Agriculture is the largest sector in most sub-Saharan economies in terms of employment, and it plays an important role in supplying food and export earnings. Rural poverty rates remain high, and labor productivity is strikingly low. This article asks how these factors shape the role of...

This study tests the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, using a panel co-integration approach. Country-level time series data of energy consumption and economic growth are pooled and used to estimate the model. Sub-Saharan African countries in the...

To what extent has Sub-Saharan Africa’s slow economic growth over the past five decades been due to price and trade policies that have discouraged production of agricultural relative to non-agricultural tradables? This paper uses a new set of estimates of policy distortions to relative prices...

Much African land currently has low productivity and has attracted investors purchasing (or leasing) land as a speculative option on higher future prices or productivity. If land deals are to be beneficial they need to induce productivity enhancing investments. Some of these will be publicly...

Ce document présente une vue d'ensemble des chaînes de valeur agroalimentaires dans les régions ultrapériphériques de l'UE (RUP de l'UE). Il évalue les tendances émergentes, discute des opportunités et des défis, examine les cadres politiques et les outils qui peuvent renforcer la...

This paper provides an overview of agro-food value chains in the EU Outermost Regions (EU ORs). It assesses emerging trends, discusses opportunities and challenges, reviews the policy frameworks and tools that can strengthen the beneficial participation of EU ORs in international agro-food value...

In the new millennium, the Western aid effort towards Africa has surged due to writings by well-known economists, a celebrity mass advocacy campaign, and decisions by Western leaders to make Africa a major foreign policy priority. This survey contrasts the predominant "transformational" approach...

This study tests the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, using a panel co-integration approach. Country-level time series data of energy consumption and economic growth are pooled and used to estimate the model. Sub-Saharan African countries in the...

Sub-Saharan Africa lacks electricity. We estimate the cost of providing electricity to the region. To do so, we build an optimisation model that links the electricity demand to the supply and links the supply to the generation, distribution and transmission of electricity between countries. To...