Agriculture still crucial in African Development – New Report

An article on the DFID / Research for Development site points towards a new report published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). The report “The role of agriculture in development: Implications for sub-Saharan Africa” shows that agricultural growth will continue to play an important role in promoting overall economic growth and reducing poverty in most of Africa’s agrarian-based economies.

The report focuses on low-income countries, because more than 90 percent of Africans live in countries where incomes average a dollar a day. The study suggests that 26 out of 34 low-income African countries have favourable agricultural potential. Agricultural growth is important for most low-income African countries and tends to benefit the poor more than growth in other areas such as manufacturing or mining.

Xinshen Diao, IFPRI senior research fellow, and his colleagues contend that only smallholder food-staple and livestock production can generate the broad-based agricultural growth that is needed. He called for greater public sector involvement in the short term, and to meet the challenge for new institutional arrangements between the public and private sectors that foster private sector development without neglecting smallholder farmers.

The full report can be downloaded from the IFPRI website here.