Collective for Social Science Research
Bio
Author Biography
Natasha Ansari is a Research Associate at the Collective for Social Science Research, Karachi, Pakistan. She is one of the lead researchers on the Value Chains pillar for the research consortium Leveraging Agriculture for Nutrition in South Asia (LANSA) in Pakistan. She has coauthored a book A Microcredit Alternative in South Asia: Akhuwat’s Experiment (Routledge, forthcoming).
Collective for Social Science Research
Bio
Author Biography
Rashid Mehmood is a Research Officer at the Collective for Social Science Research, Karachi, Pakistan. He has an MPhil in Economics from the Applied Economics Research Center, University of Karachi and holds experience as a teaching assistant for the same, in addition to field experience with various organisations.
Collective for Social Science Research
Bio
Author Biography
Haris Gazdar is a Senior Researcher at the Collective for Social Science Research, Karachi, Pakistan. He has contributed widely to
social science research and policy debates in Pakistan and elsewhere, and has taught as well as conducted academic research in the UK, India, and Pakistan.
Volume 49
Number 1
Published: February 5, 2018
Interventions in agri-food value chains are thought to potentially make important contributions towards enhancing agriculture’s role in nutrition. Some frameworks have begun to identify sets of requirements for pro-nutrition value chains. Pakistan’s dairy sector has been the focus
of a business-driven innovation which introduced ultra-high temperature (UHT)-treated milk in aseptic packaging. This was expected to relieve existing constraints in production and distribution, raise incomes for producers, and increase the supply of an affordable nutrient-dense food to consumers. While this innovation appeared to fulfil most requirements of
a pro-nutrition value chain, it ultimately failed to act as a bridge between farmers and consumers. Instead, it led to the introduction of non-dairy products and imported raw materials. This case study shows that while existing frameworks take a relatively static view of whether an innovation prospectively fulfils certain requirements, businesses can quickly alter entire value chains in response to market conditions.