The hidden middle: the quiet revolution in the midstream of agrifood value chains in developing countries

The food security debate has focused largely on the farm sector and on trade. Relatively

neglected or ‘hidden’ from mainstream debate are the middle segments (processing, logistics, whole-

sale) of agrifood value chains in developing countries—and yet this ‘midstream’ forms 30–40 per cent

of the value added and costs in food value chains. The productivity of the midstream is as important

as farm yields for food security in poor countries. The article shows that over the past several decades

the middle segments have transformed quickly and surprisingly—with a huge volume expansion, a

proliferation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), but also concentrating and multinationalizing

(in some places and products), with technology change characterized by capital-led intensication, and

with the incipient emergence of branding and labelling and packaging, of new organizational arrange-

ments in procurement and marketing interfaces with farmers and retailers, and of private standards

and contracts. Economic policies of market and foreign direct investment (FDI) liberalization, com-

mercial and business climate regulations, hard and soft infrastructure investment, and food safety laws,

have paved the path to the expansion and shaped the transformation of the important midstream seg-

ment of food value chains.

Title of publication: Oxford Review of Economic Policy

المجلد: 31

نطاق الصفحات: 45-63

المؤلف: Thomas Reardon

المنظمة: The Oxford Review of Economic Policy Ltd

السنة: 2015

النوع: مقالة

لغة المحتوى: English