Inclusiveness and Viability of Value Chains

Avalue chain is one of the dominant frameworks used to analyse various production and trade sectors, and their dynamics. There have been many studies on value chains at the global and national levels, across products and geographies. One major theme in these studies has been the exclusion of smaller players, especially small primary producers, in the developing world. However, there are very few studies that explore the inclusiveness of increasingly important value chains, especially in the agribusiness sector (Singh 2012).

In this context, the edited book by Malcolm Harper, John Belt and Rajeev Roy is a welcome addition to the scanty literature as it examines value chains for their inclusiveness and commercial viability at national and subnational or even local levels, and demonstrates with case studies the possibilities of organising and sustaining commercial and inclusive value chains. Each case study is claimed to be backed by a measurement of the impact of the value chain on the local stakeholders.