Inputs, Productivity, and Agricultural Growth in Africa South of the Sahara

Inputs, Productivity, and Agricultural Growth in Africa South of the Sahara
Author: Alejandro Nin Pratt
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017
Genre:
ISBN:

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The evidence of improved performance of agriculture in Africa south of the Sahara (SSA) in recent years has indeed been quite striking when compared with the past. For the first time, the sector has maintained a real growth rate of 3.4 percent per year, well above the population growth rate of 2.5 percent. Despite this improved performance, agricultural productivity growth in SSA continues to lag behind every other region of the world, growing at rates that are roughly half of the average rate of developing countries. Previous studies concluded that SSA should increase investment in agricultural research and development (R&D), highlighting the need to facilitate farmers access to technology, markets, and the necessary support services for raising agricultural productivity. This study introduces a new dimension to the puzzle of agricultural productivity growth in SSA: the role of the input mix and the need to increase capital and inputs per worker not only to boost output per worker but also to accelerate technology adoption and total factor productivity (TFP) growth. According to the appropriate technology hypothesis, advanced countries invent technologies that are compatible with their own factor mix, but these technologies are less productive with the very different factor mix of poor countries.

Agricultural Growth in Sub-Saharan African Countries and China

Agricultural Growth in Sub-Saharan African Countries and China
Author: Mr.Mahmood Hasan Khan
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 30
Release: 1995-04-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1451971249

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Agriculture remains the dominant sector in the economies of most Sub-Saharan African countries. However, the experience of agricultural growth in the region stands in sharp contrast to the robust performance of agriculture in many Asian countries, particularly China. In a number of African countries, labor productivity has fallen and land productivity has not risen significantly. In China, on the other hand, land and labor productivities have increased steadily over the past two decades. An examination of factors underlying the contrasting experiences of China and countries in Sub-Saharan Africa reveals important differences in the institutional and policy environments affecting the use of new and profitable technologies to raise land and labor productivities.

Boosting Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa

Boosting Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Cesar Calderon
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 325
Release: 2021-12-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464815518

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Economic growth in the Sub-Saharan Africa region has been plagued by a series of shocks—wars, political instability, natural disasters, epidemics, terms-of-trade deterioration, and sudden stops in capital inflows—that have had lingering effects on productivity and growth. Within the overall productivity gap of the region are substantial differences across the sectors of economic activity and production units. Boosting Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa: Policies and Institutions to Promote Efficiency documents the productivity trends in Sub-Saharan Africa in three different dimensions, assessing productivity at the aggregate level, the sectoral level, and the establishment level. It characterizes the evolution of productivity in the region relative to other countries and regions, as well as country groups in Africa, classified by their degree of natural resource abundance and condition of fragility. The volume suggests that the persistence of the productivity gap in Africa vis-à -vis the technological frontier can be attributed to the slow accumulation of physical and human capital relative to the region’s growing population, as well as the poor allocation of these resources. These allocative inefficiencies are the outcome of policies and institutions that introduce distortions in the decision-making process of individuals. Hence, the volume assesses the implications of production decisions across agricultural farms and manufacturing firms. It presents evidence on aggregate productivity from the perspective of production units, using recent household surveys for farmers and firm-level surveys for select countries, as well as frontier estimation techniques. It documents the extent of severe resource misallocation across agricultural and manufacturing production units. These distortions decelerate the growth of the production units, disincentivize their adoption of productivity-enhancing technologies, and reduce the ability of their peers to learn new techniques. Boosting Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa highlights the adoption of digital technologies to reduce some of these market frictions. Mobile money has increased financial inclusion in several countries, and digital financial technologies have given individuals access to savings instruments and loan products. Enhancing access to credit can help individuals invest in schooling and overcome the costs of formality. The volume discusses further avenues of research that may provide additional insights on the productivity dynamics across countries in the region, and it identifies the different channels of policy transmission to enhance productivity. The empirical work presented can help to guide the design of policy in the region.

A Strategy to Develop Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa and a Focus for the World Bank

A Strategy to Develop Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa and a Focus for the World Bank
Author: Kevin M. Cleaver
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 162
Release: 1993-01-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780821324202

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For 25 years, population growth has outpaced increases in agricultural production in Sub-Saharan Africa. The lack of food and the degradation of agricultural land have forced policymakers to reassess agricultural strategies for the region. This paper provides such a reassessment by identifying policies and investments that have worked and those that have not. The author sets out the common elements required for agricultural and rural development throughout the region. The strategy presented in this paper comprises elements from several development sectors, including transport, water supply, education, finance, and the environment. The author makes five broad recommendations to promote Region: adoption of policies to promote private sector farming and agricultural marketing, processing, and credit development and distribution of new technologies inclusion of farmers in decisions affecting their livelihood development of infrastructure and social programs in support of agriculture improved management of natural resources Projections of the likely effects of the proposed policies and investments are included. Tables throughout the text present statistics on agricultural growth rates, commodity prices, and deforestation in the region. An annex contains more general tables, with information on population growth and fertility rates, land use, agricultural exports, and droughts. The strategies suggested in this paper will be of interest to policymakers, academics, and to development practitioners involved in African agriculture.

Successes in African Agriculture

Successes in African Agriculture
Author: Haggblade, Steven
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 464
Release: 2010-01-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0801895030

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Sub—Saharan Africa is one of the poorest regions of the world. Because most Africans work in agriculture, escaping such dire poverty depends on increased agricultural productivity to raise rural incomes, lower food prices, and stimulate growth in other economic sectors. Per capita agricultural production in sub—Saharan Africa has fallen, however, for much of the past half—century. Successes in African Agriculture investigates how to reverse this decline. Instead of cataloging failures, as many past studies have done, this book identifies episodes of successful agricultural growth in Africa and identifies processes, practices, and policies for accelerated growth in the future. The individual studies follow developments in, among other areas, the farming of maize in East and Southern Africa, cassava across the middle belt of Africa, cotton in West Africa, horticulture in Kenya, and dairying in East Africa. Drawing on these case studies and on consultations with agricultural specialists and politicians from across sub—Saharan Africa -- undertaken in collaboration with the African Union's New Partnership for Africa's Development -- the contributors identify two key determinants of positive agricultural performance: agricultural research to provide more productive and sustainable technologies to farmers and a policy framework that fosters market incentives for increasing production. The contributors discuss how the public and private sectors can best coordinate the convergence of both factors. Given current concerns about global food security, this book provides timely and important resources to policymakers and development specialists concerned with reversing the negative trends in food insecurity and poverty in Africa.

Down to Earth

Down to Earth
Author: Luc J. Christiaensen
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 122
Release: 2007
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0821368559

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This book contributes to the debate about the role of agriculture in poverty reduction by addressing three sets of questions: Does investing in agriculture enhance/harm overall economic growth, and if so, under what conditions? Do poor people tend to participate more/less in growth in agriculture than in growth in other sectors, and if so, when? If a focus on agriculture would tend to yield larger participation by the poor, but slower overall growth, which strategy would tend to have the largest payoff in terms of poverty reduction, and under which conditions?

Reaping Richer Returns

Reaping Richer Returns
Author: Aparajita Goyal
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2017-03-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464809402

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Enhancing the productivity of agriculture is vital for Sub-Saharan Africa's economic future and is one of the most important tools to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity in the region. How governments elect to spend public resources has significant development impact in this regard. Choosing to catalyze a shift toward more effective, efficient, and climate-resilient public spending in agriculture can accelerate change and unleash growth. Not only does agricultural public spending in Sub-Saharan Africa lag behind other developing regions but its impact is vitiated by subsidy programs and transfers that tend to benefit elites to the detriment of poor people and the agricultural sector itself. Shortcomings in the budgeting processes also reduce spending effectiveness. In light of this scenario, addressing the quality of public spending and the efficiency of resource use becomes even more important than addressing only the level of spending. Improvements in the policy environment, better institutions, and investments in rural public goods positively affect agricultural productivity. These, combined with smarter use of public funds, have helped lay the foundations for agricultural productivity growth around the world, resulting in a wealth of important lessons from which African policy makers and development practitioners can draw. 'Reaping Richer Returns: Public Spending Priorities for African Agriculture Productivity Growth' will be of particular interest to policy makers, development practitioners, and academics. The rigorous analysis presented in this book provides options for reform with a view to boosting the productivity of African agriculture and eventually increasing development impact.

Agricultural Growth Linkages in Sub-Saharan Africa

Agricultural Growth Linkages in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Christopher L. Delgado
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 158
Release: 1998-01-01
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0896291103

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How much extra net income growth can be had in rural areas of Africa by increasing the spending power of local households? The answer depends on how rural households spend increments to income, whether the items desired can be imported to the local area in response to increased demand, and, if not, whether increased demand will lead to new local production or simply to price rises. For every dollar in new farm income earned, at least one additional-tional dollar could be realized from growth multipliers, according to Agricultural Growth Linkages in Sub-Saharan Africa, Research Report 107, by Christopher L. Delgado, Jane Hopkins, and Valerie A. Kelly, with Peter Hazell, Anna A. McKenna, Peter Gruhn, Behjat Hojjati, Jayashree Sil, and Claude Courbois.

Measuring Productivity in African Agriculture

Measuring Productivity in African Agriculture
Author: Simeon Ehui
Publisher: ILRI (aka ILCA and ILRAD)
Total Pages: 32
Release: 2002-01-01
Genre: Agricultural productivity
ISBN: 9789291461202

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This paper argues that partial productivity measures are inappropriate and at times misleading for assessing the performance of agricultural production technologies and systems. This is especially true where substantial changes in resource stock and flows accompany the production process. Superlative-index based total factor productivity measures are a more appropriate technique to compare production efficiency and sustainability of alternative systems. Mathematical formulations of intertemporal and interspatial total factor productivity measures with and without considering changes in resource stock and flows are shown. Then three case studies from sub-Saharan Africa in which this approach was applied are reviewed. These studies show that total factor productivity measures are biased if changes in resource stock and flows are not appropriately accounted for in intertemporal comparisons, and differences in input intensity are not accounted for in interspatial comparisons.