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Pro-poor agricultural growth – Inclusion or differentiation? Village level perspectives from Zambia

Andersson Djurfeldt, Agnes LU and Hillbom, Ellen LU (2016) In Geoforum 75. p.220-233
Abstract

Over the past decade pro-poor agricultural growth strategies intended to raise smallholder productivity and increase commercialization among smallholders have been put forth as the key method for addressing poverty in rural Africa. By contrast perspectives that challenge this model question the market optimism and presumptions of higher smallholder efficiency that underpin the pro-poor agricultural growth model. Little longitudinal data exists that can shed light on questions related to sustainability of growth patterns and their distributional consequences at the village level, however. This paper uses a mixed methods approach to trace growth dynamics as well as the distributional aspects of such growth in terms of access to agrarian... (More)

Over the past decade pro-poor agricultural growth strategies intended to raise smallholder productivity and increase commercialization among smallholders have been put forth as the key method for addressing poverty in rural Africa. By contrast perspectives that challenge this model question the market optimism and presumptions of higher smallholder efficiency that underpin the pro-poor agricultural growth model. Little longitudinal data exists that can shed light on questions related to sustainability of growth patterns and their distributional consequences at the village level, however. This paper uses a mixed methods approach to trace growth dynamics as well as the distributional aspects of such growth in terms of access to agrarian resources and local level labour relations. Quantitative data was used to select three villages in Zambia that had experienced pro-poor agricultural growth between 2002 and 2008. These villages were re-surveyed in 2013 and supplementary qualitative data was collected. Two of the three villages showed sustainable growth patterns. While the sources of such growth as well their distributional outcomes were different in the two villages, the reasons for such differences are related to Zambian agricultural policy as well as geography.

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publication status
published
subject
in
Geoforum
volume
75
pages
14 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • wos:000383943700024
  • scopus:84982190042
ISSN
0016-7185
DOI
10.1016/j.geoforum.2016.08.002
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
2f2967a9-dd9d-423b-a4e9-9f6ee9b5f19f
date added to LUP
2016-10-17 07:29:25
date last changed
2024-02-19 08:44:17
@article{2f2967a9-dd9d-423b-a4e9-9f6ee9b5f19f,
  abstract     = {{<p>Over the past decade pro-poor agricultural growth strategies intended to raise smallholder productivity and increase commercialization among smallholders have been put forth as the key method for addressing poverty in rural Africa. By contrast perspectives that challenge this model question the market optimism and presumptions of higher smallholder efficiency that underpin the pro-poor agricultural growth model. Little longitudinal data exists that can shed light on questions related to sustainability of growth patterns and their distributional consequences at the village level, however. This paper uses a mixed methods approach to trace growth dynamics as well as the distributional aspects of such growth in terms of access to agrarian resources and local level labour relations. Quantitative data was used to select three villages in Zambia that had experienced pro-poor agricultural growth between 2002 and 2008. These villages were re-surveyed in 2013 and supplementary qualitative data was collected. Two of the three villages showed sustainable growth patterns. While the sources of such growth as well their distributional outcomes were different in the two villages, the reasons for such differences are related to Zambian agricultural policy as well as geography.</p>}},
  author       = {{Andersson Djurfeldt, Agnes and Hillbom, Ellen}},
  issn         = {{0016-7185}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  pages        = {{220--233}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Geoforum}},
  title        = {{Pro-poor agricultural growth – Inclusion or differentiation? Village level perspectives from Zambia}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2016.08.002}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.geoforum.2016.08.002}},
  volume       = {{75}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}