VAD e.V.

50 years of post-colonial agriculture and agricultural policies

in Subsahara Africa – any lessons to be learned?

Convenor: Michael Brüntrup Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist gegen Spambots geschützt! Sie müssen JavaScript aktivieren, damit Sie sie sehen können. Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist gegen Spam Bots geschützt, Sie müssen JavaScript aktivieren, damit Sie es sehen können (Bonn)

50 years after the wave of independence in Sub Sahara Africa (SSA), agriculture is still the most important economic sector in most of its countries and will be so for a long time to come. Furthermore, two-thirds of manufacturing added value in most African countries is based on agricultural raw materials. Unfortunately, the state of African agriculture is notably bad as indicated by low and stagnating per capita yields, incomes in rural areas, agricultural exports and food security in rural areas as well as growing food import dependency. It seems that without major changes in agricultural policies the sector will not be able to fulfil its role.

The dominant economic position would be reason enough to devote highest attention to the state of agriculture in SSA. In addition, the state of agriculture in SSA and its future prospects have important social and political repercussions.

The proposed panel should shed more light on the experiences that can be extracted from the past 50 years of agricultural development and agricultural policies in SSA, and blend these experiences with future challenges and supposed opportunities. Particularly welcome are contributions that analyse

• main trends of production, productivity, factor use, export, imports and structural trends since independence, success stories, failures and lessons learned at sector or sub-sector level;
• the nexus between agriculture, poverty and food security, as well as political stability;
• the linkages between agriculture and natural resource management and degradation, past negligences and the need for new approaches for integrated approaches, with a special view on the challenges of climate change for SSA;
• lessons from structural adjustment for the potential and limits of Washington consensus oriented policies in agriculture;
• realistic roles for the state, the private sector and civil society in agricultural development and ways of their interactions;
• the potential and the weaknesses of the NEPAD’s CAADP programme, the most prominent attempt of Africa to regain ownership in this area, to relaunch agriculture.