Labor Productivity and Employment Gaps in Sub-Saharan Africa

McCullough, Ellen

doi:10.1596/1813-9450-7234

Cited by 44 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This suggests two things, the precise analysis of both of which is beyond the scope of this article and beyond what one can ask of the data at hand. The first is that as the relative returns to on‐farm labor increase, households reallocate their labor time away from labor markets and toward their contracted plots and crops (Barrett et al., ; McCullough, ). The second is that as the relative returns to on‐farm labor increase, one would expect households to hire in agricultural labor to maintain their participation in the labor market.…”

Section: Estimation Results and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contract farming: opportunity cost and trade‐offs

Bellemare

2018

Agricultural Economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

An important literature has established that participation in contract farming leads to higher incomes and has a number of other beneficial effects on the welfare of participating households. Yet no one has looked at the opportunity cost of and the various trade-offs involved in participating in contract farming. I look at the relationship between participation in contract farming and income from (i) livestock, (ii) labor markets, (iii) nonfarm businesses, and (iv) agricultural sources other than livestock and contract farming and (v) unearned income. Using data from Madagascar, I find that participation in contract farming is associated with a 79% decrease in how much income per capita the average household derives from labor markets and a 47% decrease in how much income per capita it derives from nonfarm businesses, but also with a 51% increase in how much income per capita the average household derives from agricultural sources other than livestock and contract farming, possibly due to technological spillovers. Thus, even though contract farming has been shown to improve welfare in multiple ways in this context, it looks as though those gains come at the cost of an "agricultural involution" on the part of participating households, who seem to turn away from non-agricultural activities. This has important implications for structural transformation narratives.JEL classifications: L24, O13, O14, Q12

show abstract

Section: Estimation Results and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contract farming: opportunity cost and trade‐offs

Bellemare

2018

Agricultural Economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Recent research, however, suggests that agricultural labor productivity is understated (Fuglie et al 2020). Using micro household data instead of national macro accounts, controlling for skill differences, and expressing productivity in terms of value per hour of labor (instead of per person employed in the sector), labor productivity in agriculture is not lower than in other sectors (Gollin, Lagakos and Waugh 2014;Gollin and Udry 2019;Hicks et al 2017;McCullough 2017). This suggests that agriculture is not intrinsically less productive, but rather that underemployment in the sector is high, at least in the earlier stages of development.…”

Section: The Farm Labor Problem -From Surplus To Shortagementioning

confidence: 99%

The Future of Work in Agriculture: Some Reflections

Christiaensen¹,

Rutledge

Taylor

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

show abstract

“…The main argument that has been used in support of the need for a structural transformation as the mechanism to grow and reduce poverty is that there is a large labor productivity gap between agriculture and non-agriculture (Gollin et al, 2014). An important observation, however, based on the LSMS-ISA data for SSA is that while the gap in labor productivity per person per year between non-agriculture and agriculture is indeed large, the gap in labor productivity per hour worked is relatively small (McCullough, 2017). In other words, when agricultural workers do work, their labor productivity is not very different from that of nonagricultural workers.…”

Section: The Agriculture For Development Sequencementioning

confidence: 99%

Using agriculture for development: Supply- and demand-side approaches

Janvry

Sadoulet

2020

World Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

For most poor countries of today, using agriculture for development is widely recognized as a promising strategy. Yet, in these countries, investment in agriculture has mostly been lagging relative to international norms and recommendations. Current wisdom on how to use agriculture for development is that it requires asset building for smallholder farmers, productivity growth in staple foods, an agricultural transformation (diversification of farming systems toward high value crops), and a rural transformation (value addition through rural non-farm activities linked to agriculture). This sequence has too often been hampered by extensive market and government failures. We outline a theory of change where the removal of market and government failures to use this Agriculture for Development strategy can be addressed through two contrasted and complementary approaches. One is from the "supplyside" where public and social agents (governments, international and bilateral development agencies, NGOs, donors) intervene to help farmers overcome the major constraints to adoption: liquidity, risk, information, and access to markets.

show abstract

Labor Productivity and Employment Gaps in Sub-Saharan Africa

Cited by 44 publications

References 32 publications

Contract farming: opportunity cost and trade‐offs

Contract farming: opportunity cost and trade‐offs

The Future of Work in Agriculture: Some Reflections

Using agriculture for development: Supply- and demand-side approaches

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About