The Transformation of Rice Value Chains in Bangladesh and India: Implications for Food Security

This paper reports the survey findings that rice value chains are transforming in Bangladesh and India. The main elements of the transformation are as follows: First, rice value chains in both countries have begun to “geographically lengthen” and “intermediationally shorten.” Second, farmers capture about 60% of the final urban retail price of rice; this can be compared to about 23% in 1998 and 37% in 1980 in the United States. Third, the corollary is that about 40% of the value chain is formed by the postharvest segments of the rice value chain—in milling, trading, and retailing. Fourth, while much policy debate centers on direct government operations in food value chains, such operations were, in general, quite small in the rice…