PIM pre-conference workshop on rural transformation at the International Conference of Agricultural Economists 2018: Selected papers

PIM PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP ON RURAL TRANSFORMATION AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMISTS 2018: SELECTED PAPERS

by PIM | March 14, 2018

The CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) will convene a pre-conference workshop on the topic of Rural Transformation in the 21st Century: The Challenges of Low-Income, Late-Transforming Countries as part of the next International Conference of Agricultural Economists (July 28 - August 2, 2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada). The workshop will be held on July 28.

Summary of the event with links to presentations and recordings available here

Rural Transformation refers to the change (usually as part of an economy-wide process of structural transformation) of rural areas that are poor and largely based on agriculture to more diversified and prosperous ones. Countries undergoing the process in the 21st century face a different context than those that did so in the 19th or 20th centuries. Competition from foreign suppliers is tough, even in local markets in low income countries. Jobs for young people are scarce. Late-transformers lag, rather than lead, global technical innovation. Migration is risky. The challenges of late transformation are offset, at least partially, by benefits; to leap-frog technologies, to sell into distant markets, to use ICT for productive and social purposes, to deploy a more educated rural population, and to access flows of remittances. Researchers accordingly ask what role agriculture and food systems play in late-transforming countries, and what interventions can facilitate shared growth, better nutrition, and sound natural resource management as economies diversify.

This event is convened by PIM as the Second Annual Social Science Conference of CGIAR.

The following papers were selected for the workshop’s four sessions through a review of abstracts submitted in an open competitive call:

Session 1. New insights into 21st century rural transformation; what does it look like in different regions? 

  • Rural transformation and nutrition transition: Same pathways, different speeds? William A. Masters (Friedman School of Nutrition and Department of Economics, Tufts University, USA)
  • Urbanization, Agriculture and Rural Transformation in Africa. Paul Dorosh and James Thurlow (International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), USA)
  • How is Rising Concentration of Farmland Affecting Rural Household Incomes? Evidence from Tanzania. Jordan Chamberlin (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Ethiopia) and Thomas S. Jayne (Michigan State University, USA)
  • Farm Size and Productivity: Lessons from Recent Literature. Douglas Gollin (Oxford Department of International Development, Oxford University, UK)

Session 2. Implications of 21st century rural transformation for markets and value chains

  • Exploring a gender-responsive asset-based approach to enhance the transformative potential of value chain development in Guatemala, India and Peru. Dietmar Stoian (Bioversity International, France), Gennifer Meldrum (Bioversity International, Italy), Hugo Lamers (Bioversity International, The Netherlands), Trent Blare (World Agroforestry Centre, Peru), Marlène Elias (Bioversity International, Italy), Jason Donovan (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico)
  • Contractual arrangements for rural transformation and market access to smallholder farmers in the rice value-chain: A randomized control trial approach. Aminou Arouna (Africa Rice Center, Cote d’Ivoire), Jourdain C. Lokossou (International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Mali), Michler Jeffrey (University of Saskatchewan, Canada)
  • The uneven spread of private food quality standards over time and space. Insa Flachsbarth (University of Göttingen, Germany), Nina Grassnick (University of Göttingen, Germany), Amjad Masood (Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology, Pakistan), Bernhard Brümmer (University of Göttingen, Germany)
  • Application of a multi-market partial equilibrium model to evaluate the impact of technology and policy on smallholders in the pig sector of Vietnam and Uganda. Lucila A. Lapar (International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Vietnam), Emily Ouma (ILRI, Uganda), Peter Lule (ILRI, Uganda), Nguyen Ngoc Que (Centre for Agricultural Policy (CAP), Institute for Policy and Strategy in Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam), Dang Kim Khoi (Centre for Agricultural Policy (CAP), Institute for Policy and Strategy in Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam), and Karl M. Rich (ILRI, Vietnam)

Session 3. Linkage between rural transformation, climate change, and natural resource management (NRM)

  • Building resilience to climate change through diversification: Cross-country evidence from sub-Saharan Africa. Solomon Asfaw (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Italy), Ada Ignaciuk (FAO, Italy), Gloria Di Caprera (University of Tor Vergata, Italy), Antonio Scognamillo and Nicholas Sitko (FAO, Italy)
  • Sustainable land management under rural transformation in Africa. Thomas S. Jayne (Michigan State University, USA), Frank Place (CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets/International Food Policy Research Institute, USA), Sieglinde Snapp (Michigan State University, USA)
  • Livelihood trajectory models reveal the importance of interactive effects and combining interventions to achieve transformative impact. Fergus Sinclair, Mary Crossland (World Agroforestry Centre, Kenya / Bangor University, Wales, UK), John Nyaga, Leigh Winowiecki (Bangor University, Wales, UK)

Session 4. What about the slow transformers?

  • Myanmar’s recent rural transformation. Ben Belton (Michigan State University, USA), Mateusz Filipski (International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), USA), Duncan Boughton, Nilar Aung (Michigan State University, USA)
  • Change and rigidity in employment patterns in Malawi, 2004-2016. Bob Baulch (IFPRI, Malawi), Todd Benson (IFPRI), Alvina Erman (The World Bank, USA) and Anderson Gondwe (IFPRI, Malawi)
  • Impacts of improved infrastructure on accelerating the rural transformation: Evidence from Bangladesh. Khondoker Mottaleb (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico)
  • Involvement and career preferences of rural youth across rice value chain in India. Prakashan Chellattan Veettil, Bidhan K. Mohapatra, Prabhakaran T. Raghu (International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), India) and Samarendu Mohanty (International Potato Centre (CIP), Vietnam)