Presented by Rachid Serraj and Jeff Sayer at the ISPC Science Forum 2016, Addis Ababa, 12-14 April 2016

1. Rachid Serraj and Jeff Sayer
Agricultural growth corridors
and rural prosperity
For the Africa breakout session

2. Section Title
Who will be farming, where and what
in 20 years?
 Foresight and partnerships
 Links with NEPAD, CAADP, WB, FARA and ECDPM...
Urbanization & farm size (Masters et al. 2013)
 Innovation will spread along transport routes;
 average area per farm is likely to keep falling in Africa;
 Diverse and changing farm systems will present new research
challenges.
 Vast reduction in proportion of population engaged in agriculture
and large move out of rural areas (Collier & Dercon, 2014)
 Commitment to smallholder agriculture as main route for growth in
African agriculture and for poverty reduction?

3. Agricultural research for rural prosperity: Rethinking the pathways www.scienceforum2016.org
 Tendency of corridors to exclude the poorest and deepen existing
power disparities - hinterlands.
 Many governments investing in SDIs and large-scale public-private
partnerships to achieve development goals.
 Malabo declaration (2014) – Ambitious goals..
“ to triple intra-African trade in agricultural goods and services by
2025 and to establish public-private partnerships to develop
strategic agricultural value chains with strong linkages to
smallholder agriculture.”
 implications for CGIAR’s R4D strategies, targets, metrics?

4. Agricultural research for rural prosperity: Rethinking the pathways www.scienceforum2016.org
Agricultural Growth Corridors - an overview and key questions for
further research – An ISPC commissioned background paper
Implications of the rise of corridors as a tool for inclusive
agricultural development…?
1. Context
2. Dimensions & typology of African corrdidors:
• Geographical scope
• Objectives
• Governance mechnaisms
3. Risks & opportunities for agricultural transformation
4. Future research areas?
• Impact
• Implementation
• Institutions

5. Agricultural research for rural prosperity: Rethinking the pathways www.scienceforum2016.org
Rise of the corridors!
ECDPM Page 5

6. Agricultural research for rural prosperity: Rethinking the pathways www.scienceforum2016.org
Rise of the corridors!
ECDPM Page 6
…competing narratives
• ‘Africa Rising’
Next investment frontier, risks & rewards
• 'Win-win-wins in a post-2015 world’
Development, econ. & comm. diplomacy
• Exploitative neocolonialism
Land-grabs, human rights abuse,
• 'Jobs-jobs-jobs’
Economic transformation, more and better jobs,
agricultural transformation, indust. policy, + value added

7. Agricultural research for rural prosperity: Rethinking the pathways www.scienceforum2016.org
Objectives: From transit corridors…
ECDPM
• 70% of African population >2km from all-
season road (Raballand & Trevaninthorn, 2009)
• 6-12kmph effective speed of SADC road
transport (Ranganathan & Foster, 2011)
• USD300 per day delay costs for 8 axle truck
• 4kmph rail from Durban to Kolawesi

8. Agricultural research for rural prosperity: Rethinking the pathways www.scienceforum2016.org
Objectives: From transit corridors…
ECDPM
• 70% of African population >2km from all-
season road (Raballand & Trevaninthorn, 2009)
• 6-12kmph effective speed of SADC road
transport (Ranganathan & Foster, 2011)
• USD300 per day delay costs for 8 axle truck
• 4kmph rail from Durban to Kolawesi
to agricultural corridors

9. Agricultural research for rural prosperity: Rethinking the pathways www.scienceforum2016.org
Governance – who leads?
ECDPM

10. Agricultural research for rural prosperity: Rethinking the pathways www.scienceforum2016.org
Indirect
• Corridor vs non-corridor areas
• Corridor competition vs cartels
• Lower transport costs = + imports?
• Competing with or connecting smallholders
Direct
• Farming systems - Large-scale vs land grabs
• Impact, accountability & enforcement
• Measurable, scalable, replicable success…?
• Aligned political-economic interests?
• Habitats impacts
Balancing risks & opportunities
ECDPM

11. Agricultural research for rural prosperity: Rethinking the pathways www.scienceforum2016.org
• Corridor implications for transformation
• Rural Poverty
• Improving food security
• Nutrition and health
• Sustainably managing natural resources
• Impacts – type, scale, distribution/ inclusivity
• Implementation means – partnerships etc.
• Institutions – approaches and policies
Research questions
ECDPM

12. Agricultural research for rural prosperity: Rethinking the pathways www.scienceforum2016.org
ECDPM
The scope for corridor-related agricultural research is underlined in Figure 1, highlighting the different
farming systems in Africa along with existing and planned corridors. These also clearly overlap with CGIAR
research countries (Figure 2), suggesting that for certain CGIAR programmes, corridor-related research is
unavoidable.
Figure 1 - Farming Systems and Development Corridors in Sub-Saharan Africa
Source: Weng et al. (2013)
Impact research

13. Corridors, Clusters, and Spatial Development Initiatives
in African Agriculture
Workshop Announcement
A side event of the Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture in Africa
30 November 2015, Durban, South Africa
 potential implications for the CGIAR of transformational change?
Participants:
scientists, research
managers,
representatives of
major promoters of
change and other key
partners and
stakeholders.

14. Agricultural research for rural prosperity: Rethinking the pathways www.scienceforum2016.org
©Bill Laurence
messages:
• Corridors have different characteristics in different regions of Africa (logistic
efficiency driven by PS or economic integration subject to government regulation and planning).
• Need for integrated interdisciplinary research on corridor-approaches and
impact on food and nutrition security, poverty and sustainability;
• Farmers often in midst of (informal) innovation systems, but not connected with
formal research systems: need to invest in strengthening innovation capacities
of smallholders and their negotiating power;
• Durban workshop: projected investments in SDIs and Corridors will have major
impact on African agriculture; changes will have to be taken into account in
setting R4D priorities;
• SDI and Corridor impacts will be highly context specific: difficult to draw
generalizable conclusions on implications for CGIAR; need to anticipate
transformational change.
• CGIAR’s role in addressing research needs of those “left behind” in the
hinterlands where SDIs and DCs do not have impact?

15. Agricultural research for rural prosperity: Rethinking the pathways www.scienceforum2016.org
©Bill Laurence
Questions for WGs:
1. What are the strategies that can be used to address important
drivers of change (DCs + others identified in the plenary sessions)?
2. What do they mean for AR4D?
3. What are the priority research questions and gaps in knowledge?