Critical review of agricultural growth corridors in eastern Africa

“Agricultural growth corridors on the eastern seaboard of Africa: an overview” (2017, 40pp) by Rebecca Smalley is the first Working Paper of the Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) programme of the Future Agricultures Consortium. It reviews the recent emergence of agricultural growth corridors and other types of corridor with a prominent agricultural component, focused on four projects on the eastern seaboard of Africa: the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT), the Beira Agricultural Growth Corridor (BAGC), the Nacala development corridor in Mozambique, and the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor in Kenya. All four corridors aim to use infrastructure to leverage investment in agriculture and to support commercially oriented producers to supply global markets, rather than small-scale agriculture (cropping and pastoralism) for local markets and food security. The primary drivers of corridor development are not usually domestic governments but rather coalitions of private-sector actors who could align their commercial ambitions with mainstream ideas on infrastructure and agriculture among donors and the international development community. The paper raises concerns over infringement of land rights, exclusion of some farmers and pastoralists, and failure to articulate how corridors will address the causes of low productivity, poverty and food insecurity in rural areas.

Posted on 7 July 2018 in Pastoralism & Extractives, Pastoralism, Policy & Power