Pakistan’s Food Security from Wheat Value Chain Perspective

The research seeks to identify the key actors in the Pakistani Wheat Value Chain (PWVC), the key relations among them, how these are governed, and to what effects. To understand the PWVC, the study focuses on the functioning of the wheat economy and its complex set of relations between actors. The wheat economy of Pakistan is also central to the nation’s food security and is intimately entangled with the national politics. Thus, the case study of Pakistan’s wheat economy offered an opportunity to explore the complexities of relationships among different actors at local, regional and national levels and to capture the multi-dimensional aspects of food insecurity. This study mainly focuses on the wheat farmers—who figure as the most important actor in the production and exchange processes of PWVC. This thesis adopts the chain politics framework, which highlighted the nature of the delicate balance of interests that keeps the power asymmetries from collapsing the chain. The main findings of the study specify that the wheat economy of Pakistan is embedded in a complex set of historically conditioned socio-economic, cultural and political institutions, many of which are linked to a colonial past. The formal and informal social and governmental institutions of the wheat economy are caught up in a set of power relations articulated by politically and socially dominant elites. Value chain framework was applied as the analytical tool to map key actors, their activities, relations among them, and the productive transformations of goods that occur between land and final consumption. The systemic inefficiencies of the wheat economy are drawn out by the governance structure derived from the value chain perspective. Further, two complementary approaches allowed a focus on the functioning of government institutions (formal institutions) in Pakistan, providing an insight into the informal wheat market institutions (local and regional social relations between actors). Specifically, this process offered an appreciative glance at the evolutionary societal structures of rural Pakistan. If anything, the research highlighted how the working of the chain is unmistakably intertwined with the affordability of wheat and its critical role in food insecurity situation in Pakistan.

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

ResearchSpace@Auckland

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Khan, Asif

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Jackson, K
• Lewis, N

Statement dc:rights

• Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. Previously published items are made available in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2292/21755

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:researchspace.auckland.ac.nz:2292/21755