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PROF Carlos Oya's Outputs (47)

Better data for decent work in the global food system. (2024)
Journal Article
Meemken, E.-M., Charlton, D., Christiaensen, L., Maertens, M., Oya, C., Reardon, T., & Stemmler, H. (2024). Better data for decent work in the global food system. Nature Food, 5(6), 454-456. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-024-01002-0

Working conditions in food systems remain precarious across the globe. Little scientific guidance exists on what works where when it comes to initiatives aimed at addressing this issue. Investments in large-scale, nationally representative agricultur... Read More about Better data for decent work in the global food system..

Do Chinese firms in Africa pay lower wages? A comparative analysis of manufacturing and construction firms in Angola and Ethiopia. (2023)
Journal Article
Oya, C., & Schaefer, F. (2023). Do Chinese firms in Africa pay lower wages? A comparative analysis of manufacturing and construction firms in Angola and Ethiopia. World Development, 168, Article 106266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106266

This paper analyses wage differences between Chinese and non-Chinese firms in Angola and Ethiopia. The growing engagement of Chinese firms in sub-Saharan Africa has generated debates about the working conditions offered to African workers. However, t... Read More about Do Chinese firms in Africa pay lower wages? A comparative analysis of manufacturing and construction firms in Angola and Ethiopia..

Agricultural commercialization in the Mekong region: A meta-narrative review and policy implications (2023)
Journal Article
Nguyen, A.-T., Oya, C., Beban, A., Gironde, C., Cole, R., & Ehrensperger, A. (2023). Agricultural commercialization in the Mekong region: A meta-narrative review and policy implications. Journal of Land Use Science, 18(1), 128-151. https://doi.org/10.1080/1747423X.2023.2191599

Agricultural commercialization has been a development focus in the Mekong region for several decades, resulting in varying outcomes. In response to competing claims and policy advice, this meta-narrative review not only examines the literature on the... Read More about Agricultural commercialization in the Mekong region: A meta-narrative review and policy implications.

Building Angola: A Political Economy of Infrastructure Contractors in Post-War Angola (2023)
Journal Article
Wanda, F., Oya, C., & Monreal, B. (2023). Building Angola: A Political Economy of Infrastructure Contractors in Post-War Angola. Journal of Southern African Studies, 49(1), 25-47. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2023.2192589

Following the end of the civil war in 2002, Angola entered a period of political stability and economic growth that was sustained until the oil-price crisis hit the economy in 2015. During this period a vast reconstruction plan of economic infrastruc... Read More about Building Angola: A Political Economy of Infrastructure Contractors in Post-War Angola.

Is the system of rice intensification (SRI) pro poor? Labour, class and technological change in West Africa (2021)
Journal Article
Graf, S. L., & Oya, C. (2021). Is the system of rice intensification (SRI) pro poor? Labour, class and technological change in West Africa. Agricultural Systems, 193, Article 103229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103229

CONTEXT: Increasing numbers of young people enter Sub-Saharan Africa's labour markets each year while industrial jobs only grow slowly. As 62% of Sub-Saharan Africans work in agriculture and as the rural population will continue to rise, agriculture... Read More about Is the system of rice intensification (SRI) pro poor? Labour, class and technological change in West Africa.

Introduction: Covid‐19 and the conditions and struggles of agrarian classes of labour (2021)
Journal Article
Pattenden, J., Campling, L., Castañón Ballivián, E., Gras, C., Lerche, J., O'Laughlin, B., Oya, C., Pérez Niño, H., & Sinha, S. (2021). Introduction: Covid‐19 and the conditions and struggles of agrarian classes of labour. Journal of Agrarian Change, 21(3), 582-590. https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.12440

Covid-19 generated a crisis in capitalism, but not of capitalism. Capitalism reproduces itself in crisis and in ways that have significant but uneven impacts on the conditions and struggles of agrarian classes of labour. This article explores prelimi... Read More about Introduction: Covid‐19 and the conditions and struggles of agrarian classes of labour.

The politics of labour relations in global production networks: collective action, industrial parks, and local conflict in the Ethiopian apparel sector (2021)
Journal Article
Oya, C., & Schaefer, F. (2021). The politics of labour relations in global production networks: collective action, industrial parks, and local conflict in the Ethiopian apparel sector. World Development, 146, Article 105564. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105564

In this paper we examine the emerging politics of labour agency as new manufacturing locations are incorporated into existing global production networks, using the example of the Ethiopian apparel industry. The Ethiopian state has employed an active... Read More about The politics of labour relations in global production networks: collective action, industrial parks, and local conflict in the Ethiopian apparel sector.

Contributions of Chinese Firms to Employment Dynamics in Africa: A Comparative Analysis Based on a Large-scale Survey = 中国企业对非洲就业发展的贡献: 基于一项大规模调查的比较性分析 (2020)
Journal Article
Oya, C., Schaefer, F., & Qi, H. (2020). Contributions of Chinese Firms to Employment Dynamics in Africa: A Comparative Analysis Based on a Large-scale Survey = 中国企业对非洲就业发展的贡献: 基于一项大规模调查的比较性分析. Zhengzhi jingjixue pinglun, 11(6), 184-224

Labour and rural poverty (2019)
Journal Article
Oya, C. (2019). Labour and rural poverty. Policy in Focus, 16(1), 11-13

The effectiveness of agricultural certification in developing countries: a systematic review (2018)
Journal Article
Oya, C., Schaefer, F., & Skalidou, D. (2018). The effectiveness of agricultural certification in developing countries: a systematic review. World Development, 112, 282-312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.08.001

Certification systems (CS) set and monitor voluntary standards to make agricultural production sustainable in socio-economic terms and agricultural trade fairer for producers and workers. They try to achieve a wide range of socio-economic and environ... Read More about The effectiveness of agricultural certification in developing countries: a systematic review.

Identifying the most deprived in rural Ethiopia and Uganda: A simple measure of socio-economic deprivation (2018)
Journal Article
Sender, J., Cramer, C., & Oya, C. (2018). Identifying the most deprived in rural Ethiopia and Uganda: A simple measure of socio-economic deprivation. Journal of Eastern African Studies, 12(3), 594-612. https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2018.1474416

The Extreme Deprivation Index uses easily verifiable answers to ten questions about the ownership of the most basic non-food wage goods - things that poor people in a variety of rural contexts want to have because they make a real difference to the q... Read More about Identifying the most deprived in rural Ethiopia and Uganda: A simple measure of socio-economic deprivation.

Fairtrade and Labour Markets in Ethiopia and Uganda (2016)
Journal Article
Cramer, C., Johnston, D., Oya, C., & Sender, J. (2016). Fairtrade and Labour Markets in Ethiopia and Uganda. The Journal of Development Studies, 53(6), 841-856. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2016.1208175

Drawing on four years of fieldwork in Ethiopia and Uganda, this paper addresses gaps in knowledge about the mechanisms linking agricultural exports with poverty reduction, the functioning of rural labour markets, and the relevance to the lives of the... Read More about Fairtrade and Labour Markets in Ethiopia and Uganda.

Who counts? Challenges and biases in defining ‘households’ in research on poverty (2015)
Journal Article
Oya, C. Who counts? Challenges and biases in defining ‘households’ in research on poverty. Journal of Development Effectiveness, 7(3), 336-345. https://doi.org/10.1080/19439342.2015.1068358

In an important article published in 2002, H. White made a case for mixed methods in poverty analysis and addressed a number of puzzles arising from conventional oppositions between quantitative and qualitative approaches. One of the examples was the... Read More about Who counts? Challenges and biases in defining ‘households’ in research on poverty.

Bringing Agriculture Back In: The Central Place of Agrarian Change in Rural China Studies (2015)
Journal Article
Zhang, Q. F., Oya, C., & Ye, J. (2015). Bringing Agriculture Back In: The Central Place of Agrarian Change in Rural China Studies. Journal of Agrarian Change, 15(3), 299-313. https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.12115

Since the mid-2000s, rural development and politics in China has entered a new phase that revolves around what the central government calls ‘agricultural modernization’. Transforming the once-dominant smallholding, family-based agriculture has become... Read More about Bringing Agriculture Back In: The Central Place of Agrarian Change in Rural China Studies.

How to do (and how not to do) fieldwork on Fair Trade and rural poverty (2014)
Journal Article
Cramer, C., Johnston, D., Mueller, B., Oya, C., & Sender, J. (2014). How to do (and how not to do) fieldwork on Fair Trade and rural poverty. Canadian Journal of Development Studies, 35(1), 170-185. https://doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2014.873022

The Fair Trade, Employment and Poverty Reduction (FTEPR) project investigated poverty dynamics in rural Ethiopia and Uganda. When designing fieldwork to capture poor people often missing from standard surveys, several methodological challenges were i... Read More about How to do (and how not to do) fieldwork on Fair Trade and rural poverty.

Testing Claims about Large Land Deals in Africa: Findings from a Multi-Country Study (2014)
Journal Article
Cotula, L., Oya, C., Codjoe, E. A., Eid, A., Kakraba-Ampeh, M., Keeley, J., Lokaley Kidewa, A., Makwarimba, M., Michago Seide, W., Ole Nasha, W., Owusu Asare, R., & Rizzo, M. (2014). Testing Claims about Large Land Deals in Africa: Findings from a Multi-Country Study. The Journal of Development Studies, 50(7), 903-925. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2014.901501

Despite much research on large land deals for plantation agriculture in Africa, reliable data remain elusive, partly because of limited access to information and practical and methodological challenges. International debates are still shaped by mispe... Read More about Testing Claims about Large Land Deals in Africa: Findings from a Multi-Country Study.