ABSTRACT
Africa's agricultural sector is often characterized as stagnant. By many measures, the assessment is justifiable. Food production in Africa is not keeping pace with population growth, and yields for many crops are well below the levels achieved by developing countries in other regions (Binswanger and Townsend, 2000). African policy makers are criticized for low investment in agricultural research and infrastructure development, while World Bank efforts to produce structural (market and macroeconomic) reforms seem to yield disappointing returns (Easterly , 2001). Others point out that agricultural progress in sub-Saharan Africa is hindered by the placement of its ports, the remote location of its high-quality soils, how its latitude affects crops, and the prevalence of disease (Bloom and Sachs, 1998).
