Spreading the gains? Prospects and policies for the development of regional value chains in Southern Africa

Submitted by Tali Hoffman on
EfD Authors:

Regional integration is making steady progress in Africa and a key objective is to improve the prospects for industrialisation by expanding the regional market. The paper draws on a combination of trade data analysis and industry case studies to better understand the links and synergies between regional value chains and regional integration. The trade data and case studies of three diverse sectors (garments, food retailing and automotive) demonstrate the expansion and diversity of regional trade and regional value chains in southern Africa.

Policy Design

Risk Preferences and the Poverty Trap: A Look at Technology Uptake amongst Smallholder Farmers in the Matzikama Municipality

Submitted by Tali Hoffman on
EfD Authors:

A number of studies suggest the risk preference of low income individuals can result in behaviour that create conditions of sub optimal investment and thus persistent poverty. In this paper, we carry out a study with small-scale farmers in the Matzikama Municipality of the Western Cape, South Africa. We investigate how risk preference affect technology investment amongst small-scale farmers in developing countries.

Agriculture, Policy Design

The case for banning single use plastics in Malawi

Submitted by Tali Hoffman on
EfD Authors:

In 2015, Malawi became one of Africa’s first countries to impose a ban on plastic bags, following global concerns around the environmental damages caused by single-use plastics and joining a surge of policy instruments to deal with the issue in Africa. However, this led to a backlash from the business community, who argued in court that the ban would lead to economic costs and job losses, following which Malawi stopped implementing the Environment Management (Plastics) Regulations of 2015 in accordance with a court order.

Policy Design

South Africa’s Special Economic Zones as Destinations for Chinese Investment: Problems and Possibilities

Submitted by Tali Hoffman on
EfD Authors:

China increasingly dominates global manufacturing and South Africa, while the largest industrial power in Africa, has lagged with the manufacturing sector’s share of GDP declining in a low growth economy. China’s industrial development has been synonymous with SEZs which operate on a vast scale. Chinese firms are increasingly investing in Africa and a growing share of this investment is in the manufacturing sector and also within SEZs.

Policy Design

Value Chains in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges of Integration into the Global Economy

Submitted by Tali Hoffman on
EfD Authors:

Development largely depends on how given places participate in global economic processes. The contributions to this book address various features of the integration of sub-Saharan Africa into the world economy via value chains, so as to explain corresponding challenges and opportunities.

Policy Design

Reconciling the Willingness to Pay and Conservation Cost for Sustainable Watershed Management in Tanzania

Submitted by Salvatory Macha on

Effective sustainable natural resource management asks for an integrated approach to allow the involvement of actors in the management process. This paper intends to measure willingness to pay (WTP) and its determinants for watershed conservation, and then link it to the calculated costs of conservation.

A cross-sectional data from 200 households residing in Igunga town are analysed using the probit model. The key findings show that, on average, households are willing to pay TZS4,920 per month, which approximately equals TZS260m per year, for the entire number of

Conservation, Forestry, Policy Design, Water

Do Dairy Market Hubs improve smallholder farmers’ income? The case of dairy farmers in the Tanga and Morogoro regions of Tanzania

Submitted by Salvatory Macha on
EfD Authors:

The dairy industry has great potential to improve living standards for the poor in Tanzania and more so for smallholder farmers who account for the largest share of milk consumed nationally.

Agriculture, Policy Design