African Agriculture and The World Bank : Development or Impoverishment?

• African smallholder family farming, the backbone of the continental economy throughout the colonial and early post-colonial period, has been destabilized and eroded over the past thirty years. Despite the World Bank’s poverty alleviation concerns, agrarian livelihoods continue to unravel under the impact of economic liberalization and global value chains. Can African smallholders bounce back and compete? The World Development Report 2008 argues they can and must. How realistic is this given the history of World Bank conditionality in Africa? This essay explores the productivity and welfare concerns of Africa’s smallholder farming population in the shadow of the World Bank.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Agriculture

Rural development

Sustainable agriculture

Farming

Smallholders

Land tenure

Commodity markets

Poverty alleviation

Structural adjustment

Development strategy

Africa

Business and economics

Ekonomi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

rap (ämneskategori)