Organisers:
International Development Economics Associates (IDEAs)
The Ethiopian Economic Association (EEA),
Addis Ababa
CODESRIA,
Dakar, Senegal.
Supported by:
UNDP, New York.
IDEAs' first conference,
along with the workshop which immediately preceded, held in Africa and
meant exclusively for African economists and policymakers took place in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during 17-19 December 2004. The event, along with
the workshop were organized in association with the Ethiopian Economic
Association (EEA) and the Council for the Development of Social Science
Research in Africa (CODESRIA), with support from the UNDP. With a special
focus on the agricultural sector, the agenda centred on understanding
the linkages between the ongoing processes of agrarian transformation,
the increase in poverty and the underlying macroeconomic processes, with
particular reference to Africa. The fundamental logic that drove the agenda
was the belief that agrarian development cannot be looked at independently
of the macroeconomic context, both at the national and international levels,
and therefore, that the widening and deepening crises of livelihood and
food security occurring in several parts of the less developed world have
to be examined as such. Exploring the linkages between the macroeconomic
processes and specific changes observed in the agrarian sector, and their
implications for poverty reduction were thus the major areas of discussion.
The nature of the role of state in addressing the various constraints
to agrarian transformation and in adopting progressive development alternatives
also featured prominently during the two days of deliberations.
The objective of the
international conference on 'The Agrarian Constraint
and Poverty Reduction: Macroeconomic Lessons for Africa' which
was held subsequently was to focus on issues of current concern facing
the agrarian sectors of Third World economies with particular reference
to Africa. The majority of the conference participants were from within
Africa, and most of the papers and discussions focused on African countries’
experiences in dealing with agrarian transformation in the current international
conjuncture.
The conference speakers
included late Prof. Guy Mhone of the University of Witwatersrand, South
Africa, Dr. Berhanu Nega of the Addis Ababa University, Prof. Sam Moyo,
Prof. Ben Turok of the African National Congress, South Africa, Zenebewerke
Tadesse (formerly of CODESRIA), Carlos Oya of the School of Oriental and
African Studies, Prof. Francis Wilson of the University of Cape Town,
Dr. Mamadou Dansokho of Dakar, Senegal, Prof. Utsa Patnaik, Prof. Germina
Ssemogerere, Makerere University, Uganda, Patrick Bond, Director of Centre
for Civil Society, University of Kwazulu-Natal, Jomo K.S. (former Chair
of IDEAs and currently at UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs),
Jayati Ghosh, Prof. Assefa Ademassie, Director, EEA, Prof. Terry McKinley,
UNDP, Prof. Juan Carlos Moreno, CEPAL, etc.
The first day of the
conference had sessions centred on the global context of the current agrarian
transition, and the underdevelopment and poverty linkages of the agrarian
question. Specific issues of trade in agriculture, and the implications
of financial liberalisation for agriculture were the focus during the
second day of the conference. The following papers were presented:
- How Viable is an
Agriculture-centered Development Strategy in Africa? Lessons from Ethiopia
by Berhanu Nega
- The Land and Agrarian
Question in Zimbabwe by Sam Moyo
- Agricultural Growth
in South Africa and Tanzania: The Solution to the Challenge of Unemployment
and Poverty in Africa by Francis Wilson
- Alternative Ways
of Estimating Poverty and Implications for Policy: A Critical
Appraisal from the Indian Experience by Utsa Patnaik
- The Structure of
the Ethiopian Economy: A SAM-based Characterization and Analysis by
Alemayehu Seyoum Tafesse
- Stocktaking Empirical
Findings on Sub-Saharan Africa’s Agricultural Liberalisation (Focus
on Mozambique, Senegal and Zambia) by Carlos Oya
- African Development
/Governance, South African Sub-imperialism and NEPAD by Patrick Bond
- Financial Liberalisation
and Credit: A Case Study of Uganda by Germina Ssemogerere
- Agricultural Credit
in Ethiopia after Financial Liberalization by Assefa Ademassie
- Liberalisation
and the Rural Banking Policy: An Indian Case Study by V K Ramachandran
- Panel discussion on: '‘Macroeconomic Policies, Agriculture and Poverty' chaired by Zenebewerke Tadesse
Coming
to macroeconomic lessons in solving the agrarian constraint, the conference
concluded that for economies for which the agriculture sector or the rural
population is important, the constraints which seem to be radically more
crucial than the so-called agrarian constraint under the present conjuncture
are the financial constraints, the fiscal constraints and the external
constraint. But the most binding constraints were acknowledged as the
ideological and political constraints. It was widely agreed that part
of the solution in opposing the hegemony of Washington Consensus is about
sharing and expanding a common understanding of the problem and mobilising
people. And in this context, it was agreed that conferences of this nature
are extremely important to ensure that the hegemony of ideas of progressive
development are re-established.
It was also suggested
by the eminent African development economist late Prof. Guy Mhone that
Africa is still lagging far behind in clarifying its developmental problem
when compared to countries in Latin America and Asia. He envisioned that
there is a need to extend a developmental paradigm or developmental stance
for Africa, within which the discourses of rural economy, agriculture,
industrialization, credit, unemployment, poverty, etc., all need to be
located and analysed.
While the conference successfully wove together
the macroeconomic fabric driving the agrarian transition in Africa and
there was agreement on the fact that the neoliberal macroeconomic policy
package is undermining developing country agriculture across the continent,
it was acknowledged that it is also imperative to understand the nature
of this transformation at the micro level. Thus, changes in production
relations in agriculture and allied sectors in different regions, the
nature of involvement of agri enterprises, both domestic and foreign,
the macroeconomic factors of fiscal, financial and trade policies underpinning
the dynamics of agribusiness operations and their linkages with farmers,
the implications of these both for livelihood patterns in the rural areas
at different levels and for food security overall, the sustainability
of corporate-driven agricultural models, etc. emerged as important issues
for further in-depth analysis and research. When IDEAs’ first event in
Africa became a remarkable intellectual experience for the over seventy
academics and young policymakers who came
together at the workshop and conference from across the continents, it
was a moment of pride and fulfilment for IDEAs.