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

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“决定进入和摆脱贫困的路径的因素……”以及可以采取的措施，以减少暴力和不稳定对最贫穷者的风险和影响……世界上一些最贫穷的人生活在与世隔绝的非洲村庄。由于缺乏市场准入，农村生产者通常从他们生产的任何产品中赚取的收入很少，这使得自给自足的生产永久化。这些农民中有许多是女性。他们的贫困是多种因素综合作用的结果，其中一些因素交织在一起，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产品，但更好的道路是农业发展的先决条件，但考虑到实际交易量很小，改善道路是不可能的。有没有可能打破这一陷阱，开启农业市场化增长与脱贫攻坚的良性循环？我们打算回答这个问题，是关于一场以摩托车出租车为基础的蓬勃发展的由当地驱动的农村交通革命。即使在非洲最贫穷的地区，廉价的中国制造的摩托车出租车现在也已经成为农村景观的一部分，它们行驶的道路太窄或太泥泞，不适合四轮运输，车上装载着一袋袋大米、花生和可可豆。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点。骑车人通常是年轻男性(偶尔是年轻女性)，十年前他们手中拿的是枪，而不是自行车。为了避免剥削性的传统农业制度，农村青年将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能进一步支持和刺激这一发展的信息。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地运输到村庄/路边方面遇到了特别的限制，许多农地的小路甚至无法通过摩托车导航。升级这些轨道以便供摩托车使用是非常便宜的(与更传统的农村道路建设相比)，而且基本上可以由社区执行。但在没有影响的确切数据的情况下，相关的国家行为者和国际捐助者仍然不愿将资金分配给农村轨道建设/升级，而是更愿意坚持更传统(但成本更高)的四轮车辆无障碍农村道路的建设/恢复。在利比里亚，美国国际开发署的农场到市场农村道路恢复计划最近开始，将在2014至2018年间确定、排名和设计450公里的道路建设。其中大部分将是传统的农村公路，但(迄今)一小部分将被分配用于轨道建设/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)了解与更传统的4轮无障碍支线道路相比，修建从农庄到村庄/道路/市场的摩托车可通航轨道对帮助(半)自给农民脱贫的影响；2)研究通过在农村地区修建常规支线公路而不是在村民修建2轮支线道路来改善通道和机动性的社会经济影响；3)记录社区参与决策进程和实际建设常规支线公路和2轮无障碍轨道所产生的问题。

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.