The transformation of agrifood production and distribution networks has emerged as an issue of global importance in recent years as both scholars and policymakers have sought strategies to promote the integration of small-scale producers in global commodity chains. In order to conceptualize the structure and governance of global agrifood networks, assess the related distribution of economic benefits, and offer policy prescriptions for improving the livelihoods of small-scale producers, researchers and policymakers have employed two increasingly influential analytical frameworks: global value chain (GVC) analysis and the global production networks (GPN) framework. Notwithstanding important differences, both GVC and GPN approaches conceptualize the benefits of participation in global production and distribution systems, and corresponding livelihood implications, solely in terms of the generation, enhancement (upgrading), and capture (distribution) of economic value. However, the vast majority of small-scale agricultural and livestock producers in the Global South are simultaneously embedded in alternative non-market systems of exchange and their livelihoods are not defined solely in terms of market capitalist relations. In failing to acknowledge the reality of rural livelihoods in the Global South, GVC and GPN frameworks present a singular vision of development, which privileges value and implicitly portrays small-scale producers as embryonic small capitalist enterprises. As a consequence, both GVC analysis and the GPN framework share a fundamental conceptual and theoretical flaw and policy prescriptions drawn from these approaches misdiagnose the failure of small-scale producers to benefit from integration with global networks and inadvertently exclude the majority of small-scale producers from the benefits of participation in global agrifood systems.
This project, focusing on the role of Japanese snack food producers, trading companies and consumers in transforming the production and distribution systems of chile habanero in Yucatán, Mexico and concomitant livelihood implications among small-scale producers, will contribute to the theoretical and empirical literature on GPNs in three important ways. On the one hand, by focusing on existing livelihood practices in Yucatán and the interface between alternative non-market systems of exchange and global production networks, rather than simply equating development and livelihoods with value and an idealized singular form of market capitalism, the project resolves a fundamental conceptual and theoretical flaw in the GPN framework. In addition, the case study of Japanese snack food producers and consumers addresses another perceived shortcoming of the GPN framework, its failure to conceptualize explicitly the agency of final consumers in transforming the structure and governance of global production networks. Furthermore, by revealing how policy frameworks which privilege the generation, enhancement and capture of economic value and which inadvertently marginalize small-scale producers, this project will contribute to improving rural livelihoods in Yucatán by promoting collaboration between habanero growers and other stakeholders. The project will also contribute to transforming the local policy arena in order to "make space" for small-scale producers within global agrifood networks.
