Agricultural growth corridors and rural prosperity

Rachid Serraj and Jeff Sayer

Agricultural growth corridors and rural prosperity

For the Africa breakout session

Section Title

Who will be farming, where and what in 20 years?

Foresight and partnerships Links with NEPAD, CAADP, WB, FARA and ECDPM...

Urbanization & farm size (Masters et al. 2013)

Innovation will spread along transport routes; average area per farm is likely to keep falling in Africa; Diverse and changing farm systems will present new research

challenges.

Vast reduction in proportion of population engaged in agriculture and large move out of rural areas (Collier & Dercon, 2014)

Commitment to smallholder agriculture as main route for growth in African agriculture and for poverty reduction?

Agricultural research for rural prosperity: Rethinking the pathways www.scienceforum2016.org

Tendency of corridors to exclude the poorest and deepen existing power disparities - hinterlands.

Many governments investing in SDIs and large-scale public-private partnerships to achieve development goals.

Malabo declaration (2014) – Ambitious goals..

“ to triple intra-African trade in agricultural goods and services by 2025 and to establish public-private partnerships to develop strategic agricultural value chains with strong linkages to smallholder agriculture.”

implications for CGIAR’s R4D strategies, targets, metrics?

Agricultural research for rural prosperity: Rethinking the pathways www.scienceforum2016.orgAgricultural Growth Corridors - an overview and key questions for further research – An ISPC commissioned background paper

Implications of the rise of corridors as a tool for inclusive agricultural development…?

1. Context

2. Dimensions & typology of African corrdidors:• Geographical scope

• Objectives

• Governance mechnaisms

3. Risks & opportunities for agricultural transformation

4. Future research areas?• Impact

• Implementation

• Institutions


Rise of the corridors!

ECDPM


Rise of the corridors!

ECDPM

…competing narratives

• ‘Africa Rising’

Next investment frontier, risks & rewards

• 'Win-win-wins in a post-2015 world’

Development, econ. & comm. diplomacy

• Exploitative neocolonialism

Land-grabs, human rights abuse,

• 'Jobs-jobs-jobs’

Economic transformation, more and better jobs, agricultural transformation, indust. policy, + value added


Objectives: From transit corridors…

ECDPM

• 70% of African population >2km from all-season road (Raballand & Trevaninthorn, 2009)

• 6-12kmph effective speed of SADC road transport (Ranganathan & Foster, 2011)

• USD300 per day delay costs for 8 axle truck

• 4kmph rail from Durban to Kolawesi


Objectives: From transit corridors…

ECDPM

• 70% of African population >2km from all-season road (Raballand & Trevaninthorn, 2009)

• 6-12kmph effective speed of SADC road transport (Ranganathan & Foster, 2011)

• USD300 per day delay costs for 8 axle truck

• 4kmph rail from Durban to Kolawesi

to agricultural corridors


Governance – who leads?

ECDPM


Indirect

• Corridor vs non-corridor areas

• Corridor competition vs cartels

• Lower transport costs = + imports?

• Competing with or connecting smallholders

Direct

• Farming systems - Large-scale vs land grabs

• Impact, accountability & enforcement

• Measurable, scalable, replicable success…?

• Aligned political-economic interests?

• Habitats impacts

Balancing risks & opportunities

ECDPM


• Corridor implications for transformation

• Rural Poverty

• Improving food security

• Nutrition and health

• Sustainably managing natural resources

• Impacts – type, scale, distribution/ inclusivity

• Implementation means – partnerships etc.

• Institutions – approaches and policies

Research questions

ECDPM


ECDPM

17

3. Key research priorities

The discussions above point to a wide range of aspects that impact on corridor development and its

potential impacts. The AEO (2015) points to the need for regional and spatial policies to focus on local

assets, whether “generic resources” like gas or minerals, or “specific resources”, like specifically local

landscapes or know-how; to articulate sectoral policies and public investments in a regional framework to

maximise complementarities; and to engage different actors in multi-level government settings, and in

particular promote the active participation of local stakeholders. This section takes a similar approach,

looking first at the potential for impact-related research that looks at issues of scope and objectives,

including the underlying assets or foundational factors; different implementation approaches, including how

to work in multi-stakeholder forms; and institutional issues relating to governance approaches and policies.

3.1 Agricultural research and corridor Impacts

The scope for corridor-related agricultural research is underlined in Figure 1, highlighting the different

farming systems in Africa along with existing and planned corridors. These also clearly overlap with CGIAR

research countries (Figure 2), suggesting that for certain CGIAR programmes, corridor-related research is

unavoidable.

Figure 1 - Farming Systems and Development Corridors in Sub-Saharan Africa

Source: Weng et al. (2013)

Impact research

Corridors, Clusters, and Spatial Development Initiatives

in African AgricultureWorkshop Announcement

A side event of the Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture in Africa

30 November 2015, Durban, South Africa

potential implications for the CGIAR of transformational change?

Participants:

scientists, research

managers,

representatives of

major promoters of

change and other key

partners and

stakeholders.


©Bill Laurence

messages:• Corridors have different characteristics in different regions of Africa (logistic

efficiency driven by PS or economic integration subject to government regulation and planning).

• Need for integrated interdisciplinary research on corridor-approaches and impact on food and nutrition security, poverty and sustainability;

• Farmers often in midst of (informal) innovation systems, but not connected with formal research systems: need to invest in strengthening innovation capacities of smallholders and their negotiating power;

• Durban workshop: projected investments in SDIs and Corridors will have major impact on African agriculture; changes will have to be taken into account in setting R4D priorities;

• SDI and Corridor impacts will be highly context specific: difficult to draw generalizable conclusions on implications for CGIAR; need to anticipate transformational change.

• CGIAR’s role in addressing research needs of those “left behind” in the hinterlands where SDIs and DCs do not have impact?


©Bill Laurence

Questions for WGs:

1. What are the strategies that can be used to address important drivers of change (DCs + others identified in the plenary sessions)?

2. What do they mean for AR4D?

3. What are the priority research questions and gaps in knowledge?

Agricultural growth corridors and rural prosperity

Science

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