categories of introductory stage and growth stage. While Mali, Ethiopia, Senegal, Cameroon, and Nigeria may be considered as countries at the introductory stage, Kenya and Zambia as countries at growth stage, while South Africa is classed as a country at a mature stage. Programme investments will have a high priority in a country at introduction stage and highest priority in a country at growth stage, while countries at mature stage, like South Africa, will see programme investments only for some geographically isolated areas and for some niche crops (UNIDO 2009a). While this approach bears certain similarities the one adopted in the present comparative case study analysis, the approach used in this study to derive a suitable typology of countries is based on a much deeper assessment of strategic, policy, institutional and structural changes in the countries. Towards an Index to measure Progress in Agro-industry and Agribusiness Transformation The selection of the eight case study countries for a deep review of agro-industry and agribusiness development are therefore broadly representative and represent a strong rationale from which to derive conclusions and recommendations. The present study adds to these typologies by focusing on ten specific factors: awareness about the rationale for agro-industry and agribusiness development; long-term structural change towards agro-industries; short- to medium-term dynamics of agro-industry and agribusiness subsectors; policy scope towards agro-industry sectors; coherence of these policies; three groups of key policy factors to improve the AB/AP ratio – the first group of factors comprising those initiating dynamic growth of agriculture for raw materials supplies, upgrading agro-industrial value chains, and targeting producers and commodities; the second group of factors comprising Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) -related support for agro-industry and agribusiness, traditional and innovative financing mechanisms, and private sector development and investment, with focus also on public-private interactions; and the third group of factors comprises agro-industry related infrastructure, especially energy supply, and developing and exploiting demand at local, regional, and global markets. Another factor relates to the translation of visions and strategies into agro-industry action plans, while the last factor is concerned with implementation of action plans by operational plans and policy action at all government levels. These ten policy factors (awareness, structural change, dynamics, policy scope, policy coherence, group one factors, group two factors, group three factors, translation, implementation) are evaluated by judgment for the conditions in the eight case study countries, and then a summing up is done by using equal weights for the ten factors. This gives the basis for highlighting different dimensions of progress (rather than focusing on the level of development) in the case study countries and for assessing the transformative capacities visible there (by including strategic, policy, structural, and institutional dimensions of agro-industrial development and agribusiness promotion). Obviously countries will differ with regards to these ten factors. As a result of this exercise an Agro-industry and Agribusiness Transformation Index (AIABTI) takes account of the summarized performance of a country. Countries can be grouped as “slow transformers” (with up to 4 points), as “medium transformers” (with up to 7 points), and as “rapid transformers” (with up to 10 points). The index considers judgments on the change of hard data (on structural change over the long-term and the dynamics of production and trade), but also judgments on qualitative information based on policy processes such as awareness about new agro-industrial policies, policy scope and coherence, judgments on the progress of key policy factors, and judgments about the formulation and implementation of agro-industrial and agribusiness development strategies. Therefore, this index complements the typology on programme investments for countries in the process of agroindustrial development (presented by UNIDO 2009a). This index allows it to cross-check the results with the other classifications and typologies so as to arrive at a better basis for national and regional policy interventions. The Annex Table (on p. 40) shows the results for the eight countries and the ten criteria for assessment.
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CONTEXT OF AGRO-INDUSTRY IN AFRICA
Context of agro-industry in Africa
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