In Kisangani, as in other parts of Africa subject to political parasitism and economic chaos, people have had to draw on many channels of access to resources in order to survive. This pattern of shifting strategies militates against sustained investment in food supply and thus is a major factor in the food crisis in Africa. Thirteen months of fieldwork in the city of Kisangani and the surrounding subregion of Tshopo revealed how constantly changing regulations, inflation and poor infrastructure forced merchants and farmers into diversification and made long-term investment in rice production and trade risky. Uncertainty in the supply of basic resources such as credit, seeds, fuel, spare parts and produce sacks was linked to the draining of foreign exchange and development funds toward the nonproductive activities of the political élite. Controls on agricultural production such as the forced cultivation of rice led to suppression of African farmers' initiative. Trade in rice was in the hands of expatriate monopsonies until the 1970s, but the indigenization of expatriate businesses and plantations (zairianization) only served to isolate further the rural areas devastated by the Simba rebellion of the mid-1960s. In addition, zairianization fostered parasitism and discouraged investment. In the 1980s, farmers were blocked from organizing their own markets and cooperatives and farm labor was relegated telwomen. Large traders agreed to maintain controls on trade which perpetuated the bureaucracy in order to keep ahead of the mass of mobile small traders. Government programs, and approaches such as privatization and liberalization, initiated by Zaire's external investors, did not change the terms of access to resources within the Zairian economy and, thus, agricultural productivity did not increase. These findings support the theory that multiple survival strategies generated by economic chaos and circumvention of and collaboration with the state lead to declining agricultural productivity. This view has implications for agricultural development policy.

No description available.

No description available.

During the last twenty years, Chilean agriculture has experienced unequaled modernization and growth. The uneven character of this process shows that economic development and the expansion of some agricultural sub-sectors can be associated with the absolute and relative increase of poverty, particularly in rural areas. This dissertation postulates that the disarticulated nature of the accumulation pattern has impeded the achievement of sustained national growth and social equity, as well as threatened the preservation of national food security. This study explains the disarticulated character of Chilean agricultural growth during the last 25 years, analyzes the effects that disarticulation has on national food production and consumption levels, and attempts to advance some policy alternatives. An important contribution of this dissertation is to interpret the ongoing process of regional differentiation in Chilean agriculture through the analytical framework of disarticulated growth. The results of this study indicate that decreasing disarticulation requires restructuring of the prevalent accumulation pattern. Otherwise, alternative policy instruments would not accomplish the goals of growth, equity, and sustainability. The development of the agricultural export sector is nut contradictory to the achievement of sustainability and equity. In fact the expansion of the export sector could contribute to the articulation of the economy. However, this would require a shift in the investment priorities and increasing state support to the annual crops and livestock sub-sectors, particularly to the campesino producers. At the same time, investment in the agroexport sector would have to shift from expanding production via incorporation of new lands to increasing productivity and overall increasing the value of the products. That is, investment would have to be geared toward agroindustrial processes that would add value to the unprocessed agricultural commodities that are currently exported. Finally, sectoral and macroeconomic policy should contribute to internal expansion by increasing employment and minimum wage levels. / Ph. D.

The evaluation of public investments in agricultural research has been a topic of special interest to research administrators and others concerned with productivity in agriculture. Tighter research budgets and diminished purchasing power due to inflation have increased concern about research budget allocations. Earlier research evaluation studies have indicated high rates of return to overall agricultural investments. This study is concerned with the evaluation of research investments made at an individual agricultural commodity level. The primary objectives of this study are: (a) to estimate the marginal product and internal rates of return to research investments in corn, wheat, soybeans, and sorghum. (b) to estimate separately the internal rate of return to extension investments in these commodities. (c) to estimate the effect of spillovers from research investments in these commodities by other outside states. (d) to estimate the impact of these research and extension investments in grain commodities for individual geographical production regions in the U.S. The theoretical framework of a supply response model with inclusion of a variable to account for aggregate risk by producers was developed as the basis for analyzing research and extension investments in corn, wheat, soybeans, and sorghum. Individual commodity models focusing on the relationship of yield per acre to output prices, land quality differences, weather, aggregate risk, and investments in research and extension were specified. Data were collected for these variables for a cross-section of the major producing states of each commodity for the 1973-1979 crop years. The Park's model, a generalized least squares procedure which includes adjustments for first-order autocorrelation within each state and cross-sectional correlation among states, was used to estimate coefficients of individual commodity models. Empirical results for the individual commodity models indicate that the prices of output and a substitute commodity, weather, land quality differences, aggregate risk, in-state and outside research investments, and extension investments were significant variables explaining yield per acre of corn, wheat, soybeans, and sorghum. The estimated internal rates of return on research investments indicate very favorable rates of return to both in-state and outside investments in agricultural research. The returns to in-state research investments ranged from 81 percent for wheat to 177 for corn and the returns to outside research investments ranged from 21 percent for wheat to 133 percent for sorghum. The rates of return to outside research expenditures indicate that the benefits of research investments are not confined solely to the state making the investment. The significance of these spillovers suggest that the contribution of federal funds to state research programs is appropriate as a means of compensating states for the externalities. The contributions of extension investment to productivity increases of these grain commodities were estimated separately from the contributions of investments in agricultural research. Based on assumptions of 8 and 12 year "inverted V" distributions of benefits from increased yield per acre, the estimated IRORs for extension investments ranged from 42 percent for sorghum to 96 percent for corn. The estimated IRORs for research and extension investments in the various U.S. production regions were comparable to the rates estimated for the U.S. in total. While the IROR to research investments were higher than for extension investments, these rates are highly sensitive to assumptions made concerning the length and structure of the lag between expenditures and impacts. The measure of benefits based solely on yield increases also may not be appropriate for all types of research and extension expenditures. Aggregate risk based on past variations in prices has a significant impact on corn and wheat yields. The significant negative coefficients imply risk-averse behavior by corn and wheat producers in the aggregate. Increases in price variability have a depressing effect on yield. The models developed in this study enable price elasticities for grain yields to be estimated. Elasticities estimated at mean levels, using expected nominal prices, ranged from .06 for sorghum to .30 for corn. These elasticities indicate total supply response is 6 to 30 percent greater than estimates based solely on acreage response. / Ph. D.

This thesis analyses the food crisis in sub-Saharan Africa in the 1980s and 1990s, identifies roots of the problem, and proposes strategies of sustainable development based on self-sufficiency in food production for domestic needs. The main goal of this research has been to devise development strategies centered on development of the food production sector. The thesis strongly suggests that countries of the region should consider developing the food production sector to experience any meaningful development, and to escape a dark future of food shortages and food dependency on developed economies. Investigation into Development Economics, Dependency, Underdevelopment, and Modernization theories has provided a basis to justify that improvement of the food production sector is an urgent necessity for sub-Saharan African countries. The thesis uses a comparative analytical methodology based on a historical study of Kenya from the colonial period to the 1990s. The food crisis is identified as a common problem for many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and its general causes are investigated: ( 1) low output productivity of traditional methods and technology, (2) harsh ecological environment with frequent droughts and soil erosion, (3) neglect of food production in the policies and priorities of governments, ( 4) poor marketing and distribution of foodstuffs, (5) fast population growth. Kenya is then used as a model to confirm the hypothesis that roots of the crisis are strongly linked to the colonial setting of these economies as cash crop and raw material producers. Also, neglect of the food production sector in government policy is matched in the Kenyan case. Kenya's food crisis can be explained by two sets of factors. On the input side of the food production sector, reasons found were ( 1) government emphasis on cash crops to the neglect of food production, and (2) underdeveloped technology and agricultural methods used in food production. On the output side, food shortages are due to ( 1) an inefficient marketing and distribution system, (2) inefficient pricing policies, and (3) fast population growth. A model of five solutions is presented which puts emphasis, on the input side, on (1) a shift of policies from cash crop production to accommodate food crop production as a viable economic development policy, (2) curbing food imports, and (3) boosting domestic food production by empowering women, attracting men to the food production activity, reorganizing production, and improving agricultural technology and methods. On the output side the solutions call for ( 4) reorganizing and improving the distribution, and marketing, and pricing of foodstuffs, and (5) developing rural economies around the food production sector and the agribusiness industry.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration

no abstract available / Development Studies / MA (DEVELOPMENT STUD)

No description available.

Thesis (MCom)--Stellenbosch, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In South Africa the racial and agricultural policies aimed at national food self-sufficiency created an agricultural structure dominated by large, mechanised farms that are owned and operated by a small number of individuals or companies. New agricultural policy should therefore focus more on peasant farming in the subsistence sector in order to promote the development of sustainable small-scale farming units. The liberalisation of agricultural markets resulted in a fundamental change of political and economic framework conditions for the commercial agricultural sector. Failure to adapt has led to significant inefficiency and financial problems in commercial agriculture. This thesis initially focuses on the general question of the efficient organisational form of agriculture. With reference to the German agricultural structure, family farming will be identified as a superior organisational form and the utility optimal factor allocation of this organisational form is explained with the aid of the agricultural household theory. South Africa's agricultural structure is marked by extreme dualism, which was caused by political intervention in the labour and capital markets. The current liberal agricultural policy framework makes commercial agriculture in particular seem inefficient and gives reason to question the current organisational form of South African agriculture. Besides the basic socio-political objectives, the growth objective is one of the most important factors in the development of subsistence agriculture. The contribution of agriculture is not restricted to food production. In fact, the factor contribution is important in achieving economic growth, especially in developing countries. Future developments in the South African agricultural sector will be strongly influenced by the international market. In this respect South Africa, Germany and many other Western industrialised countries are undergoing a similar transformation process that corresponds with the spatial agricultural land use in location theory. Location rent implies differing costs for the use of land, and this is the case for the development of different agricultural systems depending on their distance from the market. The family farming model can be considered as having failed in the South African economy, except in some niche markets. The number of family farms is in fact growing, but there is also a tendency towards more large-scale industrialised agricultural units. The subsistence sector will remain dominated by family farming in the future, although the agricultural household represents a kind of survival institution in these areas. Despite all problems in the subsistence sector, there is no alternative to family farming, and development of subsistence farming is only foreseeable within the framework of family farming. Subsistence farming as a social security system could, however, decline in importance in the future. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In Suid-Afrika het die klem op voedselselfversorgenheid, wat voortgevloei het uit rasse- en landbou-beleidsrigtings, veroorsaak dat die landbou struktureel gedomineer is deur groot, hoogs gemeganiseerde plase wat besit en bedryf is deur 'n klein aantal individue of maatskappye. Die fokus van landboubeleid in die toekoms behoort dus te wees op kleinboere om te verseker dat 'n volhoubare struktuur van klein plase daargestel word. Hierdie verandering moet gepaard gaan met die proses van libelarisering van die landbousektor, wat fundamentele veranderings in die bedryomgewing van die sektor teweeg gebring het. Tot op datum het die gebrek aan vordering hiermee verskeie probleme in die kommersiële sektor tot gevolg gehad. Hierdie studie begin met die algemene vraag oor die struktuur van 'n doeltreffende landboustelsel, dus die doeltreffende organisasievorm. Die ondervinding van die Duitse landbou word gebruik om te wys op die relatiewe doeltreffendheid van die familieboerdery as kern vorm. Die teorie van die huishouding word gebruik om om te wys op die beter vermoë van familieboerdery om hulpbronne optimaal te allokeer. Politieke inmenging in die kapitaal en arbeidsmarkte het aanleiding gegee tot 'n hoë mate van dualisme in die Suid-Afrikaanse landbousektor. Die bestaande liberale beleid het ook verskeie ondoeltreffendhede in die kommersiële sektor ontbloot, en dus is daar 'n groter bevraagtekening van die huidige organisasievorms in die sektor. Die doelwit van groei blyeen van die belangrikste doelwitte in die landbou, ten spyte van die heersende klem op basiese sosio-politieke doelstellings. Die bydrae van die landbou strek verder as bloot voedselverskaffing, en sluit ook in verskeie ander faktorbydraes, veral in ontwikkelende lande. Verdere ontwikkelings in die Suid-Afrikaanse landbou sal sterk beinvloed word deur veranderings in die wêreldmark. In hierdie opsig is Suid-Afrika besig om dieselfde soort van transformasie te ondergaan as lande soos Duitsland en ander van die nywerheidslande. Die sterkste invloed sal na verwagting gevoel word in terme van die ligging van landbouproducksie. Die implikasie is dat afstand van die mark al hoe meer belangrik gaan word in besluite oor die optimale organisasievorm. In hierdie opsig het Suid-Afrika 'n agterstand as gevolg van die gebrek aan aandag vir die ontwikkeling van volhoubare familieboerderye. Ten spyte hiervan groei die aantal familiboerderye teselfdertyd as die groei in die aantal groot korporatiewe plase, hoofsaaklik as gevolg van die oor-aanbod van arbeid. Die verwagting is dat familiboerdery sal bly domineer in die bestaanssektor, al het dit meer die aard van 'n laaste uitweg aangeneem vir baie gesinne. Ten spyte van sy probleme, is daar geen alternatiewe organisasievorm in die ontwikkelende landbou wat ook kan bydra tot die sukses van die sektor nie. Die verwagting is egter ook dat familieboerdery as sosiale verskynsel sal afneem in belangrikheid.