Rural Roads, Sustainable Growth & Agricultural Trade in Zambia

Poverty is largely found in the rural areas and rural employment is still mainly found in the agricultural sector. These facts should lend credence to the perception of rural transport infrastructure (RTI) as an important policy instrument for rural development. The objective is to establish the structural relationship between RTI development, pro-poor rural growth and agricultural trade. The book contributes to the methodological framework used in rural projects evaluation by proposing that household and firm survey analysis has the potential of providing insights that go beyond what is revealed by aggregate cross-country regressions and traditional cost-benefit analysis. However, our impact evaluation approach can be considered to be complementary to the more detailed structural approach used by other authors referred in the literature review. Finally, it recommends that future research be devoted to further advancing appraisal techniques for rural road projects and to discuss how quantitative impact evaluations of rural development policy instruments such as feeder roads can best influence policy in order to help make progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.