Value-Adding Practices in Food Supply Chain: Evidence from Indian Food Industry

The study aims an attempt to realize the importance of value addition at different stages of food supply chain to see what the value addition practices mean across the food chain. To do so, this paper investigates the value addition relationships of different supply chain players from farm to retail level. Based on extensive literature review and deep discussions with supply chain practitioners as well as academicians, a conceptual framework is developed to assist those players in identifying the importance of adding value, defining a common definition of value addition practices, and getting motivation for superior value addition improvement. Value addition practices of five stages at the food supply chain, namely, farmer, supplier, processor, distributor and retailer, are conceptualized and formulated to tests the relationship among these stages. The study mainly focuses on the value addition of farm products in Indian scenario. The findings affirmed that the farmer's value addition is positively related to supplier's value addition, processor's value addition, and distributor's value addition. Moreover, supplier's value addition is positively related to processor's value addition, and processor's value addition is positively related to distributor's value addition. Besides, distributor's value addition is positively related to retailer's value addition. [JEL Classification: M210].