![Sample our Area Studies journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5922/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Area-Studies.jpg"})
Abstract
This paper suggests that smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are well placed to seize the opportunities from expanding global and regional demand for agricultural products but that this will require a shift from extensive to more intensive production systems. The ability of SSA's smallholder farmers to increase on-farm investments in productivity is, however, constrained by their capacity to manage the risk-return trade-offs in moving towards intensified agriculture. While stakeholders are increasing their investments to assist smallholders in SSA to participate in integrated supply chains, the returns in terms of technical and financial results from these investments are generally lower than in other developing regions. This paper suggests that this is, at least in part, a consequence of problems associated with the role of spatial and temporal coordination in program delivery. Hence, much more focus needs to be devoted to delivering goods and services for smallholders at the right place and the right time, and this should be better monitored and evaluated in the context of development programs.
Notes
1. For example, Godfray HCJ et al., ‘The future of the global food system’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society: B, 365, 2010, pp. 2769–77.
2. Montpellier Panel, The Montpellier Panel Report, Africa and Europe: Partnerships for Agricultural Development. London: Agriculture for Impact, Imperial College, 2010, <www.imperial.ac.uk/africanagriculturaldevelopment/themontpellierpanel>; FAO, How to Feed the World in 2050, Forum Background document, Rome, 12–13 October 2009, <www.fao.org/wsfs/forum2050/wsfs-background-documents/hlef-issues-briefs/en/>; World Bank, Awakening Africa's Sleeping Giant — Prospects for Commercial Agriculture in the Guinea Savannah Zone and Beyond. Washington DC: World Bank, 2009.
3. The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, 2011, <www.caadp.net>.
4. Eastwood R, M Lipton & A Newel, ‘Chapter 65: Farm size’, Handbook of Agricultural Economics, Volume 4. Oxford: Elsevier, 2010, pp. 3323–97; Deininger K & D Byerlee, The Rise of Large-Scale Farms in Land-Abundant Developing Countries. Does it have a future? World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 5588. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2011.
5. Nagayets O, ‘Small farms: Current status and key trends’, information brief prepared for the Future of Small Farms Research Workshop, Wye College, 26–29 June 2005; Anríquez G & G Bonomi, Long-Term Farming and Rural Demographic Trends, background paper for the World Development Report, 2008; Eastwood R, M Lipton & A Newel, ‘Chapter 65: Farm size’, Handbook of Agricultural Economics. Volume 4, 2010, pp. 3323–97.
6. Cf. definitions of smallholders in FAO and IFAD reports, selected journal articles, and websites of agricultural NGOs and companies such as FARM-Africa and Syngenta.
7. Nagayets O, ‘Small farms: Current status and key trends’, information brief prepared for the Future of Small Farms Research Workshop, Wye College, 26–29 June 2005; FAO, Policies and Institutions to Support Smallholder Agriculture, Committee on Agriculture, 23rd Session, FAO, Rome, 16–19 June 2010; World Bank, Reaching the Rural Poor: A Renewed Strategy for Rural Development. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2003.
8. Anríquez G & G Bonomi, Long-Term Farming and Rural Demographic Trends, background paper for the WDR, 2008.
9. Hayami Y, ‘Family farms and plantations in tropical development’, Asian Development Review, 19, 2, 2004, pp. 67–89.
10. Deininger K & D Byerlee, The Rise of Large-Scale Farms in Land-Abundant Developing Countries. Does it have a Future? World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 5588. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2011.
11. Cf. ‘Sao Tome Support Program for Family Agriculture and Artisanal Fisheries Project (PAPAFA)’, <www.ifad.org/evaluation/public_html/eksyst/doc/prj/region/pa/saotome/r274stae.htm>.
12. Binswanger H & M Rosenzweig, ‘Behavioral and material determinants of production relations in agriculture’, Journal of Development Studies, 22, April 1986, pp. 503–39.
13. Hazell P, et al., The Future of Small Farms for Poverty Reduction and Growth, 2020 Discussion Paper 42. Washington DC: IFPRI, 2007.
14. World Bank, Awakening Africa's Sleeping Giant — Prospects for Commercial Agriculture in the Guinea Savannah Zone and Beyond. Washington DC: World Bank, 2009.
15. FAO, FAOStat. 2010. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organisation, <faostat.fao.org>; IFAD, Rural Poverty Report 2011 — New Realities, New Challenges: New Opportunities for Tomorrow's Generation. Rome: IFAD, 2010.
16. FAO, How to Feed the World in 2050, Forum Background document, Rome, 12–13 October 2009, <www.fao.org/wsfs/forum2050/wsfs-background-documents/hlef-issues-briefs/en/>.
17. World Bank, Awakening Africa's Sleeping Giant — Prospects for Commercial Agriculture in the Guinea Savannah Zone and Beyond. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2009, pp. 5–6.
18. ‘World Development Indicators’, 2010. Washington, DC: World Bank.
19. Ndejeunga J & M Bantilan, ‘Uptake of improved technologies in the semi-arid tropics of West Africa: Why is agricultural transformation lagging behind?, paper presented at International Conference on ‘Green Revolution in Asia and transferability to Africa’, Tokyo, Japan, December 8–10, 2002.; Adesina A, ‘Global food and financial crises: Lessons and imperatives for accelerating food production in Africa’, presidential lecture delivered at the 3rd Conference of the African Association of Agricultural Economists, 19–23 September 2010; AGRA, ‘Facts and figures about Africa's seed systems’, <www.agra-alliance.org/section/work/seeds>.
20. IFAD, Rural Poverty Report 2011 — New Realities, New Challenges: New Opportunities for Tomorrow's Generation. Rome: IFAD, 2010.
21. FAO, Aquastat. 2010. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organisation, <www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/main/index.stm>.
22. FAO, Irrigation in Africa in figures. Aquastat survey 2005, FAO Water reports 29. Rome: FAO, 2005.
23. Dorosh P, et al. 2009. Crop Production and Road Connectivity in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Spatial Analysis. Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic, Working Paper 19, 2009.
24. PHL Network, ‘Estimated post-harvest losses (2003–2009)’, Post Harvest Losses Network, 2010, <www.aphlis.net/index.php?form=losses_estimates>.
25. World Bank/FAO, Missing Food: The Case of Post Harvest Losses in Sub-Saharan Africa, Working Paper. Washington, DC, & Rome: World Bank/FAO, 2010.
26. A growing body of research based on behavioural economics is exploring the rationality of the choices made by the poor, often characterised as being in ‘poverty traps’ caused by scarcity, informational or market dysfunctions (for example Brooks D, ‘The unexamined society’, The New York Times, 7 July 2011, <www.nytimes.com/2011/07/08/opinion/08brooks.html?_r=3>). The focus in this paper is on some of the challenges faced by smallholders which result from the actions of those who claim to assist them, rather than on the rationality of the choices themselves, which is better addressed by those conducting more rigorous behavioural analysis. (see for example Banerjee A & E Duflo, ‘The economic lives of the poor’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21, 1, 2006, pp. 141–167).
27. Raswant V & R Khanna with T Nicodeme, Pro-Poor Rural Value-Chain Development Thematic Study. Rome: IFAD, 2010.
28. The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, 2011, <www.caadp.net>.
29. OECD, OECD Statistics, 2011 <stats.oecd.org>.
30. Inoncencio A, et al. 2007. Costs and Performance of Irrigation Projects: A Comparison of Sub-Saharan Africa and Other Developing Regions, IWMI Research Report 109. Colombo: IWMI, 2007; World Bank, World Development Report 2009. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2009.
31. Ndejeunga J & M Bantilan, ‘Uptake of improved technologies in the semi-arid tropics of West Africa: Why is agricultural transformation lagging behind?, paper presented at International Conference on ‘Green Revolution in Asia and transferability to Africa’, Tokyo, Japan, 2002.
32. Authors’ personal experience and observations.
33. Sebastian K, ‘GIS/Spatial analysis contribution to 2008 WDR’, market access dataset, 2007, <go.worldbank.org/GLF6HRYFI0>.
34. Dorosh P, et al. 2009. Crop Production and Road Connectivity in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Spatial Analysis. Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic, Working Paper 19, 2009; World Development Indicators, 2010. Washington, DC: World Bank.
35. Dorosh P, et al. 2009. Crop Production and Road Connectivity in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Spatial Analysis. Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic, Working Paper 19, 2009.
36. Teravaninthorn S & G Raballand, Transport Prices and Costs in Africa: A Review of the Main International Corridors, Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic, Working Paper 14. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2008.
37. Sebastian K, ‘GIS/Spatial analysis contribution to 2008 WDR’, market access dataset, 2007, <go.worldbank.org/GLF6HRYFI0>.
38. Bumb B, ‘Fertilizer supply chain in Africa’, presentation at a COMESA fertilizer policy training by IFDC, Zambia, 2009.
39. World Bank, ‘Why are fertilizer prices higher in Africa?’ World Bank Fertilizer Toolkit, <http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/fertilizeruse/documents/HighPrices.pdf>.
40. Africa Rice Center, Africa Rice Trends, 2007. Cotonou: Africa Rice Center, 2008.
41. Inefficient and expensive maritime port operations are also a significant barrier to increasing the competitiveness of smallholder farmers in SSA, impacting the cost of imported inputs and prices achieved for agricultural exports. Inadequate infrastructure to meet the rapidly expanding volume of maritime traffic, and cumbersome institutional and regulatory frameworks, results in much higher operating costs in Africa than elsewhere. Average costs to unload containers in West African ports ($320) are, on average, twice the amount of those on other continents.
42. Teravaninthorn S & G Raballand. Transport Prices and Costs in Africa: A Review of the Main International Corridors, Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic, Working Paper 14. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2008.
43. Teravaninthorn S & G Raballand. Transport Prices and Costs in Africa: A Review of the Main International Corridors, Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic, Working Paper 14. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2008., p. 8.
44. Teravaninthorn S & G Raballand. Transport Prices and Costs in Africa: A Review of the Main International Corridors, Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic, Working Paper 14. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2008., p. 8.
45. World Bank, World Development Report 2009. Washington: World Bank, 2009.
46. ROPPA, personal communication, 2010 — informal presentation in Dakar by the Network of Peasant Organizations and Producers of West Africa.
47. Morardet S, et al., Improving Irrigation Project Planning and Implementation Process: Diagnosis and Recommendations. Contribution to Collaborative Program — Investment in Agricultural Water for Poverty Reduction. Colombo: IWMI, 2005; Yale Office of Public Affairs, ‘Yale receives Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant for microfinance research initiative’, 16 November 2010, <www.opa.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=7975>.
48. Dorward A, Rethinking Agricultural Input Subsidy Programmes in a Changing World. London: SOAS, 2009.
49. Yawson D, et al., ‘Ghana's fertilizer subsidy policy: Early field lessons from farmers in the central region’, Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa, 12, 3, 2010.
50. Xu, et al., ‘Maize yield response to fertilizer and profitability of fertilizer use among small-scale maize producers in Zambia’, paper prepared for the International Association of Agricultural Economists Conference, Gold Coast, Australia, 12–18 August 2006.
51. Kabambe V, et al., ‘The effects of time of applying basal dressing fertilizers on maize yield under varying rainfall regimes and inherent soil fertility in Malawi’, 6th Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Maize Conference. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 21 September 1998, pp. 290–92.; Xu Z, et al., ‘Maize yield response to fertilizer and profitability of fertilizer use among small-scale maize producers in Zambia’, paper prepared for the International Association of Agricultural Economists Conference, Gold Coast, Australia, 12–18 August 2006; Minde I, et al., 2008. ‘Promoting fertilizer use in Africa: Current issues and empirical evidence from Malawi, Zambia, and Kenya’, ReSAKSS Working Paper No. 13, 2008.
52. Poulton C, J Kydd & A Dorword, Increasing Fertilizer Use in Africa: What Have We Learned?, Agriculture and Rural Development Discussion Paper 25. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2006.
53. Coffee cherries are the fruit of the coffee tree. The fruit is harvested and the beans are extracted in processing.
54. Riemen C, personal communication (conversation), December 2010. IFAD Country Program Manager for Rwanda.
55. IFAD, Programme Management Department Annual Portfolio Review (which includes comparisons to other institutions), 2010.