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Abstract
Poverty is higher in most African countries than elsewhere in the developing world, and highest in the rural
areas. Accelerating growth in agriculture will therefore be critical to sustain growth and reduce poverty,
but policy makers are unsure which sub-sector will yield the highest return for a given budget. This paper
uses an applied general equilibrium model to simulate productivity gains in sub-Saharan agriculture subject
to trade-offs between gains in crops and gains in livestock. The simulated results suggest three conclusions.
First, most sub-Saharan economies gain more from research and development (R&D) investment in crops
than in livestock, though the SACU (South African Customs Union) economies and Madagascar benefit
from sharing it between crops and livestock. Second, when R&D is focused on food crops, sharing
investment between crops and livestock also benefits other economies. Third, in economies where sharing
R&D investment between crops and livestock is beneficial (e.g. Botswana), general economic growth
boosts the benefits from R&D investment in livestock.