Xue Weng

To much of the development community, improving the inclusiveness of agrifood chains demands private institutional innovations that attenuate market failures confronting smallholders. How and how well such innovations contribute to sustainable rural development is still poorly understood, however, with research to date insufficiently generalizable...

Inclusive businesses (IBs) resonate with policymakers seeking to leverage private capital in support of poverty alleviation and sustainable development. In the agri‐food sector, which represents the largest segment of the base‐of‐the‐pyramid (BOP) market and a key source of livelihood for the rural poor, there is limited evidence on their diversity...

Inclusive businesses (IBs) are promoted to alleviate poverty and contribute to sustainable development at the base of the pyramid (BOP). In the agri-food sector, there is limited evidence regarding what types of partnerships enhance IBs' value creation potential for low-income producers. This prevents policymakers from providing effective support t...

Cocoa production is a leading driver of deforestation in the humid-tropics of West Africa. Reconciling climate change mitigation with livelihoods of farmers requires identification of production strategies to concurrently improve yield and profit while curtailing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). Using a 2021 plot-survey conducted in Ghana’s E...

Tanzania's mining sector has long been dominated by two opposing scales of operations, large-scale mining (LSM), and artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). From the mid-1990s, changing governments promoted LSM as a key sector for the restructuring of the economy through the generation of much needed foreign capital and increased fiscal earnings. H...

This brief summarises and sets in context findings from DFID-ESRC Growth Research Programme project ‘Natural resources, rural poverty and China-Africa trade’. The project studied the nature and impacts of Chinese investment and trade in African natural resources, with a focus on the informal natural resource trade in Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe....

Despite the existence of clear legal regulations governing the forest sector in Zambia, a peculiar value chain has developed in recent years around highly valuable trees, which are sold mainly on the Chinese market under the general name of ‘rosewood’ and known in Zambia as ‘mukula’. •• The Zambian government has acted on the value chain with a cyc...

China’s growing investment and trade in Africa’s natural resource sectors brings with it both challenges and opportunities. IIED’s China- Africa Forest Governance Project is dedicated to improving evidence, capacity and joint action for sustainable Chinese investment in Africa’s forests. This report – one of five country reports from the project –...

The report aims to understand Chinese trade and investments in Africa’s rural economy in the agriculture, forestry and mining sectors. Based on data collected from over 700 surveys, 130 interviews and 100 focus groups. We find that Chinese and other newcomer investors employ a variety of business strategies that contrast with those employed by esta...

As China increases its engagement with Africa through trade, investment and aid, development researchers and practitioners are increasingly concerned about its potentially unique impacts on the continent’s development pathways, environment and marginalised populations. While the popular discourse is still largely polarised between win-win or neocol...

In much of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the informal economy rules supreme. Often defined as unregulated production, distribution and service provision, informal economic activities across SSA provide crucial cash income and employment for both rural and urban populations. Governing the informal economy is a key policy challenge for governments across...

China’s relationship with Africa is deepening. As Chinese interests in African forests increase, opinion formers and policy workers in Africa and China need to be better linked in order to shape policy and investment decisions, to ensure good management of forests and the timber trade, and support local livelihoods. In October 2017, more than 90 Ch...

Cotton production in Zambia and Zimbabwe plays a key role in the countries’ agricultural sector and in the lives of millions of farmers who depend on it as a cash crop. Yet, in both countries, cotton production is at one of its lowest levels in recent years. One dominant cause for declining production is informal trading, manifested in side-trading...

Over the past 15 years, China’s investments in Africa have increased rapidly and China has become Africa’s largest trading partner. There are continuing misperceptions about China-Africa economic relations, and little empirical evidence on the policy tools that underpin China’s economic diplomacy in Africa and how they affect the conduct of Chinese...

China’s business engagement in developing countries has grown rapidly in the past decade through direct investment, contract projects and trade. This discussion paper explores the role that Chinese policies and guidelines play in governing Chinese companies overseas, through the experiences and perceptions of representatives in those companies. We...

Small-scale Chinese trade and investment in Africa’s natural resources and land is often portrayed as illegal or as ‘land grabs’. African and international policymakers and practitioners advocate stricter law enforcement to tackle informal trade, criminalising Chinese and local economic actors who participate in the value chains. But legalistic app...

Key points • China has become the largest importer of tropical wood and is the destination of more than three-quarters of Africa’s timber exports. This demand has raised international concern about the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of Chinese timber supply chains in Africa. • Many types of Chinese actors are active in the timber industry...

The reality of the current international order makes it imperative that a just and effective climate regime should balance the historical responsibility of developed countries with the increasing absolute emissions from many developing nations. The key pillars are briefly proposed for a new international climate architecture that envisions replacin...