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Sustaining Upgrading in Agricultural Value Chains? State-Led Value Chain Interventions and Emerging Bifurcation of the South Indian Smallholder Tea Sector

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  • Marianne Nylandsted Larsen

    (Department of Geosciences and Nature Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark)

Abstract

The Global Value Chain (GVC) approach has emerged as a novel methodological device for analysing economic globalization and international trade. The suitability of the chain metaphor and strategies for moving up the ladder of GVCs (“upgrade”) is widely echoed in international development agencies and public agencies in the Global South. Most of the existing GVC studies focus on new forms of firm-to-firm relationships and the role of lead firms and chain governance in defining upgrading opportunities. This paper examines the role of the state and local institutional initiatives in promoting upgrading in agricultural GVCs originating in rural areas of the Global South. The paper draws on research conducted in the South Indian smallholder tea sector. The paper argues that successful forms of state-led chain interventions not only contribute to upgrading of the smallholder-brought leaf factory strand of the GVC originating in the South Indian tea sector, but might also result in increasing bifurcation of smallholders integrated into high-margin markets through prominent bought leaf factories and a mass of “others” outside this tightly coordinated strand of the tea value chain.

Suggested Citation

  • Marianne Nylandsted Larsen, 2016. "Sustaining Upgrading in Agricultural Value Chains? State-Led Value Chain Interventions and Emerging Bifurcation of the South Indian Smallholder Tea Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-19, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:11:p:1102-:d:81628
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Vicol, Mark & Neilson, Jeffrey & Hartatri, Diany Faila Sophia & Cooper, Peter, 2018. "Upgrading for whom? Relationship coffee, value chain interventions and rural development in Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 26-37.
    3. Natalie J. Langford, 2021. "From Global to Local Tea Markets: The Changing Political Economy of Tea Production within India's Domestic Value Chain," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 52(6), pages 1445-1472, November.
    4. Verena Bitzer & Alessia Marazzi, 2021. "Southern sustainability initiatives in agricultural value chains: a question of enhanced inclusiveness? The case of Trustea in India," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(2), pages 381-395, June.
    5. Ulrich Elmer Hansen & Padmasai Lakshmi Bhamidipati & Mathilde Brix Pedersen & Ivan Nygaard & Hope Nyambura Njoroge, 2023. "Linking business strategies with upgrading pathways in global value chains: Insights from the Kenyan solar market," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 41(2), March.
    6. Dwi Ratna Hidayati & Elena Garnevska & Paul Childerhouse, 2021. "Sustainable Agrifood Value Chain—Transformation in Developing Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-20, November.

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