This research assessed the distribution of value in agri-food GVCs and recommended policy areas where advocacy campaigns should focus to support inclusive growth. The research synthesized quantitative and qualitative analytical approaches. Data from the World Input-Output Database (WIOD) and GVC input-output models were deployed to estimate distribution of value across the agri-food GVCs. Interpretation of the findings and an assessment of drivers of value distribution were conducted by a series of case studies. Selection of case studies were informed by various GVC governance structures linked to product characteristics and consultation with the client. Data and information for the project was collected from various databases, industry reports, journal articles, and interviews key informants. The research identified areas where policy interventions were necessary to address income inequality within the context of agri-food GVCs. The report also highlighted complexities and data challenges facing researchers to effectively measure value distribution in GVCs.
This report for Oxfam presents the asymmetric power relations in global value chains. It examines the limits of private governance and its development implications for local firms and producers in developing countries by drawing on the cases of apparel, cocoa-chocolate, and sugar-‘soft drink’ global value chains.
Agriculture increasingly occurs in a context where private entrepreneurs coordinate extensive value chains linking producers to consumers, sometimes across multiple countries. These dynamics drive agricultural development and innovation far more than before across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). More providers of knowledge are on the scene, particularly from the private sector and civil society, and they interact in new ways to generate ideas or develop responses to dynamics in agrofood value chains. A growing number of entrepreneurial smallholders are organizing to enter these value chains, but others struggle with the economic marginalization as innovative solutions do not reach them due to missing links in the value chains. Brun also gave a presentation on February 15, 2015 “Rwanda Warehouse Receipt System” to the Joint Leadership Network for African Agriculture – a collaborative project with the Rockefeller Foundation and Oxfam America on the 10 major agricultural innovations in Sub-Saharan Africa (see SlideShare link).
