Agriculture, value chains and the rural non-farm economy in Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe
Loading...
Date
2019
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Spinger Nature
Abstract
This chapter compares rural development in Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe, concentrating on agricultural value chains and their implications for the rural non-farm economy (RNFE). Based on detailed qualitative exploration, it is shown that value chains in Mchinji (Malawi) are predominantly local, with few impulses being generated for the RNFE. The commercialised farms that characterise Weenen (South Africa) are locally disembedded, thus not triggering local development. In Mazowe and Mazvingo (Zimbabwe), agriculture is linked to a thriving RNFE and to distant corporate players. This creates down- and upstream markets that are significantly more complex and diverse than in the Malawian and South African cases. Against this background, the author suggests that dense, locally embedded and externally connected networks that do not suffer from an overly unequal distribution of power are most conducive to rural development.
Description
Keywords
Rural development, Agricultural value chains, Malawi, Rural non-farm economy, Power
Citation
du Toit A. (2019) Agriculture, Value Chains and the Rural Non-Farm Economy in Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe. In: Scholvin S., Black A., Revilla Diez J., Turok I. (eds) Value Chains in Sub-Saharan Africa. Advances in African Economic, Social and Political Development. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-06206-4_12