Policy Briefs

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Browsing by Subject "Agricultural development"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Can agriculture contribute to inclusive rural economies?
    (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2015) du Toit, Andries
    If agricultural development is to contribute to economic growth, it has to do more than increase the productivity or efficiency of farming. It also needs to contribute to employment in the rural non-farm sector. This is because increases in the intensity, efficiency or competitiveness of agriculture often push large numbers of people off the land – and opportunities for finding alternative employment in the cities are scarce. Inclusive growth thus also depends on the development of an inclusive and diverse rural non-farm economy (RNFE). This is something often ignored both by agricultural and labour market policy. Policymakers, therefore, need to ask how different pathways of agricultural development affect non-farm employment. Research conducted by PLAAS indicates that agricultural development can indeed stimulate local non-farm job creation – but the links are neither simple nor direct. While access by farmers to lucrative global markets or national markets can stimulate the local economy, much depends on the precise nature of the forward and backward linkages that connect farming to the rest of the economy. The ability of farming to stimulate the RNFE depends greatly on the scale of agriculture, the social and spatial organisation of agricultural value chains and the political economy of local institutions.
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    Space, markets and employment in agricultural development: Malawi
    (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2015) Chirwa, Ephraim; Matita, Mirriam
    Agriculture plays a significant role in Malawi’s national economy, contributing 35% to gross domestic product, 90% to foreign exchange earnings and providing employment to more than 80% of the labour force. Particularly in such agricultural-based economies, growth in the agricultural sector has long been assumed to benefit the rural non-farm sector. Agriculture potentially benefits the non-farm sector through various production or consumption expenditure ‘linkages’, including local expenditure by farmers and their workers (Haggblade et al., 2010). However, the economic and employment benefits of agriculture crucially depend on the spatial patterns of agricultural production, processing and marketing (and their linkages to local markets). These are considered in what follows.
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    Space, markets and employment in agricultural development: South Africa
    (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2015) Neves, David; Hakizimana, Cyriaque
    Growth in the agricultural sector has long been assumed to automatically benefit the rural non-farm sector, mainly through production or consumption ‘linkages’, including expenditure by farmers and their workers. However the economic and employment benefits of agriculture depend crucially on the spatial patterns of agricultural production, processing and marketing (and their linkages to local markets). These policy findings draw on detailed area-based research examining agriculture, along with its upstream and downstream ‘linkages’, in the Weenen district of KwaZulu-Natal (Neves & Hakizimana, 2015). The district is home to both large and small-scale commercial farmers primarily engaging in horticulture. The research examined the economic and employment contribution of agriculture, and its impact on the larger RNFE.
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    Space, markets and employment in agricultural development: Zimbabwe
    (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2015) Sukume, Chrispen; Mavedzenge, Blasio; Murimbarima, Felix
    Growth in the agricultural sector has long been assumed to automatically benefit the rural non-farm sector, chiefly through various production or consumption expenditure ‘linkages’ including local expenditure by farmers and their workers (Davis et al., 2002). However, the economic and employment benefits of agriculture crucially depend on the spatial patterns of agricultural production, processing and marketing (and their linkages to local markets). How these work in Zimbabwe is examined in what follows. These policy findings draw on detailed, area-based research that examined agriculture and its linkages in two areas marked by ‘resettlement’ by emerging small- and medium-scale farmers since the Fast-Track Land Reform of the early 2000s (Sukume et al., 2015). Two study sites in Mvurwi and Masvingo Districts were examined, focusing on a range of commodities including tobacco, horticulture and beef.