Maize is life to more than 300 million of Africa’s most vulnerable inhabitants, and the most important food staple on the continent. Recurrent droughts in the region ruin harvests, lives, and livelihoods.

The paper, "Are Borders Barriers? The Impact of International and Internal Ethnic Borders on Agricultural Markets in West Africa" by Jenny C. Aker, Michael W. Klein, Stephen A. O’Connell and Muzhe Yang addresses two important economic issues for Africa: the contribution of national borders and ethnicity to market segmentation and integration between and within countries.

Economic Report on Africa 2010

This is Africa, a new publication from the Financial Times Ltd, seeks to examine African business and politics in a global context and to make sense of the relationships that Africa is building with the rest of the world. It aims to challenge international preconceptions about the continent and to identify the opportunities and the risks in this dynamic business environment.

Access the online publication here.

Several research briefs and background papers undertaken by the Nigeria Strategy Support Program (NSSP) are now available for download on the ReSAKSS website, including a background paper on enhancing the competitiveness of agricultural commodity chains in Nigeria and an issue brief on agricultural investment for growth and poverty reduction in Nigeria.

An advanced copy of the 2009 ReSAKSS-Africa Wide Annual Trends Report is now available for download from the ReSAKSS website. The report, “Weathering the Storm: Agricultural Development, Investment, and Poverty in Africa Following the Recent Food Price Crisis” is a critical publication used to facilitate effective monitoring and documentation of the progress being made with regard to the achievement of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) and other developmental goals.

ReSAKSS Issue Brief No. 18

ReSAKSS Issue Brief number 18 provides a quantitative assessment of the potential impacts of the formation of a COMESA customs union, specifically of having free trade among COMESA countries while imposing a common external tariff against imports from outside COMESA. 

ReSAKSS Issue Briefs number 16, "CAADP Promotes Pro-Poor Growth and Poverty Reduction in Uganda" analyzes the feasibility of the CAADP 6 percent agricultural growth target and its potential impact on the Ugandan economy.

The Global Donor Platform for Rural Development has published a new publication called Guidelines for Donor Support to CAADP at a Country-level. 

An advanced copy of the 2009 ReSAKSS-ECA Annual Trends Report is now available for download from the ReSAKSS website. The report, “Status and Trends of Agricultural and Rural Development Indicators in the COMESA Region” is a critical publication used to facilitate effective monitoring and documentation of the progress being made with regard to the achievement of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) and other developmental goals.