Paper short abstract:

Drawing on emerging research insights from a comparative study of South Africa and Tanzania, the paper explores domestic political economy factors shaping patterns of inclusion and exclusion in processes of industrial change in the agro-processing sector.

Paper long abstract:

Accelerating urbanization, changing consumption habits and income growth are frequently presented as driving a 'quiet revolution' in agro-processing across Africa (Reardon, 2015). In this context, agro-processing has been increasingly targeted by government and multilateral development agency industrial policy initiatives due to the anticipated advantages of the sector for envisaged processes of inclusive industrialisation. Specifically, the sector is seen to offer particular opportunities for incorporation of small and medium size food manufacturing enterprises and small scale agricultural producers in formal sector value chains, with attendant benefits for upgrading industrial capabilities and reducing poverty. However, too little is known about the mediating factors which determine the prospects for inclusive growth in agro-processing, and what distinguishes 'inclusion' from forms of 'adverse incorporation' which are more likely to compel downgrading (Hickey & Du Toit, 2007; Ponte & Ewert, 2009). Much literature around similar themes has tended to focus on the incorporation of African agribusiness into global value chains, and the role of international standards and inter-firm power imbalances. This paper instead focuses on domestic political economy factors, exploring the manner in which differing institutional configurations, distributions of income and power, and shifting relationships between large firms and the wider 'peripheries' (Greenberg, 2017) of the modern food system, shape processes of industrial change in agro-processing. It does so drawing on emerging insights from a comparative study of agro-processing in South Africa and Tanzania.