ABSTRACT
With the beginning of the new millennium an issue of the ‘old millennium’ has returned to the international agenda, namely the dependence of developing countries on agricultural value (or commodity) chains and its link to poverty (CEC 2004; Oxfam 2004; UNCTAD 2003). There are approximately 50 countries in which three or fewer agricultural export commodities constitute the bulk of export revenue (CEC 2004: 4). From 1980 to 2002 the prices of 12 tropical agricultural commodities declined between 50 and 86 per cent, and these price-falls were relatively highest in countries in Africa (Oxfam 2004: 3). This has resulted in high losses in export earnings for most African countries.
