Agriculture in Africa--Telling Myths from Facts
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World Bank, Washington, DC
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Stylized facts drive research agendas
and policy debates. Yet robust stylized facts are hard to
come by, and when available, often outdated. In a special
issue of Food Policy, 12 papers revisit conventional wisdom
on African agriculture and its farmers' livelihoods
using nationally representative surveys from the Living
Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on
Agriculture Initiative in six African countries. At times,
the findings simply confirm the common understanding of the
topic. But the studies also throw up several surprises,
redirecting some policy debates while fine-tuning others.
Overall, the project calls for more attention to checking
and updating the common wisdom. This requires nationally
representative data, and sufficient incentives among
researchers and policy makers alike. Without well-grounded
stylized facts, they can easily be profoundly misguided.
Palabras clave
agriculture, measurement, technology, structural transformation, market, living standards, labor market