Volume 77, January 2016, Pages 221–230
Summary
International
trade in medicinal herbal products is growing, while value chains are
becoming more complex and governed by a range of public and private
standards. There is a debate over the extent to which phytomedicine
production can be beneficial for farmers in low- and middle-income
countries. More generally, there are varied views about the extent to
which small farmers are disadvantaged by stringent public health and
private consumer standards in northern markets for agricultural
products. This paper proves a comparative analysis of value chains,
using case studies of turmeric production in India. It marries a
qualitative investigation of turmeric producing sites in India with an
investigation into the chemical quality of various turmeric products.
The aim of the paper is to understand the way that varied structure and
governance of value chains changes the benefits to both producer and
consumer. When production is for the organic northern market, we found
evidence of a “captive” value chain, where the lead firm requires strict
adherence to conditions of production and processing. Prices for
farmers were relatively stable, at a reasonably high level. In contrast,
where farmers were producing for local markets, including the major
auction at Erode, prices were volatile and farmers bore considerable
risk. We found that competition and volatility in the market-based chain
can lead to turmeric adulteration and contamination, both intentional
and unintentional. Our case study suggests that many small turmeric
farmers would find it difficult to meet both public and private health
standards, in contrast to some academic literature that argues that
public health standards do not discriminate against small farmers. More
than this, our study adds to the discussion of the impact of standards,
suggesting clear consumer benefits in northern markets. However, there
are also indications that only larger and more dynamic farmers can
participate in the lucrative phytomedicine trade. As such, our study
tentatively supports previous literature suggesting that the application
of standards in northern markets lead to increasing farmer
differentiation.
Key words
- phytomedicines;
- value chains;
- standards;
- turmeric;
- India;
- herbal products
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.