‘Milk for Milk, Water for Water’: Analysing Pakistan’s Dairy Innovation

Interventions in agri-food value chains are thought to potentially make important contributions towards enhancing agriculture’s role in nutrition. Some frameworks have begun to identify sets of requirements for pro-nutrition value chains. Pakistan’s dairy sector has been the focus of a business-driven innovation which introduced ultra-high temperature (UHT)-treated milk in aseptic packaging. This was expected to relieve existing constraints in production and distribution, raise incomes for producers, and increase the supply of an affordable nutrient-dense food to consumers. While this innovation appeared to fulfil most requirements of a pro-nutrition value chain, it ultimately failed to act as a bridge between farmers and consumers. Instead, it led to the introduction of non-dairy products and imported raw materials. This case study shows that while existing frameworks take a relatively static view of whether an innovation prospectively fulfils certain requirements, businesses can quickly alter entire value chains in response to market conditions.