Performance of Agriculture

In the treatments of the World Bank and the IMF of agriculture in Sierra Leone one finds a tendency to treat price policy as a hammer and every problem a nail. This obsession with relative prices as not only the necessary but also the sufficient condition for improvement in agricultural performance brings to mind the observation of Oscar Wilde that madness lies in carrying an argument to its logical conclusion. From reading the reports of the multilaterals, not only for Sierra Leone but also for countries throughout the Third World, one would assume that a consensus existed among experts on the great potency of the price instrument to promote agricultural development. Even a casual review of the literature showed this not to be the case. For example, Pinstrup-Andersen argued, With respect to the agricultural sector … the importance of price policy has been grossly exaggerated as a tool to achieve rapid increases in total agricultural output and food security in many developing countries. Poor rural infrastructure, lack of appropriate production technology and modern inputs, seasonal labour bottlenecks, and land and marketing constraints result in low supply response in total output. (Pinstrup-Andersen, 1988, p. 101)