First published in 1987 by KPI Limited
Published 2016 by Routledge
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Afrika-Studiecentrum 1987
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Set in Times
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ISBN 13: 978-0-710-30205-2 (hbk)
This book is based on an analysis of relevant literature and on the results of field studies carried out over a number of years in Sub-Saharan Africa. These studies were part of a research programme on agricultural commercialization and rural development in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, undertaken by the Department of Geography of Developing Countries, University of Utrecht. The authors were supported in the research by various staff members and graduate-research assistants of this department. In addition, they received assistance from officials attached to ministries, parastatals and research institutes and from project staff in various African countries. These officials represented organizations interested in policy-oriented research, and welcomed additional manpower and means to carry out this type of research. A mutual agreement contained the terms of reference and the details of reporting. A few chapters of this book have been published in a more tentative version as articles in scientific journals. Financial and logistic assistance for the research programme were provided by the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Studies, and the counterpart organizations in the various countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.
In a research programme of this magnitude it is quite impossible to mention here every individual who assisted in one way or another with data collection and analysis. Therefore, a more general acknowledgement of the support received throughout the various phases of the programme is given. First, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all officials and organizations in Africa who so kindly and willingly assisted in the research. Our special thanks go to the staff of the former SODERIZ in the Northern Region of the Ivory Coast, the management of the Aweil Rice Development Project in Sudan, the Institut des Sciences Humaines in Mali, the Housing Research and Development Unit of the University of Nairobi in Kenya, the Department of Geography of the University of Swaziland, and the Applied Research Unit of the Ministry of Local Government and Lands in Botswana.
In the Netherlands we were greatly helped by a sabbatical leave spent at the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Studies in 198384. This enabled us to proceed substantially in bringing together the various analyses of literature and the case studies in a systematic and coherent way in the form of the present study. We highly appreciated the stimulating stay at this Institutes centre, located at an adequate distance from the hectic life which characterizes universities in the Netherlands today. Furthermore, we are thankful to the African Studies Centre at Leiden and its director, Gerrit Grootenhuis, who arranged for the publication of this book, and to Ina Rike for correcting our proofs.
Earlier versions of a few chapters have been published in the following scientific journals, whose permission to publish revised versions is gratefully acknowledged.
A section of as Agricultural Policy and the Organization of Production in Sub-Saharan Africa, In: Journal of Rural Studies, 1985, 1, 1, pp. 7385.
An earlier version of paragraph two in as The Increasing Food Problem of Sub-Saharan Africa: Food Production and Food Imports since the 1970s, In: Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, 1985, 24, no. 2, pp. 129141.
An earlier version of parts of as Agricultural Policy and Production in Africa: the Aims, the Methods and the Means, In: The Journal of Modern African Studies, 1983, 21, 1, pp. 123.
A preliminary Dutch version of Chapter 12 as Afrikas Agrarische Crisis: Voorstellen en Vooruitzichten, In: Internationale Spectator, 1986, 40, 3, pp. 176183.
Last but not least we are most grateful to all colleagues of the Department of Geography of Developing Countries and of the Geographical Institute at large, who rendered assistance both in the field and on the home front to complete this study: the staff, the graduate-research assistants, the draftsmen, and the secretaries, without whose assistance this book could not have been written.
Africa south of the Sahara has become a major problem area. Wars, political upheaval, refugee problems, famines, recurrent droughts, and lagging economic growth have captured the worlds attention time and again. The dominant reason for serious concern today is the subcontinents alarming state of agriculture. This agricultural crisis is shown by a stagnating overall output, a declining commercial food production, and a decreasing share of exports in world trade. The economic consequences of this depressing state of food and agriculture are manifold: supply problems of agricultural raw materials for processing industries, rising food imports, the dwindling of foreign earnings, a decrease of public revenue and investment funds, growing balance-of-payment shortages, and a decline in rural purchasing power and living standards. In some parts of Sub-Saharan Africa subsistence farming is increasing again: agricultural producers deliberately abandon the cultivation of cash crops, thus countering a long-standing process of ongoing production for overseas and domestic markets.
This process of agricultural commercialization is the subject of this study. Its role in economic growth is obvious. It implies an increasing monetarization and market orientation of agricultural production, it affects productivity and growth of output, and it stimulates specialization and diversification of farming. For Third World countries the economic consequences are great. This is especially true for the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa in view of their agricultural sectors importance as a means of living for a substantial proportion of the population and the sectors high contribution to national income. Agricultural commercialization, together with a better physical and institutional infrastructure, may even be considered a necessary condition for rural development. However, it is not a sufficient condition because it does not automatically result in an improvement of the living conditions of the rural population and their increased security of existence which should be the essence of rural development. Ultimately, the specific forms and nature of agricultural commercialization and its role in development are strongly conditioned by economic and political factors which may vary greatly in time and place.
