African Agricultural Development Strategies

Eicher, Carl K.

doi:10.1007/978-1-349-12255-4_3

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…Such high unemployment and poverty rates suggest that a sizeable number of citizens are not in a position to adopt and sustain these technologies using their own funds even if they wanted to. If Machete (2004) and Eicher's (1994) perception that smallholder agriculture in South Africa is the best way to promote rural development, then the high cost of implementing the Green Revolution techniques will be a great stumbling block.…”

Section: Critical Drawbacks Affecting the Green Revolution's Applicabmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the need and suitability of The green revolution in South Africa

Tshuma¹

2015

J. Agric. Ext. Rural Dev

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South Africa has for years, been a self-sufficient country in terms of its food resources. However, its food security has been noted to be only at national and not household level. In fact, poverty has remained the major characteristic of most rural communities of South Africa. Rural development and poverty alleviation have therefore been the main focus of the nation's democratic government since it first came into power in 1994. At the same time, other challenges such as the ever-growing population have resulted in the national government having a hard time balancing its efforts and resources to meet the needs of the citizens such as human settlements, jobs, infrastructure, etc. The technologies adopted successfully during the Green Revolution era in Asian countries have emerged as a potential vehicle to drive rural development and address the food insecurity challenges experienced, particularly at household levels. As much as these technologies brought great success and economic growth in Asian countries, concerns have been raised about their suitability in South Africa. This paper attempts to highlight and discuss both the merits and demerits of these technologies with specific reference to the country of South Africa. The idea is to debate their suitability in South Africa so that an informed decision on whether the Green Revolution could be the answer to the nation's rural development and household food insecurity challenges can be made.

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Section: Critical Drawbacks Affecting the Green Revolution's Applicabmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the need and suitability of The green revolution in South Africa

Tshuma¹

2015

J. Agric. Ext. Rural Dev

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“…Agriculture was targeted because it was the principal economic activity that often generated the most foreign exchange through its exports. And although smallholder farmers for the first time had the opportunity to farm cash crops, colonial governments with the support of donors largely supported large-scale farms, plantations, and ranches (Eicher 1992). Southern and eastern Africa was characterized by a two-tier production system consisting of smallholder farmers who mostly grew subsistence food crops, and commercial farmers who typically grew cash crops for export, while in West Africa smallholder farmers grew both export and food crops for consumption (Kherellah et al 2002).…”

Section: Industry-led Growth 1950s-1970smentioning

confidence: 99%

The theory and practice of agriculture, growth, and development in Africa

Badiane¹,

Makombe²

2014

WIDER Working Paper

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Africa's improved growth performance over the last 15 years provides an opportunity for the continent to transit from recovery to structural transformation. This paper reviews the evolution of development theory and practice, the role of agriculture therein, and the pace of structural transformation in Africa over the last 50 years. The evolution has involved shifting roles of industry vs. agriculture and that of government, and the public sector vs. markets and the private sector. Government intervention in favour of industrialization in the 1960s-1970s resulted in the neglect of agriculture, poor growth performance, and a productivity-reducing structural transformation, characterized by an increasing concentration of low productivity labour in the informal service sector. The paper suggests a move away from the dual-economy to a three-dimensional model that pays greater attention to the large informal segment of the service sector. A successful transformation will require accelerated agricultural productivity growth, a modernized informal service sector, and effective industrialization strategies, with balanced roles for government, markets, and the private sector, all supported by country-led, evidence-based strategies exemplified under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

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“…As a solution, others have advocated for the idea of reviving the Green Revolution through Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) (Warren and DeWaal, 2002). On the other hand, the likes of Eicher (1994) remain steadfast that the key to providing adequate food especially at household level is in the hands of the smallholder farmers but only on condition that these famers are assisted with dealing with their challenges. This is the entry point of agricultural cooperatives as they come in with various advantages such as having the ability to stimulate competition by generating economies of scale; open up access to information through better market networks; help reduce barriers to market entry through the pooling of resources; and improve individual bargaining power through collective action (Mellor, 1999;Holloway et al, 1999).…”

Section: Agricultural Cooperatives In Poverty Alleviation and Achievimentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of the possibilities of alleviating poverty and food insecurity challenges in South Africa through agricultural cooperatives

Boyana¹,

Tshuma²

2013

Afr. J. Agric. Res.

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The issue of food insecurity and poverty has been a critical one since the dawn of democracy in South Africa. With the World Bank also, having set the 2014 target of halving poverty in developing countries, the South African government has found itself with a task of finding ways of contributing towards meeting this target. One approach that has been proposed by many as the best vehicle for addressing these challenges particularly in the rural areas has been that of channeling resources towards the uplifting of the smallholder agricultural sector. In addition to this, there is evidence that smallholder farmers can actually perform better if they pool their resources together and work as cooperatives. This paper therefore seeks to provide evidence of the importance of using cooperatives to empower smallholder farmers in an attempt to reduce poverty and food insecurity in South Africa. It further highlights the various challenges that need to be addressed to allow cooperatives to reach their full potential. The paper concludes by suggesting a few interventions that could be implemented in order to boost the smallholder farming sector's cooperatives with the hope of helping the nation reduce its poverty levels and become more food secure.

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African Agricultural Development Strategies

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Exploring the need and suitability of The green revolution in South Africa

Exploring the need and suitability of The green revolution in South Africa

The theory and practice of agriculture, growth, and development in Africa

A review of the possibilities of alleviating poverty and food insecurity challenges in South Africa through agricultural cooperatives

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