Agricultural Labour Markets

A large part of labour markets in low income countries are in the agriculture sector. Yet, the state of knowledge on the labour market dynamics and ways to improve the productivity in this sector in low income countries is limited. This thematic area covers projects that aim at understating the determinants of employment and productivity growth in agricultural sectors in LICs. Moreover, the evaluation of policies and programmes aimed at improving the productivity in agricultural sector in LICs is another aim of this thematic area.

Project

Measuring Labour in Farm Households in Africa

In low-income countries, work in household owned and managed farms account for a large share of the labour force. Yet, to date, there is very little research on the approaches to measuring farm labour. Typically most measurements of farm labour involve a cumulative number representing a wide range of activities. For example, male labour is…

Project

Public Works Programs and Farm Household Behaviour

Public Works Programs (PWPs) are important tools for social protection. There are 167 PWPs in 29 sub-Saharan Africa. There are short term and long term PWPs. Short term PWPs can stabilise consumption in response to individual or aggregate shocks. Long term programs, on the other hand, are forms of insurance. However, there is little evidence…

Project

Food Constraints and “Ganyu” Labour

Small-scale farming continues to be the principal source of employment and income for a majority of the population in low income countries. Zambia is no exception: in 2008, 80% of employment was in agriculture. Even though Zambia has recently been re- classified as lower middle income country primarily due to its large copper and cobalt…