IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/entreg/v24y2012i3-4p123-141.html

Traders, agricultural entrepreneurs and the development of cross-border regions in West Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Olivier Walther

Abstract

This paper examines the economic and spatial logics of traders and farmers located between Niger, Benin and Nigeria, with a view to identifying possible complementarities and their implications for regional integration in West Africa. It shows that the development of cross-border regions is highly dependent on the combination of two divergent spatial logics, i.e. the circulation developed by traders and the production developed by agricultural investors. Even though cross-border traders and farmers pursue divergent strategies, the paper suggests that the activities of both are centred on urban border markets. Consequently, investment in border market facilities could promote both trading and productive activities simultaneously in a number of countries. In this regard, the paper underscores the potential benefit of focusing development on functional economic areas rather than on nation-states, addressing concerns that border trade may undermine productive development.

Suggested Citation

  • Olivier Walther, 2012. "Traders, agricultural entrepreneurs and the development of cross-border regions in West Africa," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3-4), pages 123-141, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:entreg:v:24:y:2012:i:3-4:p:123-141
    DOI: 10.1080/08985626.2012.670909
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/08985626.2012.670909
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/08985626.2012.670909?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marcel Fafchamps, 2004. "Market Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Theory and Evidence," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262062364, December.
    2. WALTHER Olivier, 2011. "Sons of the soil and conquerors: The historical construction of the Dendi border region (West Africa)," LISER Working Paper Series 2011-20, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    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. KUEPIE Mathias & TENIKUE Michel & WALTHER Olivier, 2014. "Small businesses performance in West African border regions: Do social networks pay off?," LISER Working Paper Series 2014-06, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    2. Jan Brzozowski & Marco Cucculelli & Aleksander Surdej, 2014. "Transnational ties and performance of immigrant entrepreneurs: the case of IT industry in Italy," Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers 98, Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences.
    3. Hanna Karg & Imogen Bellwood-Howard & Edmund K. Akoto-Danso & Johannes Schlesinger & Takemore Chagomoka & Axel Drescher, 2019. "Small-Town Agricultural Markets in Northern Ghana and Their Connection to Rural and Urban Transformation," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 31(1), pages 95-117, January.
    4. Olivier J. Walther, 2015. "Business, Brokers and Borders: The Structure of West African Trade Networks," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(5), pages 603-620, May.
    5. Natalia Vershinina & Peter Rodgers, 2019. "Symbolic capital within the lived experiences of Eastern European migrants: a gendered perspective," Post-Print hal-03517416, HAL.
    6. repec:sdn:wpaper:1-kopi is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Claudia Dias & Ricardo Gouveia Rodrigues & João J. Ferreira, 2022. "Linking natural resources and performance of small agricultural businesses: Do entrepreneurial orientation and environmental sustainability orientation matter?," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(4), pages 713-725, August.
    8. Walther, Olivier J. & Dambo, Lawali & Koné, Moustapha & van Eupen, Michiel, 2020. "Mapping travel time to assess accessibility in West Africa: The role of borders, checkpoints and road conditions," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).

    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. Sanktjohanser, Anna & Hörner, Johannes, 2022. "Too Much of A Good Thing?," TSE Working Papers 22-1327, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    2. Shilpi, Forhad & Umali-Deininger, Dina, 2007. "Where to sell ? market facilities and agricultural marketing," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4455, The World Bank.
    3. Bart Minten & Anneleen Vandeplas & Johan Swinnen, 2011. "Regulations, Brokers, and Interlinkages: The Institutional Organization of Wholesale Markets in India," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(7), pages 864-886, May.
    4. Jenna Burrell, 2014. "Modernity in material form? Mobile phones in the careers of Ghanaian market women," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(142), pages 579-593, October.
    5. Sanchez-Pages Santiago & Straub Stéphane, 2010. "The Emergence of Institutions," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-38, September.
    6. Alvaro Aguirre, 2017. "Contracting Institutions and Economic Growth," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 24, pages 192-217, March.
    7. Wood, Matthew S. & Bradley, Steven W. & Artz, Kendall, 2015. "Roots, reasons, and resources: Situated optimism and firm growth in subsistence economies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 127-136.
    8. Michael W. Hansen & Thilde Langevang & Lettice Rutashobya & Goodluck Urassa, 2018. "Coping with the African Business Environment: Enterprise Strategy in Response to Institutional Uncertainty in Tanzania," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 1-26, January.
    9. Hagos, Hosaena Gebru & Holden, Stein T., 2013. "Reverse-share-tenancy and Marshallian Inefficiency: Landowners’ bargaining power and sharecroppers’ productivity," IFPRI discussion papers 1270, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    10. Poulton, Colin & Dorward, Andrew & Kydd, Jonathan, 2010. "The Future of Small Farms: New Directions for Services, Institutions, and Intermediation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 1413-1428, October.
    11. Alejandro Guarín, 2013. "The Value of Domestic Supply Chains: Producers, Wholesalers, and Urban Consumers in Colombia," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 31(5), pages 511-530, September.
    12. Riadh Ben Jelili, "undated". "Firm Heterogeneity and Productivity: The Contribution of Microdata," API-Working Paper Series 1013, Arab Planning Institute - Kuwait, Information Center.
    13. Macchiavello, Rocco & Casaburi, Lorenzo, 2015. "Firm and Market Response to Saving Constraints: Evidence from the Kenyan Dairy Industry," CEPR Discussion Papers 10952, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    14. Noland, Marcus & Son, Hyun H., 2012. "Editors’ introduction transitional economies: Progress and pitfalls," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 107-110.
    15. Fafchamps, Marcel & Gabre-Madhin, Eleni Z., 2006. "Agricultural markets in Benin and Malawi," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 1(01), pages 1-28, November.
    16. Liesbeth Dries & Domenico Dentoni, 2015. "Private sector investments to create market-supporting institutions: The case of Malawian Agricultural Commodity Exchange," Working Papers 2015/08, Maastricht School of Management.
    17. Marcel Fafchamps & Måns Söderbom, 2014. "Network Proximity and Business Practices in African Manufacturing," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 28(1), pages 99-129.
    18. Wakeyo, Mekonnen B. & Gardebroek, Cornelis, 2013. "Does water harvesting induce fertilizer use among smallholders? Evidence from Ethiopia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 54-63.
    19. Machiko Nissanke & Ernest Aryeetey, 2006. "Institutional Analysis of Financial Market Fragmentation in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Risk-Cost Configuration Approach," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-87, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    20. Ayala-Cantu, Luciano & Morando, Bruno, 2020. "Rental markets, gender, and land certificates: Evidence from Vietnam," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:taf:entreg:v:24:y:2012:i:3-4:p:123-141. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/TEPN20 .

    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.