Suchergebnisse

Stylized facts drive research agendas and policy debates. Yet robust stylized facts are hard to come by, and when available, often outdated. In a special issue of Food Policy, 12 papers revisit conventional wisdom on African agriculture and its farmers' livelihoods using nationally representative surveys from the Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture Initiative in six African countries. At times, the findings simply confirm the common understanding of the topic. But the studies also throw up several surprises, redirecting some policy debates while fine-tuning others. Overall, the project calls for more attention to checking and updating the common wisdom. This requires nationally representative data, and sufficient incentives among researchers and policy makers alike. Without well-grounded stylized facts, they can easily be profoundly misguided.

The 2008 episode of food price explosion, political turmoil, and human suffering revealed important flaws in the current global food architecture. This paper argues that to safeguard the strengths of the current system, four failures in market functioning and policymaking must be addressed. First, governments must reinvest in agriculture with a focus on public goods and subject to increased public accountability to re-ensure the global food supply. Second, the policy-induced link between food and fuel prices must be broken through a revision of EU and US agro-fuel policies. Third, better sharing of information on food stocks, stricter WTO regulation of export restrictions, and some form of globally managed buffer stock will be minimum requirements to prevent the resurgence of inefficient national food self-sufficiency policies. Fourth, a market-based food security system is only sustainable given well functioning national social safety nets.

"This report has two objectives. It assesses the nature and the extent of vulnerability among rural households in Tanzania with a particular focus on smallholder cash crop growers through exploring all risks, including the decline in commodity prices. It further explores the potential role for market based insurance schemes such as commodity price and weather based insurance to mitigate household vulnerability. The empirical analysis is based on two rounds of specifically designed representative surveys of farm households in Kilimanjaro and Ruvuma, two cash crop growing regions in the United Republic of Tanzania in 2003 and 2004. The contrasting experiences of a richer (Kilimanjaro) and a poorer (Ruvuma) region substantially enriches the policy guidance emerging from the report. "--Publisher's description

Front Cover -- Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- About the Editors and Contributors -- Abbreviations -- Key Messages -- Overview -- Poverty Reduction in Africa: A Global Agenda -- Poverty in Africa: Stylized Facts -- Africa's Slower Poverty Reduction -- Growth Fundamentals and Poverty Financing -- Earning More on the Farm -- Moving Off the Farm: Household Enterprises -- Managing Risks and Conflict -- Mobilizing Resources for the Poor -- Way Forward: Four Primary Policy Areas -- Notes -- References -- Introduction -- Notes -- References -- 1. Poverty in Africa -- Poverty Today and Tomorrow -- Africa's Poverty in Profile -- Lessons from Recent Experience -- Notes -- References -- 2. Africa's Demography and Socioeconomic Structure -- High Fertility Holds Back Poverty Reduction -- Poor Initial Conditions -- More and Better Income-Earning Opportunities for the Poor -- A Way Forward -- Notes -- References -- Fundamentals 1 Africa's Human Development Trap -- The Health Poverty Trap -- The Education Poverty Trap -- Escaping the Human Development Poverty Trap -- Notes -- References -- 3. Earning More on the Farm -- Largely Favorable Conditions for Agricultural Development -- Not All Agricultural Growth Is Equally Poverty Reducing -- An Integrated Approach Is Needed -- Inclusive Value Chain Development as Response -- The Need for Complementary Public Goods, Especially for Staples -- Notes -- References -- Fundamentals 2 The Nexus of Gender Inequality and Poverty -- Gender Gaps in Human Endowments -- Glaring Differences in the Time Use of Men and Women -- Differences in Asset Ownership and Control between Women and Men -- Gender Gaps Exacerbated by Formal and Informal Institutions and Norms -- Mobility and Safety Challenges for Women -- Policy Levers to Address Gender Gaps and Reduce Poverty -- Notes -- References -- 4. Moving to Jobs Off the Farm.

This book contributes to the debate about the role of agriculture in poverty reduction by addressing three sets of questions:Does investing in agriculture enhance/harm overall economic growth, and if so, under what conditions? Do poor people tend to participate more/less in growth in agriculture than in growth in other sectors, and if so, when? If a focus on agriculture would tend to yield larger participation by the poor, but slower overall growth, which strategy would tend to have the largest payoff in terms of poverty reduction, and under which conditions?.

Sub-Saharan Africa's turnaround over the past couple of decades has been dramatic. After many years in decline, the continent's economy picked up in the mid-1990s. Along with this macroeconomic growth, people became healthier, many more youngsters attended schools, and the rate of extreme poverty declined from 54 percent in 1990 to 41 percent in 2015. Political and social freedoms expanded, and gender equality advanced. Conflict in the region also subsided, although it still claims thousands of civilian lives in some countries and still drives pressing numbers of displaced persons. Despite Africa's widespread economic and social welfare accomplishments, the region's challenges remain daunting: Economic growth has slowed in recent years. Poverty rates in many countries are the highest in the world. And notably, the number of poor in Africa is rising because of population growth. From a global perspective, the biggest concentration of poverty has shifted from South Asia to Africa. Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa explores critical policy entry points to address the demographic, societal, and political drivers of poverty; improve income-earning opportunities both on and off the farm; and better mobilize resources for the poor. It looks beyond macroeconomic stability and growth—critical yet insufficient components of these objectives—to ask what more could be done and where policy makers should focus their attention to speed up poverty reduction. The pro-poor policy agenda advanced in this volume requires not only economic growth where the poor work and live, but also mitigation of the many risks to which African households are exposed. As such, this report takes a "jobs" lens to its task. It focuses squarely on the productivity and livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable—that is, what it will take to increase their earnings. Finally, it presents a road map for financing the poverty and development agenda.