Value chain involves crops/livestock, farming practices and farmers, products and produces, pre-and post harvest technologies, procts testing, packing, branding, marketing, consumers, waste recycling to value added products. Each link of the chain is interdependent. The basic economics of an effective value chain is that producer-farmers should get 50% more than cost of production. Processing involves technologies. Food safety and certification ensure quality of products to consumers. The quality of primary raw materials-grains, farm produced vegetables and fruits, spices, plantation crops, tubers, mushrooms and edible bamboos is a priori to quality end products. Standardisation of value chain has come to stay in many countries.
Dr. Kuruppacharil V. Peter