The long overhang of bad decisions in agro-industrial development: Sugar and tomato paste in Ghana

In theory, learning from past mistakes should result in adapted and improved development policy. However policy learning can be difficult to achieve, and the link between learning and policy change is neither direct nor immediate. In this study we look at learning in agro-industrial policy in Ghana, by tracing the interest in sugar production and tomato processing over six decades. Specifically we ask why four failed factories established in the early 1960s have continued to play central roles in both policy and public discourse. Using policy documents, academic material, and the popular press, we show that Ghana’s policy focus on sugar production and tomato processing has endured, despite the fact that the factories were misconceived, poorly sited, ill-equipped and poorly managed. Indeed, the political ideas that underpinned the establishment of these factories in the early days of independence can be seen in the current One District, One Factory policy. We suggest that it is their symbolic and political value, not their economic value, which keeps the discussion around these factories alive. Even when shut down, they are a physical manifestation of historic commitments by the state, and as such they guarantee the attention of politicians, and hold out hope of a next re-launch. Unfortunately as long as the factories continue to be incorporated into each new generation of agro-industrial policy, it is difficult for any alternatives to gain traction. This analysis highlights the very long overhang of bad decisions, particularly when they are associated with physical infrastructure. Learning from past mistakes will only happen if the short-term political cost of turning policy learning into policy action can be overcome.     

番茄糯米发酵饮料的生产工艺

研究了以糯米和番茄为主要原料生产发酵饮料的工艺。该饮料是一种低酒度、营养丰富、口味独特的浑浊型营养保健饮料。     

番茄皮保健蛋糕的工艺研究

本文以面粉、糖、番茄皮渣粉为主要原料制作番茄皮保健蛋糕,通过正交实验得到的优化最佳工艺条件为:100 g低筋面粉中,添加鸡蛋210%,糖10%,番茄皮粉15%,搅打时间14 min。蛋糕成品表面金红、有光泽,质地松软、有弹性,口感鲜香微甜,略带番茄味。     

The impact of the tomato agroindustry on the rural poor in Mexico

This article addresses the issue of whether the tomato agroindustry (TAI) has been an effective instrument in the reduction of rural poverty. The TAI is by far the most important agroindustry in Mexico in terms of exports and employment creation. Most of the laborers employed by the TAI in northwest Mexico are temporary migrants coming from poverty-stricken regions in southern Mexico. Conditions of poverty-induced migration are explained. The characteristics and strategies of large, modern tomato enterprises are analyzed. The main conclusion is that migrant income earned in the tomato fields and packing plants, is fundamental for the bare survival in villages in poverty-stricken regions. However, this does not provide a solution to poverty alleviation because migrant income is not sufficient to contribute to capital formation in the migrating communities, or the to create the conditions for endogenous local development.