The Invisible Economy of Smallholder Agriculture in Africa

Abstract

This chapter discusses the constraints on African agricultural productivity, the historical specificity of African economic and political development, the independent nature of Africa's economy and its ambiguous role in development, and the urgent need to adopt new agricultural strategies, if African governments are to avoid losing control of their own economic bases. Understanding micro-processes in Africa, including farming systems and intra-household processes, may give a better understanding of how society at large operates and of the public institutions that have been created to govern African society. Africa's political economy has a peculiar and anomalous character. But the road to recognition of Africa's historical specificity has been long and winding. An approach of this kind would enable the political economy of smallholder agriculture to grow more nearly on its own terms by providing incentives for peasant producers to move forward at their own pace.