Agricultural Supply Chains, Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: Market Structure, Farm Constraints and Grass-root Institutions

这项研究建议涉及DFID-ESRC增长方案的“农业与增长”主题。在非洲，农村贫困是一个普遍现象。历史上成功摆脱贫困的国家是那些成功地使其经济多样化，不再依赖农业和其他自然资源活动的国家。然而，在非洲，农业部门迄今未能成为非洲大陆大多数国家增长和经济转型的引擎。在非洲，国际市场条件与国内市场结构相结合，影响了农业增长和减贫。在撒哈拉以南非洲，农业生产力水平大约是亚洲小农所享有的水平的三分之一。部分问题在于市场结构，以及服务于农业部门的糟糕的机构、政策和基础设施。通常，农业产出的商业化是沿着中间商、出口商和下游生产者与农民互动的价值链进行的。在非洲，农业部门主要由原子化的小农组成，而价值链的较低层通常由少数公司主导。农民可能会受到产业链上其他代理人的非竞争行为的影响，或者因为无法获得运输和其他服务或过于昂贵而被限制在市场上销售产品。我们的研究将调查农业市场结构和农场限制是否以及如何影响有活力的粮食和经济作物部门的发展，以及这些部门是否可以为撒哈拉以南非洲的经济转型和减贫进程做出贡献。为此，我们计划研究一些农作物和国家的农业供应链、农业限制和贫困之间的相互作用。我们将绘制现有供应链的地图，描述现有的市场结构和国内竞争政策(私有化、监管、进入、合并等)。在农场一级，我们将研究小农在提高生产率方面面临的制约因素，并打破低生产率加剧贫困脆弱性的恶性循环。在一系列案例研究中，我们将探索基层机构如何帮助克服这些限制。我们将研究市场配置、农场约束和基层机构行动如何相互作用，创造消除贫困的有用工具。我们亦会研究女性户主家庭与男性户主家庭所受的不同影响。由于妇女和贫困家庭在参与农业价值链和非市场机构方面往往面临更大的障碍，在我们的分析中必须强调这种不同的制约因素及其影响。我们的分析建立在几个案例研究的基础上，涵盖撒哈拉以南非洲的大部分地区以及该大陆生产的许多主要粮食和经济作物。每个案例研究有三个组成部分，分别是供应链、农场限制和基层机构以及贫穷的影响。反过来，每个构建块中的分析都基于完善的理论框架和全面的量化评估。

This research proposal relates to the "Agriculture and Growth" theme of the DFID-ESRC Growth Programme.In Africa, rural poverty is a widespread phenomenon. The countries that historically managed to pull out of poverty are those that have been successful in diversifying their economies away from agriculture and other natural resource based activities. However, in Africa, the agriculture sector has so far failed to become an engine of growth and economic transformation for most countries in the continent. In Africa, international market conditions combine with domestic market configurations in shaping agriculture growth and poverty reduction. In Sub-Saharan Africa the levels of productivity in agriculture are of the order of one third of those enjoyed by small-holders in Asia. Part of the problem lies in the market structures and in the poor institutions, policies, and infrastructure serving the agriculture sector. Often, the commercialization of the agriculture output is produced along a value chain where intermediaries, exporters, and downstream producers interact with farmers. While in Africa the farming sector is composed mostly of atomistic smallholders, the lower-layers of the value chains are usually dominated by a small number of firms. Farmers may suffer from the non-competitive behavior of other agents along the chain, or be constrained from selling output in markets because transport and other services are not available or are too costly.Our research will investigate if and how agricultural market structures and farm constraints affect the development of dynamic food and cash crop sectors and whether these sectors can contribute to a process of economic transformation and poverty reduction in Sub Saharan Africa. To do that we plan to study the interplay between agriculture supply chains, farm constraints and poverty in a number of crops and countries. We will do a mapping of the existing supply chains characterizing the existing market structures and domestic competition policies (privatization, regulation, entry, merger, etc). At the farm level we will study the constraints faced by small holders to increase productivity and break a vicious cycle where low productivity exacerbates vulnerability to poverty. In a series of case studies, we will explore how grass-root institutions may help overcome those constraints. We will study how the market configurations, farm constraints, and the action of grass-root institutions interact to create useful instruments of poverty eradication. We will also study the differential effect on female-headed households vis-à-vis male-headed households. As women and poor households often confront greater barriers to participation in agricultural value chains and in nonmarket institutions, it is important to highlight such differential constraints and their impacts in our analysis.Our analysis builds around several case studies covering much of Sub-Saharan Africa and many of the major food and cash crops produced in the continent. Each case study has three building blocks, supply chains, farm constraints and grass-root institutions, and poverty impacts. In turn, the analysis in each building block is based on a sound theoretical framework and on a comprehensive quantitative assessment.