Erratum to: An African Green Revolution

Abstract

On average, agriculture accounts for 70% of full-time employment in Africa, 33% of national income, and 40% of total export earnings, and its impor- tance is even greater in the poorest countries. Yet its performance in recent decades has been one of the worst in the world. Africa has some of the lowest levels of land and labor productivity and these have barely changed in 30 years. And, while it might appear obvious that accelerating agricultural growth should fi gure promi- nently in any strategy to reverse Africa’s decline, agriculture virtually fell off the development agenda for Africa until recently. Now that agriculture is back in the spotlight, important differences about the nature of the effective agricultural devel- opment strategy have emerged around four key issues; whether to prioritize small or large farms; whether to focus on food staples or high value products; whether to promote technologies and farming practices that require fertilizers and modern seeds; and the degree to which governments should intervene in markets. By review- ing the existing studies in these areas, this chapter sets the stage for detailed empiri- cal studies conducted in subsequent chapters.