Value-chain development in practice is not without its challenges and limitations. These include the following:
• First, there is no common understanding of the VC development concept or agreement on how to implement it.
As a result of the lack of a universal understanding, many development efforts are fashionably branded with the VC label, yet violate one or more of the principles of VC development as defined here. They do not, for example, address root problems, do not start from a clear market opportunity for creating added value or do not target farms and agribusiness that have the potential to be commercially viable (but rather focus on pure subsistence farming). Such mislabeled efforts often involve much direct intervention by the public sector or they critically depend on public support without a clear or realistic exit strategy.
• Second, the emphasis in VC development is often still on the economic and financial aspects, with social and environmental impacts being considered only peripherally if at all. Even though this is now changing, a conscious effort is required to ensure the sustainability of the upgraded VC in social and environmental terms. The risk that then could emerge, especially in the absence of a common understanding, is that VC development is confused with social support or environmental protection programmes which are of a fundamentally different nature.
• Third, VC development is complex and time-consuming, and taking short cuts comes at a price. In practice, however, time and other resources are often insufficient to holistically assess the complex VC system, resulting in flawed designs for development projects and programmes. Trust and learning, key ingredients in VC development, do not emerge overnight.