Suchergebnisse

The story of Mozambique is one of successful transformation. Since 1994, when it faced a decimated infrastructure, a weak economy, and fragile institutions, it has sustained high economic growth and has made tangible reductions in poverty. Its recovery from civil conflict and extreme poverty make it a showcase for other nations embarking on similar transitions. Still, more than half of the population lives in poverty. Gaps persist between city dwellers and farmers, men and women, rich and poor. And although growth continues, there is concern that Mozambique's drive to reduce poverty may lose momentum as happens in many countries recovering from conflict. If the successes of the past are to be extended into the future, policy makers must take stock of what has worked and what has not as they develop new ways of improving the living standards of all Mozambicans. Beating the Odds: Sustaining Inclusion in Mozambique's Growing Economy focuses on changes in poverty and household community welfare from 1997 through 2003. It uses monetary, human, and social indicators in combination with quantitative and qualitative approaches to understand poverty trends within the country and the dynamics that shaped them. Intended to support the development and implementation of pro-poor policies, its integration of poverty, gender, and social analysis will be of particular interest to policy makers, development practitioners, academics, and researchers.

This paper challenges the conclusions of earlier writers regarding the roles of smallholder agriculture, commercial agriculture and wage labour in rural poverty alleviation in Mozambique. We review literature from across Sub-Saharan Africa and use recently collected household level data sets to place Mozambique within this literature. Results show that, as in the rest of SSA, wage labour earnings are concentrated among the best-off rural smallholders; these earnings increase income inequality rather than reducing it. Results also suggest that the same set of households, who are substantially better-off than others, has tended to gain and maintain access to the 'high-wage' end of the labour market over time. Key determinants of access to 'high-wage' labour are levels of education and previously accumulated household wealth. Income from wage labour plays a key role in lifting out of relative poverty those 'female-headed' households that can obtain it, yet only about one in five such households earns wage income. We stress that the rural development question in Mozambique, and elsewhere in SSA, should not be framed as an artificial choice between promoting either wage labour opportunities or commercial agriculture or smallholder agriculture. The issue is what mix of approaches is needed to develop a diversified rural economy with growing total incomes, improving food security and rapid reductions in poverty. We suggest that commercial agriculture and increased rural wage labour are important components in any such strategy, but that this strategy will fail without substantial and sustained increases in the productivity and profitability of smallholder agriculture.