Agricultural Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa: Development Constraints and Policy Problems

The agricultural production 'crisis' in Sub-Saharan Africa is manifested mainly in a fall in export crop and commercial food production, apart from food supply problems in individual countries as a result of drought, war or civil unrest. Major constraints include limited use of modern agricultural inputs, land tenure problems, seasonal production bottlenecks, poverty and lack of capital, the risks of depending on the market, lack of government financial support, government indifference and high levels of taxation, low food produce prices, competition of cheap food imports and food Aid, world recession, declining agricultural terms of trade and international debt. Attempts to promote rural development and investment in smallholder production by the World Bank have not, on the whole, succeeded and have been followed by the structural adjustment programmes of the Bank and the IMF which have done little for agriculture. Few African countries can achieve food security by reliance on imports. Most need to increase production and reduce costs. Unfortunately, in the present political and economic situation it is hard to see how the required agricultural transformation can be achieved.