Future Leaders Programme 10: High-Value Agriculture as a Path to Structural Transformation – hopes, fears, realities

Development Leadership Dialogue is pleased to announce its 10th Future Leaders Programme (FLP) on ‘High-Value Agriculture as a Path to Structural Transformation – hopes, fears, realities’.

• When: 15 September – 18 September 2025
• Where: London
• Deadline: 18 July 2025

About the Future Leaders Programme (FLP)

The Development Leadership Dialogue (DLD) institute at SOAS University of London promotes dialogue and mutual learning between the key actors that drive economic and social development – governments, private firms, civil society organizations, international organizations, trade unions, academia, and others – and that often operate in separate spheres, understanding each other poorly, even seeing each other as adversaries. 

The FLP is one of the key programmes of DLD, bringing together a small number of people who will be in leadership positions in the next five to ten years in different sectors of the development community for a workshop of lectures, discussion sessions, and debates, led by speakers with a wealth of senior experience in government, international organizations, and academia.

High-Value Agriculture as a Path to Structural Transformation – hopes, fears, realities

Our 10th FLP will discuss the ways in which and the extent to which high value agriculture may provide a route to structural transformation in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), with implications for macro-economic balances, employment and poverty reduction, and productivity gains.

Many policy officials in LMICs and many development economists and observers have for a long time thought that agriculture is something of a development laggard – something to shift resources out of, and instead to commit to other sectors that may have greater scope for productivity gains, linkages, and dynamic increasing returns. Not only since Adam Smith have economists thought agriculture less ‘complex’; but also, more recently, many people have been beguiled by the idea of adverse terms of trade against agricultural exports, and economists interested in complexity have reinforced preconceptions by working with trade data that builds in an assumption of ‘simplicity’ in agricultural trade.

Yet the global economy has changed and, with it, so has much agricultural production. Many forms of agriculture have become increasingly knowledge-intense, technically sophisticated, and complex. These forms of agriculture have revealed a range of linkages, so much so that the distinctions between agriculture, services, and ‘industry’ have become increasingly blurred. There is a relatively high income elasticity of demand globally for some of the goods produced. And high-value agricultural exports have proven capable of generating much-needed foreign exchange earnings as well as creating large numbers of jobs – above all in areas where these are desperately needed.

Agriculture, then, may itself embody and contribute to structural transformation. It then becomes a strategic priority. But how do countries overcome the obstacles, what is required to compete and succeed in this field? How does climate change affect the prospects for success and how does high-value agriculture contribute to climate change? What institutional forms and innovations have helped underpin successful cases? What are the limits to pursuing structural change through high value agriculture?

This four-day FLP – aimed at policy officials, private sector strategists, think tank and NGO employees - will address these and other issues, through a combination of analytical material and case studies (including Peruvian blueberries, cashews in Cote d’Ivoire, South African citrus, and Ethiopian floriculture). Our speakers include highly experienced practitioners as well as scholars.

Header image credit: Mario Mendez via Unsplash.

Confirmed speakers include (in the alphabetical order of their surnames): 

• Andy Connell (United Fruits, South Africa)
• Christopher Cramer (DLD and SOAS, University of London)
• Aaron Davis (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London)
• Jonathan Di John (DLD and SOAS, University of London)
• Piero Ghezzi (Peru)
• Jodie Keane (ODI)
• Chris Isaac (AgDevCo)
• Carlos Oya (SOAS, University of London)
• Salma Seetaro (Cashew Coast, Abidjan)
• John Wilkinson (Universidade de Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Applications are welcome from people from different sectors – governments, the corporate sector, civil society, international organizations, academia, trade unions, etc. Applicants should submit a CV and a covering letter, explaining their views on the challenges of High-Value Agriculture as a Path to Structural Transformation. 

The fee for the programme is £2,000. Participants are also expected to cover their costs of attending, travel, accommodation, and subsistence in London. However, there are some full or partial scholarships available, and applicants who want to be considered for them should explain their financial circumstances and state clearly how much financial support they are seeking in their covering letters.

Applicants are normally expected to have at least 8-10 years’ experience in their fields. If they are from academia, they should provide evidence that they have worked with development practitioners – in national governments, international organisations, the private sector, or CSOs.