Beyond agriculture versus non-agriculture: Decomposing sectoral growth–poverty linkages in five African countries
Africa’s development debate is often cast as “agriculture versus non-agriculture”, with agriculture’s proponents arguing that agricultural growth is more effective at reducing poverty. This “dual economy” perspective overlooks the heterogeneity within and synergies between these two broad sectors. R...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | Inglés |
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Elsevier
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146288 |
| _version_ | 1855515550328815616 |
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| author | Dorosh, Paul A. Thurlow, James |
| author_browse | Dorosh, Paul A. Thurlow, James |
| author_facet | Dorosh, Paul A. Thurlow, James |
| author_sort | Dorosh, Paul A. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Africa’s development debate is often cast as “agriculture versus non-agriculture”, with agriculture’s proponents arguing that agricultural growth is more effective at reducing poverty. This “dual economy” perspective overlooks the heterogeneity within and synergies between these two broad sectors. Recent studies decompose agriculture into subsectors and find that agricultural growth led by smallholder farmers is even more effective at reducing poverty than larger-scale estate farms. In contrast, few studies estimate subsectoral growth–poverty linkages for non-agriculture. Yet we strongly expect, for example, that growth led by informal traders or foreign-owned mining companies will have quite different implications for poverty reduction. Different perspectives on what constitutes “non-agriculture” might therefore explain divergent views on its relative importance for poverty reduction. To address this gap in our understanding, we estimate sectoral poverty–growth elasticities using economy-wide models for five African countries. While our estimated elasticities are higher for agriculture than for non-agriculture as a whole, the extent to which this is true varies considerably across nonagricultural subsectors (and across countries). We find that the poverty–growth elasticities for trade and transport services and manufacturing, especially agro-processing, are often close to, and sometimes exceed, agriculture’s. This means that growth led by these nonagricultural subsectors might be as effective as agriculture at reaching the poor. This confirms the need for a more nuanced treatment of non-agriculture in Africa’s policy debate, and may explain conflicting perspectives on agriculture’s role vis-à-vis non-agriculture. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace146288 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publishDateRange | 2018 |
| publishDateSort | 2018 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| publisherStr | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1462882025-02-24T06:45:47Z Beyond agriculture versus non-agriculture: Decomposing sectoral growth–poverty linkages in five African countries Dorosh, Paul A. Thurlow, James industrial sector income time study economic growth agricultural sector poverty alleviation agricultural policies transport agriculture elasticities macroeconomics economic sectors poverty Africa’s development debate is often cast as “agriculture versus non-agriculture”, with agriculture’s proponents arguing that agricultural growth is more effective at reducing poverty. This “dual economy” perspective overlooks the heterogeneity within and synergies between these two broad sectors. Recent studies decompose agriculture into subsectors and find that agricultural growth led by smallholder farmers is even more effective at reducing poverty than larger-scale estate farms. In contrast, few studies estimate subsectoral growth–poverty linkages for non-agriculture. Yet we strongly expect, for example, that growth led by informal traders or foreign-owned mining companies will have quite different implications for poverty reduction. Different perspectives on what constitutes “non-agriculture” might therefore explain divergent views on its relative importance for poverty reduction. To address this gap in our understanding, we estimate sectoral poverty–growth elasticities using economy-wide models for five African countries. While our estimated elasticities are higher for agriculture than for non-agriculture as a whole, the extent to which this is true varies considerably across nonagricultural subsectors (and across countries). We find that the poverty–growth elasticities for trade and transport services and manufacturing, especially agro-processing, are often close to, and sometimes exceed, agriculture’s. This means that growth led by these nonagricultural subsectors might be as effective as agriculture at reaching the poor. This confirms the need for a more nuanced treatment of non-agriculture in Africa’s policy debate, and may explain conflicting perspectives on agriculture’s role vis-à-vis non-agriculture. 2018-06-07 2024-06-21T09:06:30Z 2024-06-21T09:06:30Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146288 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151109 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.12.008 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2017.07.004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.05.027 Open Access Elsevier Dorosh, Paul A.; and Thurlow, James. 2018. Beyond agriculture versus non-agriculture: Decomposing sectoral growth–poverty linkages in five African countries. World Development 109 (September 2018): 440-451. Special Section: Agricultural Growth and Poverty Reduction. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.08.014 |
| spellingShingle | industrial sector income time study economic growth agricultural sector poverty alleviation agricultural policies transport agriculture elasticities macroeconomics economic sectors poverty Dorosh, Paul A. Thurlow, James Beyond agriculture versus non-agriculture: Decomposing sectoral growth–poverty linkages in five African countries |
| title | Beyond agriculture versus non-agriculture: Decomposing sectoral growth–poverty linkages in five African countries |
| title_full | Beyond agriculture versus non-agriculture: Decomposing sectoral growth–poverty linkages in five African countries |
| title_fullStr | Beyond agriculture versus non-agriculture: Decomposing sectoral growth–poverty linkages in five African countries |
| title_full_unstemmed | Beyond agriculture versus non-agriculture: Decomposing sectoral growth–poverty linkages in five African countries |
| title_short | Beyond agriculture versus non-agriculture: Decomposing sectoral growth–poverty linkages in five African countries |
| title_sort | beyond agriculture versus non agriculture decomposing sectoral growth poverty linkages in five african countries |
| topic | industrial sector income time study economic growth agricultural sector poverty alleviation agricultural policies transport agriculture elasticities macroeconomics economic sectors poverty |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146288 |
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