ABSTRACT

It is increasingly obvious that any long-term solution to the root prob­ lems of poverty and hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa will require the collaborative efforts of scholars, researchers, politicians, and civil servants to go beyond existing models of food policy and food policy analysis. While the production and extension of suitable technology is obviously a key aspect of this process, there is increasing recog­ nition that the policy environment in a particular country can be of equivalent or even greater importance (Bates 1981; Busch 1981; World Bank 1981; F.A.O. 1982; Timmer, Falcon and Pearson 1983; Pinstrup-Anderson, Berg and Forman 1984; Eicher 1984; Murphy 1983; U.S.D.A. 1984; Bryant et al. 1985; MacNamara 1985; O.T.A. 1985; Mann 1986; Asante 1986; Fleuret and Fleuret 1986; Hansen and McMillan 1986; Lemarchand 1986; Mellor 1986). To date, however, the traditional approach of U.S. universities to

research and instruction on African agriculture has been fragmented (Russell 1982). Agricultural scientists in fields such as agricultural engineering, agronomy, horticulture, forestry, and soil and animal sci­ ence have focused on technical problems of production while issues of distribution, nutrition and the wider policy environment have been left to the agricultural social scientists (sociology, economics, home economics and increasingly political science and anthropology). Each discipline has generally carried out its work independently of the oth­ ers. A similar subdivision is apparent in textbooks and until recently the majority of technical assistance programs.