Institutional Innovations and Investments: Creating an Enabling Environment for Emerging Agro-Enterprises in Africa

Agro-enterprises make important contributions to employment and income generation in developing countries, occupying a strategic position in manufacturing that comprise an essential supply-source of food and fiber production and represent an important demand-driver for agricultural products. The economic performance of agro-enterprises in no small measure depends on their ability to attract capital and new technologies.  Although it is assumed that the performance of agro-enterprises influences economic development goals, the interrelationships among firm strategy, industry performance, and macro-economic development outcomes are currently a source of great debate. The distributional impacts of capital flows and technology transfers on pro-poor outcomes in developing countries are not widely understood.  This project will evaluate alternative strategies and institutions in economic development to examine the impacts of financial markets and the transfer of technology to agro-enterprises on food security, poverty, and economic growth.