Agriculture in Africa--Telling Myths from Facts : A Synthesis

Christiaensen, Luc

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: agriculture;    measurement;    technology;    structural transformation;    market;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7979
RP-ID  :  WPS7979

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Stylized facts drive research agendasand policy debates. Yet robust stylized facts are hard tocome by, and when available, often outdated. In a specialissue of Food Policy, 12 papers revisit conventional wisdomon African agriculture and its farmers' livelihoodsusing nationally representative surveys from the LivingStandards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys onAgriculture Initiative in six African countries. At times,the findings simply confirm the common understanding of thetopic. But the studies also throw up several surprises,redirecting some policy debates while fine-tuning others.Overall, the project calls for more attention to checkingand updating the common wisdom. This requires nationallyrepresentative data, and sufficient incentives amongresearchers and policy makers alike. Without well-groundedstylized facts, they can easily be profoundly misguided.