African farmers have traditionally pursued shifting cultivation in response to population growth and declining soil fertility. Rural population growth and displacement, due to urban expansion and the gazetting of parks and protected areas, have long encouraged the cultivation of new land by...

Marketing boards and strategic reserves have re-emerged over the last decade as significant actors in grain markets in eastern and southern Africa, yet there is little empirical research regarding how their activities affect smallholder behavior. This paper uses panel survey data from 1997-2007...

In many African countries, as well as in other parts of the world where a significant part of the rural population is poor and food insecure, policymakers face what is called the food price dilemma. On the one hand, they need to provide farmers with incentives to increase the quantity of...

It is widely believed that the HIV/AIDS epidemic will have substantial socioeconomic impacts in Sub-Saharan Africa, including on the agricultural sector. While the implications of the disease for research in the health fields are well established, there is a growing awareness that the spread of...

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Directorate of Economics, Republic of Mozambique

In every region of the world, the intensification of crop-based agriculture has been associated with a sharp increase in the use of chemical fertilizer. Given the generally low levels of fertilizer use in Africa, there can be little doubt that fertilizer use must increase in Africa if the region...

Produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development under the WACIP project funded by USAID (Programme de Renforcement du Secteur Coton en Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre