Jeff Neilson & Bill Pritchard 
Value Chain Struggles [PDF ebook] 
Institutions and Governance in the Plantation Districts of South India

Adopting a ‘global value chain’ approach, Value Chain
Struggles investigates the impact of new trading arrangements
in the coffee and tea sectors on the lives and in the communities
of growers in South India.

* Offers a timely analysis of the social hardships of tea and
coffee producers

* Takes the reader into the lives of growers in Southern India
who are struggling with issues of value chain restructuring

* Reveals the ways that the restructuring triggers a series of
political and economic struggles across a range of economic,
social, and environmental arenas

* Puts into perspective claims about the impacts of recent
changes to global trading relations on rural producers in
developing countries

Table of Content

List of Figures vi

List of Tables viii

Series Editors’ Preface x

Acknowledgements xi

List of Abbreviations xiii

1 Introduction 1

2 Re-inserting Place and Institutions within Global Value Chain Analysis 27

3 How to Make a (South Indian) Cup of Tea or Coffee 66

4 The Institutional Environment of the South Indian Tea and Coffee Industries 107

5 Struggles over Labour and Livelihoods 130

6 Struggles over Environmental Governance in the Coffee Forests of Kodagu 162

7 Smallholder Engagement in Global Value Chains: Initiatives in the Nilgiris 186

8 Making a Living in the Global Economy: Institutional Environments and Value Chain Upgrading 210

9 Conclusion: What We Brewed 230

Appendix A: The Role of Managing Agents 240

Appendix B: The Operation and Intended

Reform of South India’s Tea Auctions 241

Appendix C: Restructuring of Tata Tea’s Munnar Operations 246

Notes 248

Bibliography 263

Index 291

About the author

Jeff Neilson maintains primary research interests in rural
development and environmental issues across various Asian
countries. He completed his Ph D with a study of the Indonesian
coffee industry, has authored twelve refereed publications, and has
worked as a consultant to various international development
agencies. Dr Neilson is currently employed as a post-doctoral
research fellow in geography at the University of Sydney,
Australia.

Bill Pritchard is an Economic Geographer whose research
has focused on global change in agriculture, food and rural places.
He has authored two books, edited four others, and written more
than forty refereed publications. He is an active member and former
convener of the Australia & New Zealand Agri-Food Research
Network, a member of the Australian Research Council Research
Network on Spatially Integrated Social Sciences, and Steering
Committee Member of the International Geographical Union Commission
on the Dynamics of Economic Spaces.