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Palgrave Macmillan

African Farmers, Value Chains and Agricultural Development

An Economic and Institutional Perspective

  • Book
  • © 2021

Overview

Authors:
  1. Alan de Brauw

    1. International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, USA

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    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Erwin Bulte

    1. Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands

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    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Provides a thorough introduction to and examination of agricultural value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Examines agricultural value chains from the micro, meso, and macro level
  • Shows structural transformation 2.0, a process where production factors move from low to high productivity agriculture

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
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  2. African Smallholders and Their Market Environment

    • Alan de Brauw, Erwin Bulte
    Pages 1-19

  3. African Agricultural Value Chains: A Brief Historical Overview

    • Alan de Brauw, Erwin Bulte
    Pages 21-37

  4. Economic Theory and Value Chain Governance

    • Alan de Brauw, Erwin Bulte
    Pages 39-58

  5. The Evolution of Agricultural Value Chains in Africa

    • Alan de Brauw, Erwin Bulte
    Pages 59-81

  6. Smallholders and Markets

    • Alan de Brauw, Erwin Bulte
    Pages 83-107

  7. Product Quality and Certification

    • Alan de Brauw, Erwin Bulte
    Pages 109-127

  8. Storage and Post-harvest Losses

    • Alan de Brauw, Erwin Bulte
    Pages 129-154

  9. Silver Bullets?

    • Alan de Brauw, Erwin Bulte
    Pages 155-188

  10. Structural Transformation 2.0: The Rocky Road Ahead…

    • Alan de Brauw, Erwin Bulte
    Pages 189-212

  11. Back Matter

    Pages 213-216
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Keywords

About this book

This book provides a thorough introduction to and examination of agricultural value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa. First, the authors introduce the economic theory of agri-food value chains and value chain governance, focusing on domestic and regional trade in (and consumption of) food crops in a low-income country context. In addition to mainstream and heterodox thinking about value chain development, the book pays attention to political economy considerations. The book also reviews the empirical evidence on value chain development and performance in Africa. It adopts multiple lenses to examine agricultural value chains, zooming out from the micro level (e.g., relational contracting in a context of market imperfections) to the meso level (e.g., distributional implications of various value chain interventions, inclusion of specific social groups) and the macro level (underlying income, population and urbanization trends, volumes and prices, etc.).Furthermore, this book places value chain development in the context of a process the authors refer to as structural transformation 2.0, which refers to a process where production factors (labor, land and capital) move from low-productivity agriculture to high-productivity agriculture. Finally, throughout the book the authors interpret the evidence in light of three important debates: (i) how competitive are rural factor and product markets, and what does this imply for distribution and innovation? (ii) what role do foreign investment and factor proportions play in the development of agri-food value chains in Africa? (iii) what complementary government policies can help facilitate a process of agricultural value chain transformation, towards high-productive activities and enhancing the capacity of value chains to generate employment opportunities and food security for a growing population.

Authors and Affiliations

  • International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, USA

    Alan de Brauw

  • Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Erwin Bulte

About the authors

Alan de Brauw is a Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. He was previously a professor of economics at Williams College. He conducts much of his research using primary source data and has previously published over 50 articles in economics, agricultural economics, and nutrition journals.

Erwin Bulte is professor of development economics at Wageningen University and Research. He has previously held positions at Oxford University, Cambridge University, Tilburg University and Utrecht University. He has published almost 150 papers in internationally refereed journals, and a previous Palgrave book on institutions and agrarian development in West Africa (with Paul Richards and Maarten Voors).


Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: African Farmers, Value Chains and Agricultural Development

  • Book Subtitle: An Economic and Institutional Perspective

  • Authors: Alan de Brauw, Erwin Bulte

  • Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Agricultural Economics and Food Policy

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88693-6

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Economics and Finance, Economics and Finance (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-88692-9Published: 03 November 2021

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-88695-0Published: 04 November 2022

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-88693-6Published: 02 November 2021

  • Series ISSN: 2662-3889

  • Series E-ISSN: 2662-3897

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIII, 216

  • Number of Illustrations: 4 b/w illustrations, 10 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Agricultural Economics, Development Studies, Development Economics, African Economics

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