Food Value Chain Analysis: A Review of Selected Studies for Pakistan and Guidelines for Further Research

The production stage of the food value chain encompasses physical, human, financial, and economic resources involved in agricultural production in various agro-ecological zones. This stage also includes livelihood strategies of households engaged in production, as well as the roles of public and private institutions and the services they provide to production systems. Changing diets have increased demand for high-value agriculture, particularly meat, dairy, vegetables, and processed foods. The global growth in per capita income continues to drive diversification of consumption and increase demand for both quantity and quality of food in developed and developing countries. Processing of high-value agriculture has amplifying income and employment effects but also has environmental concerns attached to it. Studies conducted in Pakistan have investigated marketing channels rather than conducting value chain analysis. For example, research on mango marketing, cherry marketing, peach marketing, citrus marketing, and grape marketing has focused on marketing margins and post-harvest losses. However, these studies have not used the set of criteria for evaluating food value chains, including efficiency, flexibility, responsiveness, and food quality. International studies have used value chain analysis to investigate the types of value chain coordination, understand the tensions between various actors participating in the supply chain, and study the competitive strategies of supermarkets. Value chain analysis has also been used to investigate the role of food safety standards and food quality along the value chain and its effect on the competitive strategies of a firm. The report examines methodologies and recent studies concerning high-value supply chains for fruits and vegetables, dairy, meat, and livestock for domestic and international markets. It presents a review of the national and international literature on food value chains and summarizes perceived best practices for conducting value-chain studies. The report also examines and presents performance measurement mechanisms used in measuring the efficiency of supply chains in Pakistan and elsewhere. A food value chain shows the movement of a food product along the supply chain and identifies the actors and their value-added activities. Most studies conducted in Pakistan have collected and used primary data to present the flow of food products from producer to consumers and focused on marketing channels. However, these studies have not reported information regarding value addition at each stage. The report is organized into four sections. Section two presents a review of the studies of VCA conducted for Pakistan, while the third section reviews the international literature on value chain studies. The fourth section is a conclusion providing a synthesis of both the reviews and some final implications.