Abstract: ISDC Science Forum 2023
Kadoukpè Gildas Magbondé, Macroeconomist Independent Consultant & Early Career Scientist
The agribusiness sector demonstrates critical attributes that lead to sustainable development. It holds promise for job creation, particularly for women and the youth, and has the potential for income generation and improvement in the poor’s welfare. The livelihood of the poor improves as the agribusiness sector allows them to integrate commercial agricultural value chains and access inputs and markets. Yet, the agribusiness sector fosters innovation and technological progress and therefore projects itself as a promoter of economic growth and food security more than pure agriculture does. Furthermore, a developed agribusiness sector leads to food security. Based on these attributes, the agribusiness sector represents a critical pathway to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Despite all its development potential, only a handful of youths are interested in the agribusiness sector. Prior investigations diagnosed the impeding factors as a paucity of financial resources and a dearth of land and technical knowledge. A study conducted in Benin, goes beyond the traditional impeding factors, by linking informal institutions to youth participation in agribusiness. The findings consistently suggest that agribusiness-friendly informal institutions are essential to youth participation in the agribusiness sector. High-trust environments, high societal desirability for agribusiness, and self-confidence promote youth participation in the agribusiness sector.
Therefore, there is a need for institutional reforms that strengthen agribusiness-friendly informal institutions. For instance, by reducing corruption practices and strengthening the judiciary, policymakers could reset a high level of societal trust. For the agribusiness sector to appeal to the youth and women, policymakers ought to inform the relevant group of the untapped opportunities available in the agricultural
Speaker Bio
Dr. Kadoukpè Gildas Magbondé
Kadoukpè Gildas Magbondé is a junior researcher affiliated with Water and Production Economics (WPE) at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the Laboratoire de Recherche en Economie de Saint-Louis (LARES) at Gaston Berger University (UGB). His research covers macroeconomic topics such as institutions, foreign direct investment economic growth, and structural transformation in developing countries. At the microeconomic level, his research line runs through impact evaluation of public interventions (water, electricity, and road infrastructure), rural development, and poverty. Kadoukpè Gildas Magbondé is a holder of a Ph.D. in applied macroeconomics from Gaston Berger University (Senegal). He also holds a master’s degree in development economics obtained from the University of Namur and the Catholic University of Louvain La Neuve (Belgium) and a Master's in applied macroeconomics from the University of Abomey-Calavi (Benin). He is currently reading toward a Ph.D. in development economics at the University of Cape Town (South Africa).