At the end of the feeder road: assessing the impact of track construction for motorbike taxis on agrarian development in Liberia

支线公路的尽头：评估摩托车出租车轨道建设对利比里亚农业发展的影响

• 批准号: ES/M008908/1
• 负责人: Krijn Peters
• 金额: $ 17.11万
• 依托单位: Swansea University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2015 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FM008908%2F1
• 关键词: end; feeder; road; assessing; impact

This research will answer questions which directly fall under the remit of 2 of the 3 research questions of the ESRC-DFID Poverty Alleviation Research call, focusing on 'factors shaping pathways into and out of poverty ...' and 'measures that can be taken to reduce the risks and impact of violence and instability on the poorest...'Some of the world's poorest people are found in isolated African villages. Lacking market access, rural producers typically earn little from whatever they produce, and this perpetuates subsistence production. Many of these farmers are women. Their poverty results from a combination of factors, some of which interlock in a vicious circle comprising lack of labor, finance and market access. Even though farmers may be willing to produce more for markets, better roads are a pre-condition for agricultural development, but are not forthcoming given the small volumes that are actually traded. Is it possible to break this trap and kick-start a virtuous cycle of market-led agricultural growth and poverty alleviation? We propose to answer this question in relation to a burgeoning locally-driven rural transport revolution based on the motorbike taxi. Even in the poorest regions of Africa, cheap Chinese-made motorbike taxis have now become part of the rural landscape, navigating roads too narrow or muddy for 4-wheel transport, and loaded with bags of rice, groundnuts and cocoa beans on it. In the war-affected forest region of Upper West Africa these bikes are a relatively new feature. Riders are often young men (occasionally young women), who a decade ago were handling a gun rather than a bike. In an effort to avoid exploitative traditional agrarian institutions, rural youths have embraced the transport sector as a means to earn a living. The penetration of bike taxis deep into isolated rural communities has spread spontaneously and created direct and indirect employment opportunities for low-skilled youth. There is little information on the consequences of the recent spread of bike taxis for poverty alleviation and market integration, let alone information on what interventions might further support and stimulate this development. Preliminary observations in Sierra Leone and Liberia suggest that farmers experience particular limitations where it concerns the transportation of agricultural produce from farmstead to village/roadside, with many farmstead tracks not even navigable for motorbikes. Upgrading these tracks so that they can be used by motorbikes is extremely cheap (as compared to more conventional rural road construction) and can largely be executed by the community. But without hard data on impact relevant state actors and international donors remain reluctant to allocate funds to rural track-building/upgrading, preferring to stick to more conventional (but expensive) 4-wheel vehicle accessible rural roads construction/rehabilitation.In Liberia, USAID's Farm to Market Rural Roads Rehabilitation Program recently commenced and will be identifying, ranking and designing 450km of roads for construction between 2014 and 2018. Most of these will be conventional rural roads, but a (as yet) small proportion will be allocated for track construction/upgrading. We propose to conduct a qualitative study of 16 villages over 4 Counties to collect socio-economic data to 1) understand the impact that motorbike navigable track building from farmstead to village/road/market has on lifting (semi-)subsistence farmers out of poverty by reducing costs to produce for markets, as compared to more conventional 4 wheel accessible feeder road construction; 2) study the socio-economic impact of improved access and mobility through the construction of conventional rural feeder roads versus 2 wheel accessible only tracks on villagers; 3) document the level, nature and issues arising of community involvement in the decision making process and actual building of conventional feeder roads and 2-wheel accessible tracks.

这项研究将回答直接属于ESRC-DFID扶贫研究呼吁的3个研究问题中的2个的问题，重点是“形成进入和摆脱贫困的途径的因素”。“和”可以采取的措施，以减少暴力和不稳定对最贫穷者的风险和影响.“世界上最贫穷的一些人生活在非洲偏远的村庄。由于缺乏市场准入，农村生产者无论生产什么产品，通常都只能赚取很少的收入，这就使得自给生产长期存在。其中许多农民是女性。他们的贫困是多种因素综合作用的结果，其中一些因素相互交织，形成了一个恶性循环，包括缺乏劳动力、资金和市场准入。尽管农民可能愿意为市场生产更多的产品，但更好的道路是农业发展的先决条件，但由于实际交易量很小，这一条件并不具备。是否有可能打破这一陷阱，启动市场主导的农业增长和减贫的良性循环？我们建议回答这个问题的基础上，摩托车出租车的蓬勃发展的本地驱动的农村交通革命。即使在非洲最贫穷的地区，廉价的中国制造摩托车出租车也已成为农村景观的一部分，它们载着一袋袋大米、花生和可可豆，行驶在对四轮运输来说过于狭窄或泥泞的道路上。在上西非受战争影响的森林地区，这些自行车是一个相对较新的特色。骑手通常是年轻男子（偶尔是年轻女子），十年前他们拿的是枪而不是自行车。为了避免传统的剥削性农业机构，农村青年已接受运输部门作为谋生手段。自行车出租车深入偏远的农村社区，自发蔓延，为低技能青年创造了直接和间接的就业机会。关于最近自行车出租车的普及对减贫和市场一体化的影响的信息很少，更不用说关于哪些干预措施可以进一步支持和刺激这一发展的信息了。在塞拉利昂和利比里亚的初步观察表明，农民在将农产品从农场运输到村庄/路边时受到特别的限制，许多农场的道路甚至不适合摩托车行驶。升级这些轨道，使它们可以被摩托车使用是非常便宜的（与更传统的农村道路建设相比），并且可以在很大程度上由社区执行。但是，由于没有关于影响的确切数据，相关国家行为者和国际捐助者仍然不愿意为农村轨道建设/升级拨款，宁愿坚持更传统的做法。在利比里亚，美国国际开发署的“从农场到市场的农村道路修复方案”最近开始实施，并将确定，在2014年至2018年期间，对450公里的道路进行排序和设计。其中大部分将是传统的农村道路，但（迄今为止）一小部分将用于轨道建设/升级。我们建议对4个县的16个村庄进行定性研究，以收集社会经济数据，以1）了解从农场到村庄/道路/市场的摩托车可导航轨道建设对通过降低市场生产成本使（半）自给农民摆脱贫困的影响，与更传统的四轮无障碍支线道路建设相比; 2）研究通过建造传统的农村支线道路而不是两轮专用道路来改善交通和流动性对村民的社会经济影响; 3）记录水平，社区参与决策过程和传统支线道路实际建设的性质和问题，以及2-车轮可到达的轨道。

项目成果

Changing women's lives and livelihoods: motorcycle taxis in rural Liberia and Sierra Leone

改变妇女的生活和生计：利比里亚和塞拉利昂农村地区的摩托车出租车

• DOI: 10.1680/jtran.18.00162
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Transport
• 作者: Jenkins J

Upgrading rural footpaths to motorcycle taxi tracks in rural sub-Saharan Africa

将撒哈拉以南非洲农村地区的农村人行道升级为摩托车出租车道

• DOI: 10.1680/jcien.22.00053
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Civil Engineering
• 作者: Peters K

At the end of the feeder road: Upgrading rural footpaths to motorcycle taxi-accessible tracks in Liberia

支线公路的尽头：将利比里亚的农村人行道升级为摩托车出租车可通行的轨道

• DOI: 10.1016/j.njas.2020.100333
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences
• 作者: Jenkins J

Rural connectivity in Africa: motorcycle track construction

• DOI: 10.1680/jtran.15.00080
• 发表时间: 2016-12-01
• 期刊: PROCEEDINGS OF THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS-TRANSPORT
• 影响因子: 0.8
• 作者: Jenkins, Jack Thomas;Peters, Krijn
• 通讯作者: Peters, Krijn