Steven Haggblade

Farm-nonfarm linkages in rural sub-Saharan Africa

This paper is an accumulation, over the past 25 years, of a body of detailed work examining the structure of Africas rural, nonfarm economy. First, it systematically reviews empirical evidence on the nature and magnitude of the African rural, nonfarm economy. It then explores differences across locality and size, across countries and over time, in an effort to assess likely patterns of growth. A subsequent review of key production and consumption parameters allows an estimate of the magnitude of the agricultural growth multipliers in Africa. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of policies and programs that will be necessary if farm-nonfarm growth linkages are to achieve their full potential.

Modeling agricultural growth multipliers

Agricultures potential as an engine of third world growth depends, in large part, on the size of the production and consumption linkages it stimulates in rural regions. Current estimates of agricultural growth multipliers within rural regions vary widely, not only because economic structures differ across regions but also because the array of fixed-price models most commonly used embody widely differing basic assumptions. Among fixed-price models, the semi-input-output formulation projects the most plausible multipliers. But even they overstate the magnitude of growth multipliers by 10% to 25% according to the price-endogenous model developed here.

A subsector approach to small enterprise promotion and research

Abstract This paper introduces a diagnostic research methodology designed to help target small enterprise development efforts in less developed countries. It argues that research should focus on commodity-specific subsectors, which include the competing channels and supporting input and output linkages of small firms. Using this approach, analysts can improve their understanding of small enterprise dynamics, interventions that may promote them at low cost, and policies that constrain small firm growth.

Agricultural Technology and Farm-Nonfarm Growth Linkages

Agricultural growth stimulates rural nonfarm activity by boosting demand for production inputs and consumer goods. But different kinds of agricultural technology promote different patterns of nonfarm linkages. To explore how key features of agricultural technology affect growth in the rural nonfarm economy, this paper reviews an array of cross-section and time-series evidence bearing on the dynamics of the rural nonfarm economy. Then, using consumption and production parameters associated with different agricultural technologies, it introduces a simple model which isolates the effects of different technologies on nonfarm growth linkages.

Seasonal poverty in Madagascar: magnitude and solutions

Seasonal reductions in food consumption pull about one million Malagasy below the poverty line during the lean season. There they join the nine million more who remain chronically undernourished throughout the year. Because the seasonality of food shortages coincides with the increased prevalence of diarrhea and other diseases during the rainy season, the resulting lean season exacts a heavy toll in the form of increased rates of malnutrition and child mortality. Combining the results of recent field studies with a seasonal multi-market model, this paper measures the probable impacts of three common interventions aimed at combatting seasonal food insecurity. We find the most promising interventions to be those that increase agricultural productivity of the secondary food crops such as cassava, other roots and tubers, and maize.

Modernizing African agribusiness: reflections for the future

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to look forward to explore the links between projected rapid rates of agribusiness expansion and Africas economic growth, equity and spatial development. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws inferences from 30 years of agribusiness value chain research in Africa. Findings - Africas agribusinesses stand poised for exceptionally rapid growth over the coming 40 years. Because of strong interdependencies between agribusiness and agriculture, productivity growth in agribusiness systems will critically affect Africas overall economic growth rate, its spatial development patterns and progress toward poverty reduction. But the necessary efficiency gains in agribusiness performance will not appear automatically. They will require substantial private investments, a competitive private sector and heightened public attention in areas where governments have historically proven weak: promoting regional trade, improving town and regional planning, financing scientific research, funding higher education and building commercially viable rural financial systems. Research limitations/implications - Researchers can help by assembling empirical evidence in these topic areas and by examining value chain models that stimulate private sector investment, accelerate efficiency gains and facilitate access and egress by the poor. Originality/value - Drawing on 30 years of value chain research in Africa, the paper examines links between agribusiness trajectories and economic growth, equity and spatial development.

Intervening in Value Chains: Lessons from Zambia's Task Force on Acceleration of Cassava Utilisation

Abstract Smallholder farmers operate in vertical supply chains. Therefore, an understanding of key opportunities and constraints up through the value chain becomes necessary for sustaining smallholder growth. Yet market analysis is of little value unless key private and public sector stakeholders agree to implement necessary reforms. This paper advocates an approach which marries together value chain analysis with a stakeholder task force to ensure that analysis of opportunities and constraints gets translated into actions that will facilitate commercial growth. Using Zambias cassava task force as an example, the paper describes the value chain task force method and identifies elements critical to its effective implementation.

Shifting sands: The changing case for monetizing project food aid in Bangladesh

Abstract Monetization involves local sale of food aid commodities and using the cash to finance other programs. To explore the likely consequences of monetization, this paper combines a stockpile of recent microeconomic evidence from food and cash-for-work projects in Bangladesh together with a multimarket simulation model. Results suggest that a switch from food-for-works (FFW) in-kind deliveries of wheat to an identical wheat-financed cash-for-work (CFW) program would unambiguously improve welfare of the poor.

Chemical safety of cassava products in regions adopting cassava production and processing – Experience from Southern Africa

The cassava belt area in Southern Africa is experiencing an unforeseen surge in cassava production, processing and consumption. Little documentation exists on the effects of this surge on processing procedures, the prevailing levels of cyanogenic glucosides of products consumed and the levels of products commercially available on the market. Risk assessments disclose that effects harmful to the developing central nervous system (CNS) may be observed at a lower exposure than previously anticipated. We interviewed farmers in Zambia and Malawi about their cultivars, processing procedures and perceptions concerning cassava and chemical food safety. Chips, mixed biscuits and flour, procured from households and markets in three regions of Zambia (Luapula-North, Western and Southern) as well as products from the Northern, Central and Southern regions of Malawi, were analyzed for total cyanogenic potential (CNp). Processed products from Luapula showed a low CNp, <10 mg HCN equiv./kg air dried weight, while samples from Mongu, Western Province, exhibited high levels of CNp, varying from 50 to 290 mg HCN equiv./kg. Even the lowest level is five times higher than the recommended safety level of 10mg/kg decided on for cassava flour. Our results call for concerted efforts in promoting gender oriented processing technologies.

The flip side of fashion: used clothing exports to the Third World

Since the early 1970s, western countries have increasingly recycled their second‐hand clothes by exporting to the Third World. In response, some LDC governments have banned used clothing imports to protect their domestic textile industries. This article, after reviewing the structure and evolution of world used clothing trade, examines the consequences for Africas largest importer, Rwanda. In this low‐income country, with its small domestic textile industry, displacement is minimal and imported used clothing offers a modest but rare policy lever for directly increasing national income as well as incomes of the rural poor.