Value creation in horticultural systems: insights from value chain research in Pakistan and Sri Lanka
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Food loss in smallholder agricultural systems is commonly viewed as a technical and logistical problem. Evidence generated through food loss assessment studies, including laboratory investigations, stakeholder consultations, foresight exercises, and value chain interventions, points to a deeper challenge: persistent coordination failures that limit the ability of producers, intermediaries, and institutions to recognise, create, and capture value. Reflecting on lessons emerging from multi-year research-for-development (R4D) initiatives in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, we argue that food loss is best understood not simply as a consequence of poor technologies or inefficient practices, but as a manifestation of broader institutional and behavioural constraints. What people do is conditioned by the incentives they face, and is hence state-contingent. In resource-constrained rural economies, greater gains may arise from strengthening organisation and improving collective capacity for managing risk and uncertainty, with technological innovation serving as a platform for learning about opportunity, choice, and agency. We illustrate how the Awareness-Motivation-Capability (AMC) framework, originally developed in strategic management and subsequently applied to the management of externalities in global value chains, provides a useful framework for understanding and organising R4D interventions in settings where markets are often too weak to function as effective coordinating devices. The paper synthesises lessons from food loss assessment and pilot interventions to demonstrate how such efforts can reveal underlying coordination failures while informing strategies for value creation. Five key insights emerge: food loss is fundamentally a value creation problem; awareness expands the perceived opportunity set; motivation depends on credible pathways for value capture; capability constraints are frequently the binding constraint to change; and collective action is essential for capability development and the alignment of private and social objectives. These insights support the interpretation of Food-as-a-Service (FaaS) as a value creation proposition that embeds quality, safety, reliability, and sustainability within food systems. The Four-Ps approach provides a practical mechanism for mobilising the capabilities and collective action needed to realise these opportunities. We conclude by arguing that AMC offers a practical framework for supporting adaptive state-contingent responses under conditions of uncertainty, enabling development interventions to move beyond technology transfer towards systemic food system transformation.
Language: English
Subfield: Food Science
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,353
OpenAlex ID: W7224772595