Rapid population growth in agroecologies that are already under high population
pressure poses a major challenge for development policy. It becomes an even greater
challenge in complex agroecologies where little new technology for rapid agricultural
expansion is available. The mountain zones of the Zaire-Nile Divide in Central Africa
present an example of such a challenging environment where agriculture has encroached
onto marginal zones, that is, water catchment areas and the last tropical forests of the
area. This study by von Braun, de Haen, and Blanken highlights the potentials of
agricultural development for the employment, income, and consumption of the poor, but
also stresses that nonagricultural rural growth and employment expansion are key to
improved food security and nutrition in this setting. The authors show that the delivery
of public goods—health services, sanitation, and education—has to move ahead in order
to maintain and improve the human capital foundation in this stressed environment.
The study is based on detailed primary household data utilized in innovative ways
to assess the household's and farmer's (and her husband's) behavior in the subsistence
economy vis-a-vis options for specialization. A number of interesting policy findings
emerge, such as the poor being too poor to capture the gains from efficient specialization
because they need to take care of subsistence-based insurance against hunger.
While generally favorable effects of commercialization of agriculture for nutrition
are manifested by this study and preceding IFPRI studies on this topic, the present study
also draws attention to the need for concern about land tenure when the stimulus for
agricultural commercialization is given in a land-scarce environment