Unpacking state-led upgrading: empirical evidence from Uzbek horticulture value chain governance

Abstract

This paper contributes to the endeavour of bringing the Global Value Chain/Global Production Network (GVC/GPNs) and the Developmental State (DS) literature closer in the analysis of state-led upgrading. By triangulating primary and secondary data of the Uzbekistan's horticulture value chain (i.e. Fresh Fruits Vegetables -FFVs), it provides a micro-meso analysis of how the state, by creating vertical and horizontal linkages, shaped the pace and direction of agro-industrial upgrading. Also, it discusses how targeted macroeconomic policies contributed to enable such upgrading. Finally, by bridging these two levels of analysis, it argues for the need to consider the state not only as a regulator, a facilitator, a buyer and a producer within GVC/GPNs, but as a coordinator of strategic developmental objectives beyond and across the GVCs. Drawing upon a strategic-relational approach and by using the concept of organisational upgrading, it discusses how the state articulates the institutional context of GVC/GPNs through the establishment of financial and political partnerships with international actors to avoid predatory competition in the GVC/GPNs; the coordination of inter-sectorial spillovers for short and long-term collective learning and capacity building; and the creation of linkages to enable multi-dimensional and inter-temporal developmental objectives.Coordinated state interventions and a gradual approach to market reforms are proven instrumental to ensure the stability and sustainability of the economic transformation.

The marketisation of life: entangling social reproduction theory and regimes of patriarchy through women’s work in post-Soviet Uzbekistan

“…It does that by also understanding the historical evolution of public (patriarchal) institutions, which, as discussed so far, promoted the process of life marketisation and put pressure on social reproduction. Furthermore, the emerging forms of crop diversification and industrialisation in the food processing sector are giving rise to new, yet scattered, forms of wage labour (Lombardozzi, 2020a), which reproduce women's exploitation inside and outside the workplace. In the next section, I investigate how the ensemble of marketisation processes and regimes of domestic and public patriarchy reproduce women's oppression, and how exploitation through gendered asymmetries in nutrition, social norms that devalue women's work and wages, and unequal distributions of reproductive work, bolstered by a disinvestment in state policy, have been co-determinants of social reproduction outcomes.…”

“…Similar patterns are reinforced by the lack of labour-saving devices, such as washing machines, dishwashers and sewing machines, in the household. Therefore, stateregulated marketisation (Lombardozzi, 2020a(Lombardozzi, , 2020b, negotiated by domestic and public patriarchy, defines and shapes the way women engage with the market and its social forms of money and work.…”

Potential for Upgrading in Financialised Agri-food Chains: The Case of Ghanaian Cocoa

“…Inspired by the success of the economies of Korea, Taiwan and China, Lee et al ( 2017 ) developed the ‘in–out–in’ hypothesis which suggests iterative learning and absorption of technologies through inclusion, followed by exclusion and infant industry protection to fend off competitors and establish own brands. Hauge ( 2020 ) made a similar argument, drawing on the experiences of South Korea and Taiwan, and Lombardozzi ( 2020 ) demonstrated how targeted macroeconomic policies have enabled upgrading in Uzbekistan’s horticulture sector. These contributions reconsider and emphasise the leading role of the state in shaping upgrading opportunities.…”

Mitigating impact of risks on economic integration between entities in agrifood supply chain

“…Unfortunately, in Uzbekistan, local producers do not have the full opportunity to maintain the product at the level of technical requirements. As a result, the infrastructure facilities are not fully formed at the stages of delivering the product to consumers [9] [10]. In most cases, processing companies use their monopoly power to force smallholders to sell their products at low prices [11].…”