Space, Markets and Employment in Agricultural Development: Case Studies from Southern Africa

This project is directed at the Agriculture and Growth theme.

In this project we will investigate how agricultural development can contribute to non-farm employment in rural areas in low-income and developing countries. A strong non-farm sector is a key aspect of sustainable rural development - especially when many do not have land and are not involved in agricultural production, and where land investments or productivity increases may lead to people being displaced out of agriculture. Yet while policymakers have long been aware of the importance of non-farm employment, they often press ahead with agricultural development plans without considering these impacts, and regularly simply assume that people who are leaving the land will automatically find employment elsewhere. It is however becoming clear that such automatic re-employment does not happen, and that increases in agricultural productivity, even where they lead to greater incomes for farmers, do not automatically stimulate non-farm employment.

The links between agricultural growth and non-farm employment are not clearly understood. It has long been assumed that agricultural growth benefits non-farm employment by increasing the local demand from farmers and farm workers for goods and services, but history shows that this is not always the case. The employment benefits of agricultural growth depend on many factors -- including, crucially, the spatial organization of production, processing and marketing, and the nature of the value chains that link farmers to local and distant markets, as consumers and as producers. If these forms of organization bypass local markets, agricultural development can lead to links with distant markets being strengthened, while not contributing to the local economy. In the context of increased pressure on agricultural land, these questions are becoming increasingly important in many parts of the world. This is so particularly in Southern Africa where rural development is being affected by a host of pressures, including competition for agricultural land, the political saliency of land reform and small farmer development, and the increasing power of supermarkets. A better understanding is needed of the spatial and institutional factors that support employment-intensive rural development.

PLAAS aims to address these questions by doing case study research in three countries where these issues are pressing: South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe. It will consider dynamics both of low-income countries (Zimbabwe and Malawi) and more 'advanced' ones (South Africa). Here, it will apply an innovative methodological approach: instead of trying to capture all these complex linkages by constructing a social accounting matrix (which has expensive data requirements and cannot capture the spatial linkages involved) the study will focus on carefully mapping actual resource flows between economic actors, 'following the money' by identifying the upstream and downstream connections that link households and enterprises to one another, and iteratively building a map of social and economic networks. It will analyse these networks using software developed for mapping social networks. In a second phase of the study, a household livelihood survey will measure the impact on employment, incomes and food security of women and men. We will use this data to build a detailed understanding of how local economic networks and value chains shape the prospects for non-farm employment.

This research will be done in close co-operation with policy-making bodies and planners. The research agenda set out here touches on key issues central to the South African government's new economic growth path as well as NEPAD's Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Plan, and PLAAS will use the data and findings to increase policymakers' understanding of how to support non-farm employment through appropriate approaches to the spatial design of agricultural development.

The most important groups to be impacted by the research includes (1) rural people who are at risk of being displaced off land and out of agriculture by inappropriately designed policies or agriculture investment models, and (2) other groups, already landless or outside agriculture, who would benefit from more inclusive approaches to growth. By promoting more inclusive and appropriate models, we aim to prevent or ameliorate such impacts, and to promote their wellbeing through inclusive and employment-intensive growth.

We will seek to achieve these aims primarily by engaging with the models and approaches of policymakers and planners. By highlighting the differential impacts on non-farm employment of different agricultural development paths, we aim to put broad-based and employment-rich growth at the centre of the agricultural development agenda. At the same time, we seek to contribute concretely by highlighting the central role of the spatial organization of linkages, networks and institutions, and by helping policymakers to identify guidelines that can promote employment-rich growth in rural areas

The study will be particularly useful to three groups of end-users. Firstly there are those charged with developing an overarching and integrated understanding of the issues involved in supporting inclusive economic growth in general. This includes include policymakers in relevant line departments (Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Reform), but also in in other ministries with central macroeconomic planning responsibilities, or policymakers in regional structures such as SADC and those implementing CAADP in NEPAD. All these groups need information that helps them to understand the differences between different spatial architectures of regional integration and the different relationships between agriculture, markets, and employment opportunities that result. These users will be a key target of our work, and will be addressed through policy briefs, research reports, and workshops as outlined in our plan of Activities and Outputs.

Secondly there are officials engaged with the realities of implementation and economic development at local and district level, and who need practical approaches. They need to develop an understanding of practical issues involved in spatial planning for inclusive growth; often they also need support in engaging with competing and complex 'integrated plans' emanating from different line ministries. These groups are not a direct target because they are better reached through in-depth training programmes than through overarching policy guidelines. We plan to design such short courses at a later stage, but this will not be part of the present project. However, they will be consulted in the design phase of the project to include their concerns.

The third group consists of those who operate in the public realm and who to engage in public debate and democratic policy formulation on desirable directions for healthy economic policy and rural development. This includes, for example, advocacy organizations, interest groups representing small enterprises, farmers and the informally employed. We will address their needs through ensuring that research findings are accessibly disseminated in public media, including electronic and web-based media.

We will engage with all these groups throughout the course of the project: they will be invited to make inputs during the methodological and design phases; their interest will be kept 'warm' through the dissemination of emergent issues and interesting case studies; their views will be engaged in a midterm 'emergent findings' workshop; and at the end of the project they will be targeted in a wide ranging dissemination process that will be focussed both on national policy processes and on international policy frameworks (e.g. CAADP and NEPAD). All in all, some 13% of the project budget is dedicated towards end-user engagement.