Concepts and practices in agricultural extension in developing ...

• The limited impact that production-focused interventions can have on the destitute, and theneed to supplement these by safety nets, especially where the poor—such as those chronicallysick, the old, and those caring for large numbers of dependents—are unable to sell theirlabour, as well as where chronic conflict, HIV/AIDS and other factors have led to systemiccollapse. They urge an approach to extension which is not concerned merely with agriculturalproduction advice, or agricultural inputs. Rather, they suggest, first, that agricultural and ruraldevelopment strategies have to be located in the context of the rights and livelihood aspirationsof the poor; second, that production and protection strategies have to complement each other;and, third, that an extension approach which is geared broadly to livelihoods contexts ratherthan narrowly to crop or livestock production contexts is more likely to be of benefit to thepoor.1.3.8 Agri-food chain/value chainA value chain describes the full range of activities which are required to bring a product or service fromconception, through the different phases of production, delivery to final consumers, and final disposalafter use (Kaplinsky and Morris 2000). It is worth noting that production is only one of a number ofvalue added links in the agri-food chain. Some people refer to this chain as from hoe (plough) to thefinger (fork). A simple value chain has four basic links (Figure 1.6).Design Production MarketingConsumption andrecyclingTransformationPackagingProcessingactual saleFigure 1.6. The four basic links in a simple value chain.In the real world value chains are much more complex than this simple depiction. A good example isa furniture industry shown in Figure 1.7.In many circumstances, the intermediary producers in a particular value chain may feed into a numberof value chains. It is also important to note that the share of sales may obscure the crucial role thata particular individual/group controlling a key core technology or input has on the rest of the valuechain.Porter (1985) distinguished two important elements of a modern value chain analysis:• The various activities which were performed in particular link in the chain.• Multi-linked value chain or the value system.Both these elements are subsumed in the modern value chain illustrated in Figure 1.8.Another concept often used to describe the value chain is the global commodity chain (Gereffi 1994).This approach focuses on the power relations which are embedded in value chain analysis. It explicitlyfocuses on the coordination of globally dispersed, but linked production systems; where the dominantparty varies determining the overall characters of the chain.21