[ Agriculture et industrialisation en Afrique ]
Volume 31, Issue 1, June 2017, Pages 59–77
Zied AKROUT1 and Adel KHADIMALLAH2
1 Université de SFAX, URECA, Institut Supérieur d’Administration des Affaires de Sfax, Tunisia
2 Université de SFAX, CODECI, Institut Supérieur d’Administration des Affaires de Sfax, Tunisia
Original language: French
Copyright © 2017 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Structural change in developing economies and African countries in particular is inducted by the convergence of agriculture to other sectors. It is generally agreed that African countries have a competitive advantage in agricultural products and processed agricultural goods can be an excellent way to increase the value added of the industrial sector. The objective of this paper is to check to what extent the performance of the agricultural sector promotes the industrial development and the acceleration of the process of structural transformation of African countries. Considering samples as Africa and five regions of Africa (Southern Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, East Africa and North Africa), we found several relevant results. The transformation of the agricultural products can be used to support the development of the industry but some obstacles must be eliminated. It’s necessary to reconcile the economic opening, the improvement of human capital and the orientation of funds in profitable investments. However we noticed that for the regions of Central and Southern Africa, there is a contribution even if it is low of the agricultural sector in the industrial development of these regions. As for West, Eastern and Northern Africa, the results can be inferred that the agricultural value added has a strong negative and significant impact on the industrial sector. Given the characteristics of each region and the heterogeneity of the continent, we took recommendations in terms of economic policy on the assumption that the ultimate goal is to implement an industrialization strategy of the African countries.
Author Keywords: agriculture, industrialization, human capital, investment, African countries.
Volume 31, Issue 1, June 2017, Pages 59–77
Zied AKROUT1 and Adel KHADIMALLAH2
1 Université de SFAX, URECA, Institut Supérieur d’Administration des Affaires de Sfax, Tunisia
2 Université de SFAX, CODECI, Institut Supérieur d’Administration des Affaires de Sfax, Tunisia
Original language: French
Copyright © 2017 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Structural change in developing economies and African countries in particular is inducted by the convergence of agriculture to other sectors. It is generally agreed that African countries have a competitive advantage in agricultural products and processed agricultural goods can be an excellent way to increase the value added of the industrial sector. The objective of this paper is to check to what extent the performance of the agricultural sector promotes the industrial development and the acceleration of the process of structural transformation of African countries. Considering samples as Africa and five regions of Africa (Southern Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, East Africa and North Africa), we found several relevant results. The transformation of the agricultural products can be used to support the development of the industry but some obstacles must be eliminated. It’s necessary to reconcile the economic opening, the improvement of human capital and the orientation of funds in profitable investments. However we noticed that for the regions of Central and Southern Africa, there is a contribution even if it is low of the agricultural sector in the industrial development of these regions. As for West, Eastern and Northern Africa, the results can be inferred that the agricultural value added has a strong negative and significant impact on the industrial sector. Given the characteristics of each region and the heterogeneity of the continent, we took recommendations in terms of economic policy on the assumption that the ultimate goal is to implement an industrialization strategy of the African countries.
Author Keywords: agriculture, industrialization, human capital, investment, African countries.
Abstract: (french)
Le changement structurel des économies en développement et des pays africains en particulier est intronisé par la convergence de l’agriculture vers les autres secteurs. Il est généralement admis que les pays africains disposent d'un avantage concurrentiel sur les produits agricoles, et que la transformation de ces biens peut être un moyen privilégié pour accroitre la valeur ajoutée du secteur industriel. L’objectif de ce papier est de vérifier dans quelle mesure la performance du secteur agricole favorise le développement industriel et l’accélération du processus de transformation structurelle des pays africains. Considérant comme échantillons l’Afrique et cinq régions du continent (Afrique australe, Afrique centrale, Afrique occidentale, Afrique orientale et Afrique septentrionale), nous avons trouvé plusieurs résultats pertinents. La transformation des produits d’origine agricole peut permettre de soutenir le développement de l’industrie mais certains obstacles doivent être abolis. Il est nécessaire en plus, de concilier l’ouverture économique, l'amélioration du capital humain et l’orientation des fonds dans des investissements rentables. Cependant nous avons remarqué que pour les régions de l’Afrique centrale et australe, il y a une contribution même si elle est faible du secteur agricole dans le développement industriel de ces régions. Alors que pour l’Afrique occidentale, orientale et septentrionale, les résultats permettent de déduire que la valeur ajoutée agricole a un fort impact négatif et significatif sur le secteur industriel. Compte tenu des caractéristiques de chaque région et de l'hétérogénéité du continent, nous avons tiré des recommandations en termes de politique économique en supposant que l’objectif final est de mettre en œuvre une stratégie d’industrialisation des pays africains.
Author Keywords: agriculture, industrialisation, capital humain, investissement, pays africains.
How to Cite this Article
Zied AKROUT and Adel KHADIMALLAH, “Agriculture and industrialization in Africa,” International Journal of Innovation and Scientific Research, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 59–77, June 2017.
