This book provides a thorough introduction to and examination of
agricultural value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa. First, the authors
introduce the economic theory of agri-food value chains and value chain
governance, focusing on domestic and regional trade in (and consumption
of) food crops in a low-income country context. In addition to
mainstream and heterodox thinking about value chain development, the
book pays attention to political economy considerations. The book also
reviews the empirical evidence on value chain development and
performance in Africa. It adopts multiple lenses to examine agricultural
value chains, zooming out from the micro level (e.g., relational
contracting in a context of market imperfections) to the meso level
(e.g., distributional implications of various value chain interventions,
inclusion of specific social groups) and the macro level (underlying
income, population and urbanization trends, volumes and prices,
etc.).Furthermore, this book places value chain development in the
context of a process the authors refer to as structural transformation
2.0, which refers to a process where production factors (labor, land
and capital) move from low-productivity agriculture to high-productivity
agriculture*.* Finally, throughout the book the authors interpret the
evidence in light of three important debates: (i) how competitive are
rural factor and product markets, and what does this imply for
distribution and innovation? (ii) what role do foreign investment and
factor proportions play in the development of agri-food value chains in
Africa? (iii) what complementary government policies can help facilitate
a process of agricultural value chain transformation, towards
high-productive activities and enhancing the capacity of value chains to
generate employment opportunities and food security for a growing
population.
