Overview of APRA

1. APRA Launch Event
Agricultural Policy Research in Africa
Conference on Land Policy in Africa
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – 15 November 2017
Janet Edeme, Head of Rural Economy Division, Department of Rural Economy and
Agriculture, African Union Commission, and Chair of the APRA International Advisory Group
Ephraim Chirwa, John Thompson, Seife Ayele,
Cyriaque Hakizimana, Ruth Hall and Emmanuel Sulle
Funded by UK aid from the UK Government
www.future-agricultures.org/apra

2. Welcome to APRA!
APRA  a five-year research
programme aiming to analyse
pathways to agricultural
commercialisation and their
differential impacts on
empowerment of women and
girls, poverty reduction, and
food and nutrition security and
in Sub-Saharan Africa, led by the
Future Agricultures Consortium
(FAC) and funded by the UK
Department of International
Development (DFID).
www.future-agricultures.org/apra

3. African Union's Bold Agenda for
Agricultural Transformation
• The 2014 Malabo Declaration on Accelerated African
Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared
Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods set the foundation for
commercialisation through inclusive agribusiness and private
sector engagement.
• The AU made a renewed commitment to play a facilitating
role in promoting private sector engagement while
maintaining core linkages with smallholder agriculture.
• This is informed by demand for a modernised agriculture
system for Africa; it has a clear objective to increase
productivity and value addition and reverse food insecurity.
www.future-agricultures.org/apra

4. African Union's Bold Agenda for
Agricultural Transformation
• Specific targets include the elimination of hunger and
malnutrition, the reduction of food imports and a rise
in intra-Africa trade to 50% of total trade in agro-food
products. It also calls for the introduction of modern
agriculture technology.
• Notably, there is a renewed focus on employment
and income generation for the poorest rural
communities in recognition of previous failures to
make serious impacts on rural poverty reduction.
• Youth unemployment is also targeted for specific
intervention.
www.future-agricultures.org/apra

5. APRA: Meeting the Challenge
Challenge: To meet the Malabo CAADP commitments, research is
needed to identify the opportunities and challenges that different
pathways of agricultural commercialisation offer for poverty
reduction, empowerment and improved food and nutrition security
in different contexts.
Response: APRA research is addressing key ‘evidence gaps’ by
undertaking in-depth research on the impact of ongoing and
emerging processes of commercialisation in African agriculture.
It will involve a combination of activities to make the new
evidence available for key decision makers, including research
uptake and stakeholder engagement at national and regional
levels.
www.future-agricultures.org/apra

6. Overarching Question
“What are the pathways to agricultural
commercialisation that have been most
effective in empowering women and
girls, reducing rural poverty and
improving nutrition and food security?”
www.future-agricultures.org/apra

7. Defining Commercialisation
We define agricultural commercialisation as a process
occurring when farmers increasingly engage with the
market, either to provide factors of production –
fertiliser, seed, other inputs, hired labour, formal credit,
rented land – or to process and sell their produce.
This may occur through either external investment or
internal processes of differentiation and farm
consolidation, or a combination of the two.
www.future-agricultures.org/apra

8. Testing a Typology of Four Key Pathways
to Agricultural Commercialisation
www.future-agricultures.org/apra
1. Large-Scale Estate 2. Medium-Scale Commercial
3. Outgrower/Contract 4. Small-Scale Independent

9. Analysing 4 Livelihood Trajectories
through Agricultural Commercialisation
www.future-agricultures.org/apra
1. ‘Stepping out’ – accumulating, diversifying and
creating alternative, non-farm economic activities
2. ‘Stepping up’ – improving and investing in existing
agricultural activities
3. ‘Hanging in’ – maintaining subsistence level
4. ‘Dropping out’ – moving away or slipping into
destitution due to shocks and stresses
 Improvements through commercialisation,
intensification, diversification…

10. Investigating Five Outcome Areas
1. Agricultural commercialisations
2. Empowerment of women and girls
3. Employment rates and conditions
4. Food and nutrition security
5. Assets, poverty, income and patterns of inequality
Who are the winners and losers?
What are the critical factors behind these outcomes?
www.future-agricultures.org/apra

11. Assumptions
Good agricultural practices,
access to inputs & appropriate
technology, infrastructure
Medium
commercial
farming
Estates/
plantations
Drivers of Agricultural Commercialisation and its Outcomes
Out-grower/
contract
farming
Mediating Factors
Household composition, gender,
age, class, ethnicity
Assumptions
Market efficiency,
good prices, post-
harvest losses
Income
Employment
Agricultural
Productivity
Agrarian Change Dynamics –
Accumulation and Capital
Economics of Agricultural
Commodities and Investments
Geography – Climate Change, Access
to Resources, Infrastructure and
Markets
Political Economy of Policy: Processes,
Incentives, Democratisation
Agricultural
Commercialisation
Pathways
Women
Empowerment
Food and
Nutrition
Security
Poverty
Reduction
Inequality
Stepping Out
Stepping Up
Hanging In
Dropping Out
Assumptions
Decent wages and good
employment conditions
Smallholder
commercial
farming
Assumptions
Good agricultural practices,
access to inputs & appropriate
technology, infrastructure
Medium
commercial
farming
Estates/
plantations
Drivers of Agricultural Commercialisation and its Outcomes
Out-grower/
contract
farming
Mediating Factors
Household composition, gender,
age, class, ethnicity
Assumptions
Market efficiency,
good prices, post-
harvest losses
Income
Employment
Agricultural
Productivity
Agrarian Change Dynamics –
Accumulation and Capital
Economics of Agricultural
Commodities and Investments
Geography – Climate Change, Access
to Resources, Infrastructure and
Markets
Political Economy of Policy: Processes,
Incentives, Democratisation
Agricultural
Commercialisation
Pathways
Women
Empowerment
Food and
Nutrition
Security
Poverty
Reduction
Inequality
Stepping Out
Stepping Up
Hanging In
Dropping Out
Assumptions
Decent wages and good
employment conditions
Smallholder
commercial
farming
APRA’s Theory
of Change

12. Focal Countries
• Six priority countries: Ethiopia,
Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania
and Zimbabwe
• Two secondary countries: Kenya
and Mozambique
• Include New Alliance and DFID
priority countries
• All have potential longitudinal
studies on which we can build
• Include both high and low
population density settings,
different agroecological conditions
with different commodity foci
• Represent varying levels of market
integration and agribusiness
development
42%22%
12% 17%

13. APRA Methodology
3 Work Streams using mixed methods:
1. Panel Studies of different types of commercialisation
and people’s selection choices and their outcomes
• Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zimbabwe
• All 4 panel studies are analysing a range of livelihood
outcomes resulting from engagement with different
agricultural commercialisation models
• Focusing on commercialisation choices; women’s and
girl’s empowerment; employment; food and nutrition
security; and poverty reduction
www.future-agricultures.org/apra

14. APRA Methodology
2. Longitudinal Studies of pathways to agricultural
commercialisation in different agrarian contexts
• Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zimbabwe
• Malawi (Tracker Study)
• All 6 studies are examining how different pathways of
agricultural commercialisation evolve over time from a
wider historical assessment of the dynamics of agrarian
change, and how these influence the different livelihood
opportunities and outcomes of rural women and men in
different contexts
• Focusing on processes of ‘stepping up’ and ‘stepping out’
www.future-agricultures.org/apra

15. Methodology
3. Comparative Policy Studies to fill key evidence gaps:
1. Business investment in agricultural commercialisation
• Ethiopia, Ghana (and possibly Malawi)
2. Growth corridors and commercialisation
• Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania
3. Rise of medium-scale farmers
• Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zimbabwe
4. BRICS interventions and mechanisation
• Ghana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe (and possibly Ethiopia)
5. Livestock commercialisation in pastoralist areas
• Ethiopia and Kenya
6. Young people and agricultural commercialisation
• Ghana and Tanzania
www.future-agricultures.org/apra

16. Five Cross-Cutting Themes
1. Dimensions of social difference
2. Rural transitions, non-farm rural economies and
rural-urban links
3. Policy processes and political economy
4. Climate change and livelihood resilience
5. Science, technology and innovation for
commercialisation
www.future-agricultures.org/apra

17. Key Deliverables
Overall Programme:
1. 16 multi-country panel, longitudinal and policy studies
on the key themes, technical papers and policy briefs
2. Research seminars, policy workshops and conferences.
3. Regular updates on key policy developments in Africa,
including a political economy analysis of key trends.
4. At least 25 published peer-reviewed journal articles
and 50 other research outputs that set out the
evidence base
www.future-agricultures.org/apra

18. Expected Outcomes
1. Produce high quality evidence to inform national
and regional policies and investments in
commercial agriculture to make them more
effective and equitable in terms of their impact on
rural poverty, empowerment of women and girls,
and food and nutrition security.
2. Provide a much better understanding of the
political economy behind decision making on
agricultural commercialisation in Africa.
www.future-agricultures.org/apra

19. APRA Website
www.future-agricultures.org/apra

20. APRA Contacts
Directorate/IDS
John Thompson j.thompson@ids.ac.uk
Oliver Burch o.burch@ids.ac.uk
Amrita Saha a.saha@ids.ac.uk
Lesley White l.white@ids.ac.uk
Research Directors
Ephraim Chirwa echirwa@yahoo.com
Rachel Sabates-Wheeler r.Sabates-wheeler@ids.ac.uk
East Africa Regional Hub/CABE
Hannington Odame hsodame@gmail.com
Southern Africa Regional Hub/PLAAS
Cyriaque Hakizimana chakizimana@plaas.org.za
Ruth Hall rhall@plaas.org.za
West Africa Regional Hub/
Univ of Ghana
Joseph Yaro yarojoe@yahoo.com
APRA Webpages
www.future-agricultures.org/apra
www.future-agricultures.org/apra