Soil fertility decline and economic policy reform in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Two decades of economic reforms in Africa have not resulted in the anticipated growth in per capita agricultural production. Declining output–fertiliser price ratios, particularly for food crops, contributed to soil fertility depletion and agricultural stagnation. Current prices of agricultural products in Africa are depressed by asymmetric government food trade policies and by protective agricultural policies of OECD countries. Nor do they reflect the local and global environmental benefits of soil fertility build-up. There is an urgent need to consider the social costs and benefits of short-term price policies that supplement medium to long-term structural policies.