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on Africa |
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Issue of 2006‒08‒12
nine papers chosen by Suzanne McCoskey Foreign Service Institute, US Department of State |
| By: | T.S. Jayne (Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University); D. Mather; E. Mghenyi |
| Abstract: | This paper identifies major trends affecting the future of the small farm in Sub-Saharan Africa, and identifies policy responses and public investment strategies by African governments, governments of high-income countries, and multilateral donors that can give African smallholders the chance to be viable in an increasingly globalized world. |
| Keywords: | food security, food policy, agriculture policy |
| JEL: | Q18 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:msu:idpwrk:086&r=afr |
| By: | Hannah Chaplin |
| Abstract: | This paper documents the nature and importance of agricultural trade flows between the six Irish Aid programme countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Ireland and the EU-15 over the period 1995-2003. The six countries are: Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique and Lesotho. Agricultural exports from these countries are highly specialised, with coffee, tea and fish and fish products dominating. There is some evidence that improved market access to the EU under the Everything But Arms initiative has led to increased exports, particularly of sugar. The pattern of Ireland’s agricultural trade with the six countries differs in significant ways from the EU-15 as a whole. The agricultural trade balance was positive from the perspective of the Irish Aid programme countries, but the balance was declining over time. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural trade, developing countries |
| Date: | 2006–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iis:dispap:iiisdp156&r=afr |
| By: | Dirk Kohnert (GIGA Institute of African Affairs) |
| Abstract: | The globalized Western culture of innovation, as propagated by major aid institutions, does not necessarily lead to empowerment or improvement of the well-being of the stakeholders. On the contrary, it often blocks viable indigenous innovation cultures. In African societies and African Diasporas in Latin America, cultures of innovation largely accrue from the informal, not the formal sector. Crucial for their proper understanding is a threefold structural differentiation: between the formal and informal sector, within the informal sector, according to class, gender or religion, and between different transnational social spaces. Different innovation cultures may be complementary, mutually reinforcing, or conflicting, leading in extreme cases even to a ‘clash of cultures’ at the local level. The repercussions of competing, even antagonistic agencies of innovative strategic groups are demonstrated, analyzing the case of the African poor in Benin and the African Diasporas of Brazil and Haiti. |
| Keywords: | Economic development; cultural change; innovations; social structure; African Diaspora; Benin; Brazil; Haiti |
| JEL: | O31 Z1 E26 Z12 Z13 O57 |
| Date: | 2006–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gig:wpaper:25&r=afr |
| By: | F. T. M. Kilima |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the extent to which world market price changes are transmitted through changes in border prices into local producer prices for four agricultural product markets in Tanzania: sugar, cotton, wheat and rice. The changes in the marketing channels for each of these products resulting from market liberalization are described. The statistical analysis finds that, in general, Tanzanian border and world market prices for these products do not move closely together, although there is evidence that border prices are influenced by world market price levels but not vice versa. The absence of monthly price data at producer level for these products did not permit a detailed examination of the relationship between farmgate prices and either border prices or world market prices. However, the qualitative discussion suggests that the extent of price transmission is likely to be imperfect. These results have implications for the interpretation of simulation results modelling the potential impact of trade policy changes on Tanzanian producers and consumers. They also underline the need for concerted efforts by policy makers to reduce the extent of monopoly power in these marketing chains and to improve the degree of price transmission. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural trade, price transmission, developing countries |
| Date: | 2006–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iis:dispap:iiisdp160&r=afr |
| By: | Marie Suzanne Badji (GREDI, Département d'économique, Université de Sherbrooke); Dorothée Boccanfuso (GREDI, Faculte d'administration, Université de Sherbrooke) |
| Abstract: | Ce papier vient enrichir la littérature développée autour de la problématique de la pauvreté en générale et celle des femmes au Sénégal en particulier. Compte tenu de l'importance croissante du nombre de ménages conduits par des femmes, des discriminations sexuelles dont les populations féminines sont encore victimes et de leur relative vulnérabilité, il nous est paru intéressant, à défaut de pouvoir étudier en profondeur le profil de la pauvreté féminine, de nous interroger sur la sensibilité actuelles des ménages conduits par des femmes par rapport au phénomène pour en déduire la tendance d’évolution de la dévaluation du franc CFA à nos jours. Sur la base des enseignements tirés de nos résultats, des recommandations ont été formulées. Leur prise en compte dans les programmes et mesures de politique initiés en matière de lutte contre la pauvreté contribuerait, à ne point en douter, à améliorer substantiellement le niveau de vie des populations, particulièrement celles qui composent les ménages conduits par des femmes. |
| Keywords: | pauvreté, genre, déterminants, évolution |
| JEL: | I12 C51 O15 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shr:wpaper:06-18&r=afr |
| By: | Jacob Opolot; Rose Kuteesa |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the recent economic performance of the Ugandan economy, with a particular emphasis on the impact of the reform program on agricultural development and poverty. The constituent elements of the reform program in place since 1987 are described, and the resulting impact on the real economy is critically assessed. There was a significant fall in the headcount poverty ratio between 1992/93 and 1999/00 although more recently this trend has reversed. Uganda experienced a strong deterioration in its external terms of trade as well as high population growth rates which make it more difficult to meet its poverty eradication objectives. Government policies set out in the Poverty Eradication Action Plan and the Plan for Modernization of Agriculture are initiatives in the right direction, but require sustained effort to ensure their implementation. |
| Keywords: | Policy reform, agriculture, poverty, food security |
| Date: | 2006–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iis:dispap:iiisdp158&r=afr |
| By: | Thomass Lagoardde-Segot; Brian M. Lucey |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to situate the MENA area within the emerging markets universe. We first discuss the various components of market emergence and generate four bootstrapped indexes reflecting market size, market activity, market pricing and transparency. We then draw inter-regional and country-level comparisons using a probit model and a hierarchical cluster analysis. Our results suggest that in spite of intra-regional heterogeneity, the MENA region ranks favorably by comparison to Latin America and Eastern Europe. We can therefore expect greater international financial integration of the MENA region in the near future. |
| Keywords: | Common Agricultural Policy, World Trade Organizations, Trade Negotiations. |
| Date: | 2006–08–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iis:dispap:iiisdp172&r=afr |
| By: | Marcel Neutel (University of Groningen); Almas Heshmati (University of Kurdistan - Hawler, TEPP, Seoul National University and IZA Bonn) |
| Abstract: | In this research, the relationship between globalisation and poverty and income inequality is determined. A whole new globalisation index has been constructed based on data covering a large sample of 65 developing countries. The index is based on the globalisation index proposed by A.T. Kearney / Foreign Policy Magazine. The index is composed of four subindices, namely: economic integration, personal contacts, technological connections and political engagement. Results from cross-sectional regression analysis show that there is a significant relationship between globalisation and poverty and income inequality. Globalisation leads to poverty reduction and it reduces income inequality. The relationship between globalisation and poverty remains significant when controlled for regional heterogeneity. A non-linear analysis shows that poverty has diminishing returns to benefits from globalisation. |
| Keywords: | globalisation, poverty, inequality, indices |
| JEL: | C43 F15 O57 |
| Date: | 2006–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2223&r=afr |
| By: | Alan Matthews; Keith Walsh |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the GTAP computable general equilibrium model to assess the impact of a Doha Development Agenda agreement on agricultural trade liberalisation. In particular, we examine the consequences for developing countries. The simulation incorporates further liberalisation in the areas of market access, export competition and domestic support. Most developing regions can expect strong positive results from this liberalisation, however some suffer a decrease in welfare. The magnitude of the welfare effect for these countries depends on measures to be taken by developing countries themselves, and whether they will materialise must be uncertain. The results highlight the importance of the impact of further liberalisation of the erosion of preferential trading arrangements enjoyed by developing regions. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural trade liberalisation, GTAP, developing countries |
| Date: | 2006–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iis:dispap:iiisdp157&r=afr |