Agriculture continues to be the backbone of India’s economy, yet small and marginal farmers remain disadvantaged due to fragmented landholdings, inadequate infrastructure, and limited access to markets. Value chain development offers a pathway to address these challenges by integrating stakeholders, enhancing efficiency, and promoting equitable distribution of benefits. This chapter explores the concept, significance, and models of agricultural value chains with a focus on rice, maize, groundnut, and soybean, analyzing them at global, national, and state levels, particularly in Telangana. The study highlights the structural differences, market dynamics, and governance mechanisms influencing value chain performance across contexts. It further identifies key constraints faced by stakeholders, including lack of infrastructure, limited access to finance, fragmented markets, and weak coordination. Strategies such as strengthening multi-stakeholder collaboration, integrating ICT tools, promoting innovation, enhancing infrastructure, and expanding institutional support are emphasized for building robust and inclusive value chains. Extension services emerge as a critical driver in capacity building, technology adoption, and market linkages. The chapter concludes by advocating for policy reforms, public–private partnerships, and export-oriented initiatives to enhance competitiveness, farmer profitability, and sustainable agricultural growth.

Keywords: Agricultural value chain, Value addition, Market linkages, Extension services, Public–private partnership and Food security