Contents



Preface

It is generally believed that the conditions that have limited Africa's economic growth and development are partly due to structural failures and organizational weaknesses. Arguably, it is also believed that colonization, political instability, foreign interests, dependency and neo-liberalism are other factors that have impacted the slow pace of Africa's regional development. Indeed, the slow pace of growth is also revealing a new set of developmental challenges in the region such as migration, brain drain, environmental degradation, regional conflicts, and peace and security issues, among others. The poor state of infrastructure services such as water, energy, food, housing, transportation and healthcare also adds to the growing complexity. *Regional Development in Africa* provides readers with a better understanding of the contemporary issues and challenges facing the African continent as a result of economic and social changes. It also provides insights on what needs to be done in order to put Africa back on the right development track.

The book starts with an introductory chapter (Section 1), which highlights some important reasons why we should care about Africa's regional development (Chapter 1) and why regional development really matters. It addresses the issues of: energy and development; urbanization and development; food production, consumption and resource constraints; and intra-African migration, trade and economic development as the main issues plaguing Africa's development trajectory.

In section 2, industry, trade and investment dynamics in Africa is presented and discussed. This section starts off by highlighting (in chapter 2) the dynamics of trade and investment in South Africa and the link between Africa's growth and the China-Africa investments (in chapter 3). Some specific cases on industrial practices and how they function on-the-ground are presented in chapters 4 and 5. This section closes (in chapter 6) by highlighting the need to reconsider the evidence for

Section 3 delves into some salient issues around agricultural services and the water-energy-food nexus in Africa. In Chapter 7, the need for a decentralized waterenergy-food system to support development of local communities is presented and discussed. In Chapter 8, we discuss how the Word Trade Organization's liberalization policy impacts on food security in West Africa. Chapter 9 highlights how conflicts, owing to resource scarcity in food production, impact Africa's development, while Chapter 10 points out the role of international donors in

Section 4 provides some environmental and cultural dimensions to Africa's regional development. In Chapter 11, the Zulu's cultural views and practices on livestock productivity management are explored. Chapter 12 provides a gender analysis of youth unemployment in Cote d'Ivoire while some factors influencing entrepreneurship growth in Zimbabwe are presented in Chapter 13. This section concludes in Chapter 14 where development opportunities for Africa's solid waste

economic integration in West Africa.

aquaculture development in Africa.

are presented.
