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Policy and Capital Market Constraints to the African Green Revolution: A Study of Maize and Sorghum Yields in Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe, 1960–91

In: From Adjustment to Development in Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Paul Mosley

Abstract

As is well known, one element in the continuing underdevelopment of sub-Saharan Africa vis à vis other parts of the Third World is the continuing poor performance of the agricultural and, in particular, the food crop sectors. Both in per capita and per acre terms, food crop yields in Africa lag well behind performance elsewhere, and in per capita terms, food production at the beginning of the 1990s is actually lower than it was ten years ago (see Chapter 11). There can be few more urgent development priorities, whether in terms of relieving pressure on the balance of payments, releasing resources from the food-producing to the tradables sector, or promoting equity by raising the incomes of poor rural people, than finding a means of correcting this dismal performance. Most assessments of the possibility of a green revolution in Africa, however, have been profoundly sceptical, usually for some combination of the following reasons: There does not exist a ‘shelf’ of high-yielding varieties of African crops that holds out the hope of increasing yields on anything like the same scale as was achieved in Asia in the 1960s and 1970s through the introduction of modern varieties of wheat and rice (see, for instance, Lipton, 1988). Because population densities are lower in Africa than in Asia, there is less incentive to intensify production methods, except in a few areas of high population concentration (Biswanger and Pingali, 1988). Soil, climate and irrigation potential are all much more hostile to the introduction of modern varieties in Africa than in Asia.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Mosley, 1994. "Policy and Capital Market Constraints to the African Green Revolution: A Study of Maize and Sorghum Yields in Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe, 1960–91," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Giovanni Andrea Cornia & Gerald K. Helleiner (ed.), From Adjustment to Development in Africa, chapter 12, pages 248-272, Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-349-23596-4_12
    DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-23596-4_12
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Govereh, Jones & Jayne, Thomas S., 1999. "Effects of Cash Crop Production on Food Crop Productivity in Zimbabwe: Synergies or Trade-offs?," Food Security International Development Working Papers 54670, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    2. Jayne, T.S. & Yamano, Takashi & Nyoro, James, 2004. "Interlinked credit and farm intensification: evidence from Kenya," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 31(2-3), pages 209-218, December.
    3. Jayne, T. S. & Govereh, J. & Mwanaumo, A. & Nyoro, J. K. & Chapoto, A., 2002. "False Promise or False Premise? The Experience of Food and Input Market Reform in Eastern and Southern Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 1967-1985, November.
    4. Howard White, 1996. "Adjustment in Africa," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 27(4), pages 785-815, October.
    5. Jayne, T. S. & Jones, Stephen, 1997. "Food marketing and pricing policy in Eastern and Southern Africa: A survey," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(9), pages 1505-1527, September.
    6. Jayne, Thomas S. & Jones, Stephen P., 1996. "Food Marketing and Pricing Policy in Eastern and Southern Africa: Lessons for Increasing Agricultural Productivity and Access to Food," Food Security International Development Working Papers 54694, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    7. Srijna Jha & Harald Kaechele & Marcos Lana & T.S Amjath-Babu & Stefan Sieber, 2020. "Exploring Farmers’ Perceptions of Agricultural Technologies: A Case Study from Tanzania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-21, January.
    8. Mosley, Paul & Subasat, Turan & Weeks, John, 1995. "Assessing adjustment in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(9), pages 1459-1473, September.

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