European Companies Search Engine
UK funding (£410,953): Space, Markets and Employment in Agricultural Development: Case Studies from Southern Africa Ukri1 Mar 2012 UK Research and Innovation, United Kingdom
Overview
Text
Space, Markets and Employment in Agricultural Development: Case Studies from Southern Africa
| Abstract | This project is directed at the Agriculture and Growth theme. In this project we will investigate how agricultural development can contribute to non-farm employment in rural areas in low-income and developing countries. A strong non-farm sector is a key aspect of sustainable rural development - especially when many do not have land and are not involved in agricultural production, and where land investments or productivity increases may lead to people being displaced out of agriculture. Yet while policymakers have long been aware of the importance of non-farm employment, they often press ahead with agricultural development plans without considering these impacts, and regularly simply assume that people who are leaving the land will automatically find employment elsewhere. It is however becoming clear that such automatic re-employment does not happen, and that increases in agricultural productivity, even where they lead to greater incomes for farmers, do not automatically stimulate non-farm employment. The links between agricultural growth and non-farm employment are not clearly understood. It has long been assumed that agricultural growth benefits non-farm employment by increasing the local demand from farmers and farm workers for goods and services, but history shows that this is not always the case. The employment benefits of agricultural growth depend on many factors -- including, crucially, the spatial organization of production, processing and marketing, and the nature of the value chains that link farmers to local and distant markets, as consumers and as producers. If these forms of organization bypass local markets, agricultural development can lead to links with distant markets being strengthened, while not contributing to the local economy. In the context of increased pressure on agricultural land, these questions are becoming increasingly important in many parts of the world. This is so particularly in Southern Africa where rural development is being affected by a host of pressures, including competition for agricultural land, the political saliency of land reform and small farmer development, and the increasing power of supermarkets. A better understanding is needed of the spatial and institutional factors that support employment-intensive rural development. PLAAS aims to address these questions by doing case study research in three countries where these issues are pressing: South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe. It will consider dynamics both of low-income countries (Zimbabwe and Malawi) and more 'advanced' ones (South Africa). Here, it will apply an innovative methodological approach: instead of trying to capture all these complex linkages by constructing a social accounting matrix (which has expensive data requirements and cannot capture the spatial linkages involved) the study will focus on carefully mapping actual resource flows between economic actors, 'following the money' by identifying the upstream and downstream connections that link households and enterprises to one another, and iteratively building a map of social and economic networks. It will analyse these networks using software developed for mapping social networks. In a second phase of the study, a household livelihood survey will measure the impact on employment, incomes and food security of women and men. We will use this data to build a detailed understanding of how local economic networks and value chains shape the prospects for non-farm employment. This research will be done in close co-operation with policy-making bodies and planners. The research agenda set out here touches on key issues central to the South African government's new economic growth path as well as NEPAD's Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Plan, and PLAAS will use the data and findings to increase policymakers' understanding of how to support non-farm employment through appropriate approaches to the spatial design of agricultural development. |
| Category | Research Grant |
| Reference | ES/J009261/1 |
| Status | Closed |
| Funded period start | 01/03/2012 |
| Funded period end | 31/03/2015 |
| Funded value | £410,953.00 |
| Source | https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FJ009261%2F1 |
Participating Organisations
| University of the Western Cape |
The filing refers to a past date, and does not necessarily reflect the current state. The current state is available on the following page: University of The Western Cape NPC, Bellville, South Africa.
The visualizations for "University of the Western Cape - UK funding (£410,953): Space, Markets and Employment in Agricultural Development: Case Studies from Southern Africa"
are provided by
North Data
and may be reused under the terms of the
Creative Commons CC-BY license.
