Playing to Strength : Growth Strategy for Small Agrarian Economies in Africa

With urban industrialization on the scale achieved by East Asian economies looking increasingly less plausible, small economies in Africa need an alternative strategic approach to long-term growth. The purpose of this paper is to identify a growth...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Yusuf, Shahid, Kumar, Praveen
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:	AGRICULTURE GROWTH STRATEGY LANDLOCKED PRECISION AGRICULTURE MANUFACTURING TOURISM AGRIBUSINESS
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/198021533665590055/Playing-to-strength-growth-strategy-for-small-agrarian-economies-in-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30233

id	okr-10986-30233
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-302332021-06-08T14:42:47Z Playing to Strength : Growth Strategy for Small Agrarian Economies in Africa Yusuf, Shahid Kumar, Praveen AGRICULTURE GROWTH STRATEGY LANDLOCKED PRECISION AGRICULTURE MANUFACTURING TOURISM AGRIBUSINESS With urban industrialization on the scale achieved by East Asian economies looking increasingly less plausible, small economies in Africa need an alternative strategic approach to long-term growth. The purpose of this paper is to identify a growth strategy with the greatest potential for small, landlocked economies in East Africa. The paper uses Malawi, Rwanda, and Uganda as case studies to explore the potential for growth in agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism in these countries. The paper marshals extensive reasoning that while the manufacturing sector and exports of light labor or resource intensive manufactures could contribute a fraction of aggregate growth, it is agriculture, agribusiness, and services that will contribute the lion’s share because of an unprecedented convergence of technologies. Industrialized agriculture and agri-business could enable these countries to sustain rapid growth even in the face of climate change. Malawi, Rwanda, and Uganda, with some trying, can accelerate their convergence to the technological frontier to take full advantage of this promise. Undoubtedly, there are obstacles to transferring the advanced technologies wholesale to East Africa, but their eventual assimilation is a must and the removal of hurdles needs to be addressed. Extracting the maximum growth mileage will require policy action on multiple fronts. 2018-08-15T19:18:08Z 2018-08-15T19:18:08Z 2018-08 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/198021533665590055/Playing-to-strength-growth-strategy-for-small-agrarian-economies-in-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30233 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8543 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa East Africa Malawi Rwanda Uganda
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	AGRICULTURE GROWTH STRATEGY LANDLOCKED PRECISION AGRICULTURE MANUFACTURING TOURISM AGRIBUSINESS
spellingShingle	AGRICULTURE GROWTH STRATEGY LANDLOCKED PRECISION AGRICULTURE MANUFACTURING TOURISM AGRIBUSINESS Yusuf, Shahid Kumar, Praveen Playing to Strength : Growth Strategy for Small Agrarian Economies in Africa
geographic_facet	Africa East Africa Malawi Rwanda Uganda
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8543
description	With urban industrialization on the scale achieved by East Asian economies looking increasingly less plausible, small economies in Africa need an alternative strategic approach to long-term growth. The purpose of this paper is to identify a growth strategy with the greatest potential for small, landlocked economies in East Africa. The paper uses Malawi, Rwanda, and Uganda as case studies to explore the potential for growth in agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism in these countries. The paper marshals extensive reasoning that while the manufacturing sector and exports of light labor or resource intensive manufactures could contribute a fraction of aggregate growth, it is agriculture, agribusiness, and services that will contribute the lion’s share because of an unprecedented convergence of technologies. Industrialized agriculture and agri-business could enable these countries to sustain rapid growth even in the face of climate change. Malawi, Rwanda, and Uganda, with some trying, can accelerate their convergence to the technological frontier to take full advantage of this promise. Undoubtedly, there are obstacles to transferring the advanced technologies wholesale to East Africa, but their eventual assimilation is a must and the removal of hurdles needs to be addressed. Extracting the maximum growth mileage will require policy action on multiple fronts.
format	Working Paper
author	Yusuf, Shahid Kumar, Praveen
author_facet	Yusuf, Shahid Kumar, Praveen
author_sort	Yusuf, Shahid
title	Playing to Strength : Growth Strategy for Small Agrarian Economies in Africa
title_short	Playing to Strength : Growth Strategy for Small Agrarian Economies in Africa
title_full	Playing to Strength : Growth Strategy for Small Agrarian Economies in Africa
title_fullStr	Playing to Strength : Growth Strategy for Small Agrarian Economies in Africa
title_full_unstemmed	Playing to Strength : Growth Strategy for Small Agrarian Economies in Africa
title_sort	playing to strength : growth strategy for small agrarian economies in africa
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2018
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/198021533665590055/Playing-to-strength-growth-strategy-for-small-agrarian-economies-in-Africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30233
_version_	1764471485828694016

Playing to Strength : Growth Strategy for Small Agrarian Economies in Africa

Similar Items