Alan Low's, Agricultural Development in Southern Africa: farm-household economics and the food crisis (London: James Currey, 1986, 230 pp., ?19-50) is a thoughtprovoking and original work, and it will probably receive wide attention, partly, at least, because of the very favourable comments on the cover by two leading authorities, namely Goran Hyden and Diana Hunt. It will be of interest not only to those concerned with southern Africa but to Africanists in general, to students of development in general and to economists drawn by an innovative application of a particular type of model. It is not without shortcomings, however, or debatable views, and that consideration, combined with the importance of the topic and the need to get across to general Africanists some slightly technical, but vital, economic points, prompts an extended treatment. The book is divided into three parts, the first consisting essentially of an exposition of what has come to be called 'household economics' theory, and how it might be applied to peasant households, in particular, in southern African countries. The main economic feature of the countries of this particular region which causes them to be singled out for special treatment is the existence of substantial non-rural wage employment of people who maintain their rural household as a base, and have communal land rights and common grazing land. Some rather unexpected conclusions emerge, regarding the economic behaviour of these households, as the book progresses, but in addition the author brings out some wider, perhaps more speculative, implications. The first two chapters of Part II, 'Focus on Swaziland' and 'Supporting evidence from Swaziland and elsewhere', would have fitted better into Part I, as they are essentially concerned with empirical evidence for the main assumptions underlying the theoretical approach, and with criticism of more orthodox models. The remainder of Part II discusses the regional implications with regard to four important issues: the adoption of new technology, land use, including the use and ownership of cattle, labour migration, and rural development policy. (Chapter 5, the last of Part I, is an analysis of the history of agricultural development in Botswana and Lesotho, and might have been more logically placed in Part II.) Part III, 'Wider perspectives', contains three chapters, the first addressing more general implications for economic policy, such as for food pricing, the second looking at the so-called 'farming systems' approach, and finally, there is a brief, but intriguing, comparison of southern Africa with Peru, suggesting the more universal applicability of the 'household' approach, followed by an assessment of the degree to which the approach might apply in other countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Although the scope of the book is wide-ranging - and more interesting for that perhaps the central points are these. The existence of substantial urban wage labour, which is largely specific to males, combined with communal rights to land and common grazing, makes it sensible for men to migrate temporarily, leaving a rural household to be operated mainly by women, who grow some of the household's main food. It is also, in general, not worth producing a surplus of food, or other crops, for sale; indeed, the cultivation of land may often be a fairly perfunctory affair, largely for maintaining usufruct rights, while much food is purchased with migrants' earnings. In addition, it would appear that the adoption of certain agricultural technologies, particularly the use of fertiliser with hybrid maize, and ploughing with tractors or oxen, is not to increase food production so