Professor of the Political Economy of Development
Department of Development Studies
& College of Social Sciences
The industrialization of freshness
Project information
Lead researcher
- Christopher Cramer, Professor, SOAS Department of Development Studies
Partners
- Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC), South Africa
- University of Johannesburg
Funder
- As part of an OSF project
Duration
- 2015 - ongoing
Overview
Over a number of years I have been developing research and publications on what we have termed ‘the industrialization of freshness’. This began with commissioned research for the South African government, carried on with fieldwork in Ethiopia, and gathered further secondary research and some primary research again in South Africa. It has led to new contacts and possibly new research in Cote d’Ivoire.
I have presented this work in Argentina, Vietnam, and Malaysia on panels with agricultural firms as well as researchers and policy officials. It has generated publications (e.g. in Development and Change) and a policy brief for the University of Johannesburg. It led to the design of a DLD Future Leaders Programme on high-value agriculture as a potential path to structural transformation, and through that to ongoing discussions with AGRA and Gatsby Africa. The work also feeds into research as part of the OSF SOAS project on the Political Economy of Sustainable Structural Transformation.
Publications
- Cramer, Christopher, and John Sender. "Agro-processing, wage employment and export revenue: Opportunities for strategic intervention." Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) (2015). https://agbiz.co.za/uploads/AgbizNews16/160414_TIPS.pdf
- Cramer, Christopher, Jonathan Di John, and John Sender. "Classification and Roundabout Production in High‐value Agriculture: A Fresh Approach to Industrialization." Development and Change 53.3 (2022): 495-524. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/dech.12708
- Cramer, Christopher. "High-value agricultural exports." May 2023, Policy Brief, University of Johannesburg. https://www.uj.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/sarchi-id-pb-2023-06-cramer-may-2023.pdf
- Cramer, Christopher, and John Sender. "Finding Out Faster: Pre-Survey Scoping for a Study of Deprivation in Majakaneng, North West Province, South Africa." Journal of Southern African Studies 51.1 (2025): 25-44. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03057070.2025.2519997
Image credit: CMC
