Agricultural Policy and Production in Africa: the Aims, the Methods, and the Means

Abstract

The general pattern of agricultural performance in Africa south of the Sahara is rather bleak. Various publications sketch a picture of decreasing output, food shortages, rising imports, soil erosion, famine, and even mass starvation. The annual rate of change of the total agricultural and food production for sub-Saharan Africa compares unfavourably with the already disquieting figures for the developing world in general. The data reflect a serious situation which is all the more alarming because of the enormous importance throughout the continent of the farming sector. Indeed, this is the single largest contributor to G.D.P. in many African economies: more than 80 per cent of the labour force in almost half of these countries are employed in agriculture, and for most of them it provides over 50 per cent of their export earnings.