This book provides a thorough introduction to and examination of agricultural value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa. First, the authors introduce the economic theory of agri-food value chains and value chain governance, focusing on domestic and regional trade in (and consumption of) food crops in a low-income country context. In addition to mainstream and heterodox thinking about value chain development, the book pays attention to political economy considerations. The book also reviews the empirical evidence on value chain development and performance in Africa. It adopts multiple lenses to examine agricultural value chains, zooming out from the micro level (e.g., relational contracting in a context of market imperfections) to the meso level (e.g., distributional implications of various value chain interventions, inclusion of specific social groups) and the macro level (underlying income, population and urbanization trends, volumes and prices, etc.).Furthermore, this book places value chain development in the context of a process the authors refer to as structural transformation 2.0, which refers to a process where production factors (labor, land and capital) move from low-productivity agriculture to high-productivity agriculture. Finally, throughout the book the authors interpret the evidence in light of three important debates: (i) how competitive are rural factor and product markets, and what does this imply for distribution and innovation? (ii) what role do foreign investment and factor proportions play in the development of agri-food value chains in Africa? (iii) what complementary government policies can help facilitate a process of agricultural value chain transformation, towards high-productive activities and enhancing the capacity of value chains to generate employment opportunities and food security for a growing population.
Author(s): Alan de Brauw, Erwin Bulte
Series: Palgrave Studies in Agricultural Economics and Food Policy
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 229
City: Cham
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 African Smallholders and Their Market Environment
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Transaction Costs: The Elephant in the Room
1.3 The Weakest Shoulders and the Heaviest Burden
1.4 Value Chain Development
1.5 Policies and Interventions
1.6 What This Book Tries to Do (and Does not Do)
References
2 African Agricultural Value Chains: A Brief Historical Overview
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Precolonial Farming
2.3 The Scramble for Africa
2.4 Extraction and Growth During Colonial Times
2.5 Taxing Farmers: African Agriculture After Decolonization
2.6 From Taxation to Protection
2.7 Conclusions
References
3 Economic Theory and Value Chain Governance
3.1 Introduction
3.2 How Value Chains Are Governed
3.3 Development and Value Chains
3.4 Formal and Informal Governance of Value Chains
3.5 Relational Contracting in More Detail
3.6 Policies, Projects, and Value Chain Performance: Competition and Insurance
3.7 Discussion and Conclusions
Appendix: A Formal Model of Relational Contracting Between a Trader and a Farmer
References
4 The Evolution of Agricultural Value Chains in Africa
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Types of Value Chains
4.3 Value Chain Services
4.4 Factors Shaping the Transition from Traditional to Complex Value Chains
4.4.1 Consequences of Income Growth, Inequality, and Urbanization
4.5 Contract Farming
4.6 Value Chain Finance
4.7 The Role of Imported Food in African Markets
4.8 Closing Words
References
5 Smallholders and Markets
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Factor Markets
5.3 Input Markets
5.4 Output Markets
5.5 Smallholder Households
5.6 Discussion and Conclusions
References
6 Product Quality and Certification
6.1 Producers, Purchases, and Certifying Quality
6.1.1 The Role of Trust in the Value Chain
6.2 Types of Certification
6.2.1 Quality Certification of Grains
6.2.2 Potential Unintended Consequences of Certification
6.3 Impacts of Certification on Smallholder Livelihoods
6.3.1 Vertical Integration and Outcomes
6.4 Summary
References
7 Storage and Post-harvest Losses
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Food Storage in Africa
7.2.1 Storing Perishables
7.3 Post-Harvest Losses
7.3.1 Post-Harvest Losses in Perishables
7.3.2 Hidden Challenges: Aflatoxins
7.4 How Can Improved Storage Work for the Poor?
7.4.1 Warehouse Receipts
7.4.2 Storage and Commodity Exchanges
7.5 Conclusion
References
8 Silver Bullets?
8.1 Foreign Direct Investment and Farm Consolidation
8.2 Input Subsidy Programs
8.3 Innovation Platforms
8.4 Producer Organizations
8.5 ICT and Mobile Phones
8.5.1 The Benefits of ICT
8.5.2 The Impacts of ICTs on Rural Africa
8.6 Blockchain in Agriculture: Can It Lead to Growth?
8.7 Conclusion
References
9 Structural Transformation 2.0: The Rocky Road Ahead…
9.1 Will Structural Transformation 1.0 Occur in Africa?
9.2 Approach 1: Bundling Interventions
9.3 Approach 2: Farm Consolidation
9.3.1 The Inverse Relationship Between Farm Size and Productivity
9.3.2 Hub and Spoke Systems?
9.4 Approach 3: Infrastructure Investments
9.4.1 Technology Infrastructure
9.5 Approach 4: Boosting Demand and Improving Regional Trade
9.6 Closing Words
References
Index
