ABSTRACT
Despite nearly two decades of political independence, accompanied by conscious and deliberate effort at development, Africa remains one of the least developed regions of the world. This is largely reflected in, and to some extent attributable to, the problems of a neglected agricultural sector. Both internal and external constraints militate against agricultural and overall development in most African economies. The internal constraints are rooted in historical or geographical circumstances and include underdeveloped human resources, economic disruption that accompanied decolonization, climatic and geographic factors, and the problems associated with a rapidly growing population. Some of the often-emphasized exogenous constraints to agricultural and general development are the transmission of external disturbances (such as the effect of the recent stagflation in the industrialized countries), the relatively slow growth of exports of primary products, and deteriorating terms of trade (World Bank Report 1981a, 4).
