ABSTRACT
This study is intended to contribute to the ongoing policy debate on price intervention policies, focusing more on the political basis of such policies. Specifically, it seeks to explain policy action in Senegalese agriculture. Who decides? Why and on what basis? Such a focus will facilitate critical evaluation of the role which political considerations have played in the process of agricultural price decision-making. The study examines the evolution of state intervention in agriculture, with special reference to pricing and commercialization policies. Senior government officials and others involved and/or concerned about pricing policies have been interviewed, and the responses analyzed in terms of their relevance to our understanding of which factors influence policy choice. State and parastatal institutions concerned with pricing, marketing and processing of agricultural commodities have been visited and relevant documents have been consulted as well. In addition, some farmers in parts of the peanut basin, particularly in Touba Mbacke, have been interviewed.
