In most African countries, agriculture remains a critical sector for employment. This is particularly the case where countries have a majority of subsistence farmers. The sector is also important if broad based development is to be achieved. Incomes of small farmers must be increased. This will then stimulate demand in the local economy and lead to the production of high value added products.

Conversely, mismanaging the agricultural sector can impact very negatively on countries’ development and can also increase levels of poverty. The latter has in fact been the result of the last twenty years of structural adjustment policies in many African countries. From being net food exporters in the 1970s, the liberalization policies of the 1980s and 1990s led to only small increases in the growth of exports, but exponential growth in terms of Africa’s imports of food products.

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