “Literature Review” is not there. Also, several public health journals and recent articles did not have a specific “Literature Review” section. However, following the suggestion we built on our arguments throughout the paper with existing research evidences. Comparison and contrast with the current evidences has been performed while developing the discussion. Also, for the methodological development and argument established or doing proposition we have used the evidence of relevant updated literatures.Comments Regarding Materials and MethodsComment 1: This section is well presented and discussed, in terms of study design, study site and sampling frame, Sampling Strategy, Survey Participants, and Sample Size as well as Field Design and Implementation, Data Collection Tools, and Data management.Response to Comment 1: Gratitude for the positive notes. The research team is glad knowing that the reviewer found the approach useful and depth is well regarded.Comment 2: The data analysis techniques adopted in the study is also discussed.Response to Comment 2: Thanks for the positive reflection. We are glad that the analysis technique is found to be complete and discussed properly.Comment 3: However, this section takes a big section as compared to the previous section. I believe that this section can be streamlined to flow and add the other previous ‘introduction’ and ‘literature review’ section.Response to Comment 3: Thanks for the observation. In the original manuscript this materials and methods section was relatively larger. Nevertheless, in the revised version, following the comments of academic editor and reviewers, as the introduction section is revised to improve the coherence and rationality by weaving from the review of existing literature, the materials and method section is in accordance with the earlier section in terms of depth and length. As mentioned in Comment 1 and Comment 2 by the reviewers because of being detail the readability of the methods and understanding was clear. This depth and detail are required also for the future research if anybody interested to replicate the work in other parts of the world. The authors are glad to mention that the study approach in this regard was itself quiet of a challenge in terms of implementation, thereby documenting it in proper detail will add into the filed too. Comments Regarding ResultsComment 1: The result section is well presented.Response to Comment 1:Thanks for the positive note. It’s encouraging for the authors that reviewers found the result section succinct and proper. Comment 2: However, I believe that the section need to be numbered. Numbering like 4.1, 4.2 etc to establish a flow of subsections.Response to Comment 2:Thank you for raising the issue. In the revised manuscript it has been addressed by introducing section and sub section number. Additionally, to make it distinct, the section main headings were made separated from the sub headings using a different font size using the PLOS ONE guideline. PLOS ONE suggested Level 1 section heading with 18 font and Level 2 section subheading with 16 font. Comment 3: In writing the percentage in symbols, the numbers and percentage symbol should be one word not two words. i.e in line 252 it should be 2.20% and not ‘2.20 %’.Response to Comment 3:Thanks for pointing out these typos. We have made all the necessary changes throughout the manuscript.Comments Regarding DiscussionComment 1: The discussion of the study is well presented in terms of addressing the topic of the study; however, please consider citing the following studies:https://doi.org/10.3390/su10113948i) Hoque, A., Mohiuddin, M., & Su, Z. (2018). Effects of Industrial Operations on Socio-Environmental and Public Health Degradation: Evidence from a Least Developing Country (LDC). Sustainability, 10(11), 3948. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.ijdns.2021.12.001ii) Chaveesuk, S., Khalid, B., & Chaiyasoonthorn, W. (2022). Continuance intention to use digital payments in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 virus. International Journal of Data and Network Science, 6(2), 527–536. https://doi.org/10.5171/2021.578902iii) Khalid, B., & Kot, M. (2021). The Impact of Accounting Information Systems on Performance Management in the Banking Sector. IBIMA Business Review, 1–15. Response to Comment 1:The authors glad to know that the organization and development of the discussion section was found appropriate. Also, thanks for introducing the authors with some recent and relevant literatures. The suggested citations were made in accordance with their relevance. The papers are cited in the following statement under in PP13, Line 272 – 274 and in PP19 Line 396 – 398,“The proportion of retailers selling fruits and vegetables online  has increased compared to the pre - COVID level [21]”“Developing strategies to promote accessibility and availability of fruit and vegetables round the year for all people, and subsequent utilization by women, children, poor and distressed households have been identified as a priority in Bangladesh”Comment 2: The previous literature findings has also been addressed in relation to the findings of the current study.Response to Comment 2:Thanks, and authors felt encouraged to know that reviewer found that the current findings are in line with the existing evidence. The findings of the existing literatures were referred to in due relevance. Comments Regarding ConclusionComment 1: The conclusions of the study does not seem to address the relevant information.Response to Comment 1:The revised version of the manuscript contains an updated version of the conclusion that addressed this observation. The conclusion is now properly summarized the objective and approach of the findings. It also summarized the findings and its relevant implications. The following amendments can be found in the new version of conclusion which reads as follows:In PP20 - 21Line 422 – 436,“The current study aimed towards examining the impact of COVID–19 on the retailers of vegetables and fruits in the urban areas of Bangladesh. A primary research was designed to cross sectionally survey 1,319 vegetables and fruits retailers in two densely populated urban regions in Bangladesh. Besides quantifying the presence and magnitude of COVID - 19 impact on the vegetables and fruits retailers, the data analysis strived to answer whether such impact varied with regard to the location of business operation, type of business item and retailers type. While the country is experiencing an upward trend in the NCDs, any factors affecting the supply chain actors of healthy food is projected to degrade the situation. It was established that the location of the business (Dhaka or Manikganj) and type of business item (vegetables or fruits or both) are important while analyzing the reduction in profit margin and percentage change in sales. However, the type of retailer  is not significant. Thus, area-specific and product-specific interventions are required for the retailers of vegetables and fruits to minimize their vulnerability. Designing and implementing the such government interventions can result in price stability of dietary foods such as vegetables and fruits leading to the increase in their intake and help combating NCDs.”Comment 2: The conclusion should summarize the findings of the study. It should also state whether the set objectives of the study has been met or not. Two section should also be included in addition to conclusion:i) The study implications discussing both managerial implications and theoretical implicationsii) The recommendations for future studiesResponse to Comment 2:The revised conclusion summarized the findings and relates it to the study objectives, which is self-explanatory in terms of accomplishing. Regarding the study implications along with strengths and limitations of the study which lead to the future scope of research has also been added. This addition has been included at the end of the discussion as a convention. It reads as follows:In PP20 Line 410 – 420,“The modelling exercise registered the importance of location of doing business for dietary foods. The varying severity of impact due to COVID is an empirical contribution to the theoretical field of research concerning “location model”[33]. Also, the findings has valid policy implication from practical perspective elucidating that for fiscal intervention location consideration as well as the consideration of product type is of vital importance to make the realistic impact on the group of interest. The study design, implementation and the analysis has the rigor to establish the findings. Nevertheless, it has few limitations too. The sampling frame included only two urban areas from Bangladesh thus generalization of the findings is limited. The impact was examined for the retailers only, however such impact on the other supply chain actors and on the consumers are obvious. All these can be considered as further scope of research.”Comments from Reviewer 2:A study of 1,319 retailers was undertaken in two urban regions, namely Dhaka and Manikganj, between September 2021 and October 2021 with the goal of determining the influence of COVID-19 on the business practices and outcomes for the vegetables and fruit retailers in Bangladesh. This manuscript has met the quality requirements for publication in 'PLoS ONE' I wish the writers continued success in their efforts to improve the paper.Response to Reviewer 2:Thanks, and gratitude to Reviewer 2 for the positive notes. The authors are encouraged as the reviewer have found that the manuscript has merit and quality for the Journal. Comments on Title: Impact of COVID-19, the second part of the paper's title, is preferable to having it in just one section.Response to Comments on Title:The authors appreciate the observation. Nevertheless, as the manuscript reads the research context is rooted with diet related Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) for Bangladesh. It has a great derived implication in the context of COVID-19 and the dwindling impact it had on the dietary supply chain. From that aspect authors choose that title which is to some extent self-explanatory. The authors would like to humbly request the anonymous reviewer to approve the existing title considering the ground of better understanding of the research context.Comments on Abstract: The abstract needs to follow the summary of the Background, Methods, Findings, and Interpretation.Response to Comments on Abstract: The revised version of the manuscript contains the abstract that covered the suggested summaries of respective sections. In PP2 Line 20 – 27 contains the summary of Background as “Bangladesh is experiencing an increasing prevalence of diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Considering daily total requirement of 5 servings as minimum recommended amount, 95.7% of people do not consume adequate fruit or vegetables on an average day in the country. Imposition of lockdown during COVID-19 created disturbance in fresh fruits and vegetable production and their retailing. This incident can make these dietary products less affordable by stimulating price and trigger NCDs. However, little is known about the supply chain actors of healthy foods such as vegetables and fruits in urban areas, and how they were affected due to pandemic.”In PP2 Line 27 – 32 contains the summary of Method as “Aiming toward the impact of COVID–19 on the business practices and outcomes for the vegetables and fruits retailers in Bangladesh, a survey of 1,319 retailers was conducted in two urban areas, namely Dhaka and Manikganj from September 2021 to October 2021. To comprehend the impact of COVID-19 on the profit margin of the retailers and on the percentage change in sales, a logistic and an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression were estimated.”In PP2 Line 32 – 40 contains the summary of Results as “Significant difference in the weekly business days and daily business operations was observed. The average daily sales were estimated to have a 42% reduction in comparison to pre-COVID level. The daily average profit margin on sales was reportedly reduced to 17% from an average level of 21% in the normal period. Nevertheless, this impact is estimated to be disproportionate to the product type and subject to business location. The probability of facing a reduction in profit margin is higher for the fruit sellers than the vegetable sellers. Contemplating the business location, the retailers in Manikganj  faced an average of 19 percentage points less reduction in their sales than those in Dhaka (a large city).”In PP2 Line 40 – 42 contains the summary of conclusion and implication as “Area-specific and product-specific intervention are required for minimizing the vulnerability of retailers of vegetables and fruits and ensuring smooth supply of fruits and vegetables and increasing their uptake to combat diet related NCD.”Comments of Introduction: The rationale for the study is explained in the introduction section, but the study's gap with respect to prior research, contribution to the global context, and guidance throughout the paper are all absent.Response to Comments of Introduction:Thanks for this important observation. The introduction section was revised accordingly to address the problem. As it now reads,In PP4-5 Line 85 – 97 mentions the research gap and contribution “There is a lack of evidence in Bangladesh on the impact of COVID-19 on the fruits and vegetable retailers in terms of the magnitude of profit margin, daily sales, and business operation………..Functioning of the value chain of perishable goods were highly affected due to the imposition of countrywide lockdown.Because of this downturn many people involved in this sector lost their job not only in Bangladesh but also in other countries [11]. The research evidence revealed that there was a significant and negative impact of COVID-19 on the prices of fruits and vegetables [12]. The existing pieces of literature mainly focused on the COVID-19 disruption and the corresponding implication on food security. This paper contributes to the current literature in terms of examining the direct impact of COVID-19 disruption on the fresh fruits and vegetables retailers in the urban areas of Bangladesh.”In PP5 Line 98 – 104 mentions the research questions and guidance of the paper“The research objective was met answering the questions as follows, were the fruits and vegetables retailers being affected by COVID-19?, did the impact vary with retailers characteristics? and what was the magnitude of impact compared to the pre-COVID level in terms of daily sales, profit margin, business operation, etc? The structure of this paper contains introduction in section 1, methodology of the paper in section 2, descriptive and econometric results are discussed in section 3 and finally the discussion based on the results and conclusions are presented in section 4.”Comments on Research Methodology: If the sample had been a bit stronger, the base would have been more robust. It might be able to uncover more precise explanations for the retailers, for instance, if certain rural and urban parts of the nation were compared and improved.Response to Comments on Research Methodology:The authors appreciate the observation and fully agree with the spirit. However, as primary research and since the NCDs problem is more prevalent in urban areas in Bangladesh the design was made to reveal the affect in that very geographic region because of time and fund constraint. In the revised version of the manuscript, we have admitted this as a limitation of the current research and as research implication suggested towards further future research in this aspect. In PP20 Line 415 – 420 it now includes“The study design, implementation and the analysis has the rigor to establish the findings. Nevertheless, it has few limitations too. The sampling frame included only two urban areas from Bangladesh thus generalization of the findings is limited. The impact was examined for the retailers only, however such impact on the other supply chain actors and on the consumers are obvious. All these can be considered as further scope of research.” Comments on Analysis of Empirical Results: The results are presented in a proper and understandable way. The findings and the results are consistent.Response to Comments on Analysis of Empirical Results:Thanks for the positive note. Authors appreciate reviewer’s views and sincerely glad that the section was found understandable and consistent.Comments on Discussion: The authors incorporate all of the discussion based on the empirical data, although it must be evaluated in light of earlier work.Response to Comments on Discussion:The revised version of the manuscript has a discussion which has presented the interpretation incorporating the relevant literatures to compare and contrast duly. However, it is worth mentioning that there is scarcity of literature in the design and approach followed to address the research problem and hence making any direct comparison remained as a remote possibility. Nevertheless, the authors gave effort and tried to address the observation considering the context of the findings and also focused on the implication. As few instances, in the discussion it now reads,In PP13, Line 272 – 274 and in PP19 Line 396 – 398 findings were referred in accordance with existing research evidences:“The proportion of retailers selling fruits and vegetables online  has increased compared to the pre - COVID level [21]”“Developing strategies to promote accessibility and availability of fruit and vegetables round the year for all people, and subsequent utilization by women, children, poor and distressed households have been identified as a priority in Bangladesh”In PP18, Line 377 – 379 similar approaches followed“Findings revealed that due to restrictions, the retailers of fruits and vegetables faced reduction in sales (around 42%) and profit loss like other small and medium entrepreneurs in Bangladesh[26].”In PP19, Line 389 – 395 similar approaches followed“This study also found that the fruit retailers have higher chance of facing reduction in profit margin than the retailers of vegetables since vegetables are comparatively more necessary goods than fruits. Moreover, this study showed that, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the fruits and vegetables retailers in large city (like Dhaka) have higher reduction in sales and profit loss compared to retailers in small city (like Manikganj). These findings might be crucial for developing government support program for the retailers and others small and medium business owners.”In PP20, Line 410 – 415 similar approaches followed“The modelling exercise registered the importance of location of doing business for dietary foods. The varying severity of impact due to COVID is an empirical contribution to the theoretical field of research concerning “location model”[33]. Also, the findings has valid policy implication from practical perspective elucidating that for fiscal intervention location consideration as well as the consideration of product type is of vital importance to make the realistic impact on the group of interest.”Comments on Conclusion: Writing and thoroughly outlining the policy implications in accordance with research in Bangladeshi contexts will provide more value.Response to Comments on Conclusion:Authors appreciated the observation and revised the conclusion section accordingly. In PP20-21 Line 428 – 436 the following is added“While the country is experiencing an upward trend in the NCDs, any factors affecting the supply chain actors of healthy food is projected to degrade the situation. It was established that the location of the business (Dhaka or Manikganj) and type of business item (vegetables or fruits or both) are important while analyzing the reduction in profit margin and percentage change in sales. However, the type of retailer  is not significant. Thus, area-specific and product-specific interventions are required for the retailers of vegetables and fruits to minimize their vulnerability. Designing and implementing the such government interventions can result in price stability of dietary foods such as vegetables and fruits leading to the increase in their intake and help combating NCDs.”Also in the discussion section in the revised version of the manuscript in PP20 Line 412 – 415 it now mentions“Also, the findings has valid policy implication from practical perspective elucidating that for fiscal intervention location consideration as well as the consideration of product type is of vital importance to make the realistic impact on the group of interest.”Comments on Tables and Figures: Tables and Figures need to reconfirmed according to the author’s guidelines of ‘PLoS ONE’.Response to Comments on Tables and Figures:Thanks for the observation. In the revised manuscript, all the tables and figures follow the guideline and requirements by PLOS ONE.Comments on References: It is highly recommended that referencing styles should be reconfirmed according to the author’s guidelines of ‘PLoS ONE’.Response to Comments on References:The revised manuscript has a list of reference that follows the reference style followed and approved by PLOS ONE.Comments on Overall or Others: This manuscript has met the quality requirements for publication in 'PLoS ONE' I wish the writers continued success in their efforts to improve the paper.Response to Comments on Overall or Others:Thanks, and gratitude to Reviewer 2 for the positive notes. The authors are encouraged as the reviewer have found that the manuscript has merit and quality for the Journal. 22 Dec 2022Vegetables and fruits retailers in two urban areas of Bangladesh: Disruption due to COVID – 19 and implications for NCDsPONE-D-22-20793R1Dear Dr. Abdullah S. 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Yes: Dr. Mohammad Delwar HussainReviewer #2: Assistant Professor, Green Business SchoolAssistant Proctor, Permanent CampusGreen University of BangladeshCell: +88-01891-460016**********<quillbot-extension-portal></quillbot-extension-portal> 2 Jan 2023PONE-D-22-20793R1 Vegetables and fruits retailers in two urban areas of Bangladesh: Disruption due to COVID – 19 and implications for NCDs Dear Dr. Abdullah:I'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS ONE. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now with our production department. onepress@plos.org.If your institution or institutions have a press office, please let them know about your upcoming paper now to help maximize its impact. If they'll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team within the next 48 hours. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information please contact plosone@plos.org. 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