Review of agri-food value chain interventions aimed at enhancing consumption of nutritious food by the poor: Pakistan.

Using the “conceptual framework” of value chain development, this paper provides information on 24 agri-food value chain interventions in Pakistan aiming to increase the consumption of nutrient-dense foods or increase their supply to post-farm gate poor populations.

Pakistan has a relatively productive agricultural sector but has experienced high and persistent rates of undernutrition over time, still alarming nowadays. "While approximately 45 per cent of the labour force is involved in the sector, over three-quarters of the households are net buyers of wheat or wheat flour, the main staple food. Many agricultural households depend on market purchases for some part of their food consumption because of the specialisation in the agricultural economy. There is a core of the poorest that, besides the market, also rely on various non-market interactions with other households through social networks, patronage ties and charity. But those who provide food assistance from their own stocks to food-insecure relatives are themselves likely to be sourcing food from the market". This scenario reinforces the hypothesis that there is no self-evidence of the positive effect of agri-food value chains on nutrition conditions and implies a urgent need to better investigate their relation and “effects” both from the consumer and from the producer perspective.   

The paper contains a descriptive overview of the actors and activities involved in these interventions, and an analysis of the characteristics and challenges of the various food-based value chain approaches in tackling undernutrition.

The paper is part of a broader LANSSA research on assessing the effectiveness of agri-food value chain interventions aimed at enhancing consumption of nutritious food by the poor and investigating the sustainability of nutritious sensitive food markets in three countries used as case studies – Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.