IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfpoli/v49y2014ip2p398-407.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Diversification and sophistication of livestock products: The case of African countries

Author

Listed:
  • Yaméogo, Nadège Désirée
  • Nabassaga, Tiguéné
  • Ncube, Mthuli

Abstract

This study assesses the level of sophistication of livestock products in Africa by evaluating technology intensity and economic complexity of each product. Using trade data from 1995 to 2012, livestock commodity exports are classified based on technology intensity. Employing a method of reflection in computing the economic complexity of export products, we find that one fifth of African livestock commodity exports are manufactured with low technology while the rest is composed of raw materials. The results also show that the ten most complex livestock commodities represent about a third of African livestock total exports while the world level is almost double this figure. Yet African countries spend a huge share of their wealth on importing complex products. The results imply that by exporting non-complex products Africa loses nearly a third of the total value of its livestock exports. To boost the value of livestock products, African countries should exploit their untapped potential while securing the domestic market to achieve import substitution. This can be done by integrating with global value chains or developing niche markets at the regional or international markets and improving productive capabilities.

Suggested Citation

  • Yaméogo, Nadège Désirée & Nabassaga, Tiguéné & Ncube, Mthuli, 2014. "Diversification and sophistication of livestock products: The case of African countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P2), pages 398-407.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:49:y:2014:i:p2:p:398-407
    DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2014.10.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030691921400147X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.foodpol.2014.10.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bahta, Sirak & Malope, Patrick, 2014. "Measurement of competitiveness in smallholder livestock systems and emerging policy advocacy: An application to Botswana," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P2), pages 408-417.
    2. Karl D. Skold & Gary W. Williams & Marvin L. Hayenga, 1987. "Meat export marketing: Lessons from successful exporters," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 3(1), pages 83-97.
    3. Ugo Pica-Ciamarra & Derek Baker & Nancy Morgan & Alberto Zezza & Carlo Azzarri & Cheikh Ly & Longin Nsiima & Simplice Nouala & Patrick Okello & Joseph Sserugga, 2014. "Investing in the Livestock Sector : Why Good Numbers Matter, A Sourcebook for Decision Makers on How to Improve Livestock Data," World Bank Publications - Reports 17830, The World Bank Group.
    4. Little, Peter D. & Debsu, Dejene Negassa & Tiki, Waktole, 2014. "How pastoralists perceive and respond to market opportunities: The case of the Horn of Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P2), pages 389-397.
    5. Upton, Martin, 2004. "The Role of Livestock in Economic Development and Poverty Reduction," PPLPI Working Papers 23783, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative.
    6. Cesar A. Hidalgo & Ricardo Hausmann, 2009. "The Building Blocks of Economic Complexity," Papers 0909.3890, arXiv.org.
    7. Sanjaya Lall, 2000. "The Technological Structure and Performance of Developing Country Manufactured Exports, 1985-98," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 337-369.
    8. Nin, Alejandro & Ehui, Simeon & Benin, Samuel, 2007. "Livestock Productivity in Developing Countries: An Assessment," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: Robert Evenson & Prabhu Pingali (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 47, pages 2461-2532, Elsevier.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Maha Khan & Uzma Afzal, 2016. "The Diversification and Sophistication of Pakistan’s Exports: The Need for Structural Transformation," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 21(Special E), pages 99-127, September.
    2. Msangi, Siwa & Enahoro, Dolapo & Herrero, Mario & Magnan, Nicholas & Havlik, Petr & Notenbaert, An & Nelgen, Signe, 2014. "Integrating livestock feeds and production systems into agricultural multi-market models: The example of IMPACT," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P2), pages 365-377.
    3. Baker, Derek & Enahoro, Dolapo, 2014. "Policy analysis and advocacy for livestock-based development: The gap between household-level analysis and higher-level models," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P2), pages 361-364.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nadège Désirée Yaméogo & Mthuli Ncube & Tiguéné Nabassaga, 2014. "Working Paper - 212 - Diversification and Sophistication of Livestock Products: the Case of African Countries," Working Paper Series 2148, African Development Bank.
    2. Baker, Derek & Enahoro, Dolapo, 2014. "Policy analysis and advocacy for livestock-based development: The gap between household-level analysis and higher-level models," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P2), pages 361-364.
    3. Msangi, Siwa & Enahoro, Dolapo & Herrero, Mario & Magnan, Nicholas & Havlik, Petr & Notenbaert, An & Nelgen, Signe, 2014. "Integrating livestock feeds and production systems into agricultural multi-market models: The example of IMPACT," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P2), pages 365-377.
    4. Alje van Dam & Koen Frenken, 2019. "Variety, Complexity and Economic Development," Papers 1903.07997, arXiv.org.
    5. Bogang Jun & Aamena Alshamsi & Jian Gao & Cesar A Hidalgo, 2017. "Relatedness, Knowledge Diffusion, and the Evolution of Bilateral Trade," Papers 1709.05392, arXiv.org.
    6. Alje van Dam & Koen Frenken, 2020. "Vertical vs. Horizontal Policy in a Capabilities Model of Economic Development," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2037, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2020.
    7. Mealy, Penny & Teytelboym, Alexander, 2017. "Economic Complexity and the Green Economy," INET Oxford Working Papers 2018-03, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, revised Feb 2019.
    8. Piotr Gabrielczak & Tomasz Serwach, 2017. "The impact of the euro adoption on the complexity of goods in Slovenian exports," Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, vol. 35(1), pages 45-71.
    9. Poncet, Sandra & Starosta de Waldemar, Felipe, 2013. "Export Upgrading and Growth: The Prerequisite of Domestic Embeddedness," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 104-118.
    10. Campi, Mercedes & Dueñas, Marco & Fagiolo, Giorgio, 2021. "Specialization in food production affects global food security and food systems sustainability," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    11. Penny Mealy & Diane Coyle, 2022. "To them that hath: economic complexity and local industrial strategy in the UK," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(2), pages 358-377, April.
    12. Giacomo Domini, 2019. "Patterns of specialisation and economic complexity through the lens of universal exhibitions, 1855-1900," LEM Papers Series 2019/20, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    13. Sandra Poncet & Felipe Starosta, 2013. "Export upgrading and growth in China: the prerequisite of domestic embeddedness," PSE - G-MOND WORKING PAPERS halshs-00960684, HAL.
    14. Francesco Macheda & Roberto Nadalini, 2020. "The Danger of a “Geyser Disease†Effect: Structural Fragility of the Tourism-Led Recovery in Iceland," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 52(1), pages 50-76, March.
    15. Petralia, Sergio & Balland, Pierre-Alexandre & Morrison, Andrea, 2017. "Climbing the ladder of technological development," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(5), pages 956-969.
    16. Domini, Giacomo, 2022. "Patterns of specialization and economic complexity through the lens of universal exhibitions, 1855-1900," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    17. Guzmán Ourens, 2012. "Can the Method of Re?ections help predict future growth?," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 1712, Department of Economics - dECON.
    18. Mealy, Penny & Teytelboym, Alexander, 2022. "Economic complexity and the green economy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(8).
    19. van Wijk, Mark T., 2014. "From global economic modelling to household level analyses of food security and sustainability: How big is the gap and can we bridge it?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P2), pages 378-388.
    20. Felipe, Jesus & Kumar, Utsav & Abdon, Arnelyn, 2014. "How rich countries became rich and why poor countries remain poor: It's the economic structure…duh!," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 46-58.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:49:y:2014:i:p2:p:398-407. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/foodpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.