Research on agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa; a critical survey
This survey reports and evaluates research on the economics of food, agriculture, rural nonfarm activities, agricultural policy, employment, and income distribution in 41 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Although we have reviewed papers and publications by researchers in a wide range of disciplines, the core of this survey consists of literature produced by agricultural economists and economists. We examine research on agricultural development during the precolonial period from 1800 to 1880s, the colonial period from the 1880s to 1960, and the postindependence period from 1960 to 1981. Our survey has pointed up the shaky data base and the need to interpret official statistics with caution. Data on rural income distribution are available for only a few countries. The combination of underdeveloped data and the case study nature of much of the research cited in our references makes it difficult to generalize about the sources of agricultural output and the causes of poverty, malnutrition, and lagging food production. Moreover, the use of averages promotes the view that there is a homogenous or classless rural society and that interventions designed to improve the average incomes in an area will automatically improve the incomes of all people, including those on the lower end of the income scale. But Polly Hill and other researchers have shown that rural inequality is an integral part of Africa's history, that uneven development will usually accompany programs of planned change and that special programs are needed to reach the rural poor. Research is needed on rural income distribution, including an identification of the rural poor and an analysis of the institutional reforms which are needed to increase the access of the poor to resources, to off-farm employment opportunities, and to markets. Nutrition researchers need to generate micro data on food consumption intake by age and sex, by geographical region, and by season of the year
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Texto biblioteca |
| Language: | eng |
| Published: |
East Lansing, Mich. (EUA)
1982
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