Beyond Liberalisation : 'Developmental Coordination' Policies for African Smallholder Agriculture

State and market led agricultural development policies are reviewed in terms of their success in addressing ‘low level equilibrium traps' that arise from coordination and transaction cost challenges in poor rural economies characterised by limited economic activity and exchange, seasonality, and price, weather and transaction risks. This leads to a call for more nuanced set of ‘developmental coordination' policies that go beyond liberalisation to recognise the need for different challenges and different forms of coordination in areas and economies with different characteristics and at different stages of growth