- Email: [email protected]
Accelerating food production in Sub-Saharan Africa
Agric. Admin. & Extension 28 (1988) 75-80
Book Reviews
Accelerating Food Production in Sub-SaharanAfrica. Edited by John W. Mellor, Christopher L. Delgado and Malcolm J. Blackie. Johns Hopkins University Press,Baltimore and London, 1987.417pp. Price: g31.05. Three and a half yearsis too long a lapsebetweenthe presentation of papers at a conference and their final publication. Taking into account the preparation time required by individual contributors and the inevitable lags in data series,some of the perspectivesin this volume-the proceedingsof a conferenceunder the same title held at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe in August 1983-reflect the situations faced by African countries at the beginning of the 1980s. Events have moved on since then: in the last two years the problem faced by some countries is no longer food deficit, but how to dispose of surpluses.This, together with increasing surpluses generatedin Europe and the USA hasprompted the World Bank’ to open a recentsurvey with the words: ‘The world has ample food’. Whether and how thesediffering perspectivescan be reconciled is left largely to the reader. Other circumstances relevant to sub-SaharanAfrica have also changed: major initiatives to reform agricultural researchservices have been set in motion in some countries; among donors, the previous emphasis on shortterm stabilisation has been moderated by pressures for structural adjustment; support for privatisation has emerged partly as a responseto inefficiency among parastatals; the respectiveroles of domestic production, buffer stocks and foreign trade in meeting food security requirements have come under fresh scrutiny. Introductory (pp. 3-22) and concluding (pp. 353-76)chapters written within the last 2 yearsby the editors update the Agric. Admin & Extension (28) 1988-a 1988. Printed
in Great Britain
75 Elsevier Applied
Science Publishers
Ltd, England,
76
Book reviews
perspective somewhat, but the fact remains that in so far as they are addressedat all, evidence and argument on these issues have a distinctly dated tone. At first sight, then recent events undermine the claim that these papers provide ‘an up-to-date.. . approach to key issues’(p, xvii). But thosetempted to pass over the book as dated (and, at &31.00,expensively so!) should reconsider for at least three reasons: some recent initiatives (amongst them, privatisation) may prove so constrained as to limit their practical impact; (ii) current grain surpluses in some African countries may not be an indicator of enhancedfood security for the long-term, but merely a feature of continuing climatically-induced instability in production; (iii) most importantly, many of the issuesaddressedin this volume are key oneslikely to remain central to the agendaover the next decade. 6)
Recognising the tendency towards disjointednessinherent in conference proceedings, the editors have organised the 27 contributions into five thematic sections:defining the problem; technology development; support systems; food policy in national development strategies; and donor assistancestrategies.Each section is introduced by the editors and rounded off by commentaries. A concluding section by the editors highlights priorities for accelerating food production. The volume is extensively referencedand indexed. Two generalreservationsarise: first, in spite of firm editing, there remains the problem of important issues being raised in contributions and then inadequately addressed when overall conclusions are drawn. The main example here is the incisive paper by Bienen (pp. 296-308) on domestic political issues-a frank treatment of the difficulties posedfor development by ethnic and factional alliances,patron-client relations and the burgeoning of inefficient bureaucracies-issues which at many conferences are diplomatically swept under the carpet. But having allowed the issuesto be raised, the editors seemat a loss on how to cope with them. Whilst Ndegwa in his commentary proposes practical measures-some of them donorfundable-to promote loyalty to the nation above that to the tribe, the editors’ conclusions do not substantively treat Bienen’s evidence. A further reservation arises from the restrictive focus on the narrow context of food production: the arguments are inadequately located within recentdebateson food security. The casual readermight attribute this to the publication lag, but the editors themselvesexplicitly exclude food security and consumption from their remit (pp. 372-3) with the revealing result that, on referring to the index under ‘food security’, the reader is told: ‘see:selfsufficiency’.Thus, the demanddeficiency debateis not given evena passing
Book reviews
71
acknowledgement. More important, there is no serious discussion of how and why domestic production strategies should be informed by trends in world markets towards increasing surpluses in certain food staples, with their implications for donor attitudes towards food aid (again, underanalysedhere).Agreed, to have treated all of thesein depth would havemade the volume unmanageable, and much the same position would probably have been reached anyway concerning the overall importance of food production for Africa. But that position should be seen to have been reached, however briefly, with specific inferences drawn regarding, for example, the formulation of policies on buffer stocks vis-ci-vis food imports, and the spatial implications of such policies for production given the (excellently documented) shortcomings in infrastructure and marketing. The volume’s very considerable strengthslie in the evidenceit assembles, and the practical conclusions the editors draw, on issueswhich will remain central to policy formulation on African food production for the foreseeable future. Emphasising the unproductive character of relations hitherto between donors and national governments, they argue that, far from being strengthened by donors, national governments have had their room for policy manoeuvre circumscribed, and their administrations sapped by shortsighted and conflicting donor strategies. However, African governments themselvesmust resolveto place the food sector on centre stage.This requires recognition that to acceleratefood production is feasible and most appropriately achievedthrough the smallholder sector,that the implications for public sector funding are immense, with consequent reduction in allocations to non-food sectors,and that acceleratedfood production will stimulate growth in other sectors (p. 354). The sectionson support systemsand food policy in the context of national development strategiesare particularly strong: the former highlighting ways of achieving a balanced approach to input and output marketing in which state and commercial activities are focused in areas of respective comparative advantage;the latter examining the impact on production and equity of ‘getting the prices right’. Noteworthy papers on support systems include: Olayide and Idachaba on marketing systemsfor inputs and outputs in Nigeria: Blackie on the remarkable re-orientation of Zimbabwean marketing systems towards smallholders; Lipton on conceptual issues in infrastructural development; and on food policy: Aboyade on growth strategy in the agricultural sector,and Ghai and Smith on food price policy and equity. Taken together, the two sectionsprovide much evidenceon why this is a necessarybut in itself insufficient policy instrument for agricultural growth. Recommendations are made (pp. 359-73) on priorities by function (fertiliser, agricultural research, rural infrastructure, human capital) by
78
Book reviews
region and by commodity. The importance of establishing a national capacity in food policy analysis as a source of advice to administrators is stressed,as is the need among donors for greater long-term perspectiveand support for national institutions. The editors’ most urgent plea is reservedfor the final lines: if anything at all is to be achievedwhere administrations are weak, the focus must be on a very limited setof functions within the food sector;if governments are to be convinced that increased allocations to the food sector are worthwhile, resultsmust beproduced quickly. This, they argue,meansfocusing resources on high-potential areas. Some may disagreewith this last proposition, but all will gain from the wide range of evidence-uniquely assembledin a single volume-which is advanced in support of these conclusions.
REFERENCE 1. World Bank, Poverty and hunger: Issues and optionsforfoodsecurity countries. Washington, DC, 1986.
in developing
John Farrington Guide to Extension Training. By P. Oakley and C. Garforth, FAO, Rome, Training SeriesNo. 11, 1985,viii + 144pp. (ISBN 92 5 1014531). No price quoted.
This is not so much a guide on how to train extension agents,as a textbook on extension methods with some discussion of the socio-cultural context, programme planning and evaluation. It doesnot discussthe managementof extension, or the T and V system, or extension-researchlinkages. This provides an opportunity for greater attention to be given to extension methods than is to be found in similar textbooks. In generalthis discussionis clear and makes many useful points. However, it frequently offers prescriptions which, though valid in many situations, will not be in all. It stimulates the reader less,for example, than Werner and Bower’s book’ to learn from his own experiencehow to use extension methods effectively in his particular situation and for his goals. For certain purposes, smaller or larger extension groups than the recommendedsize of 20 to 40 members might be useful, e.g.it is seldom that all members participate actively in the discussionin groups of more than 15. Not much attention is given to the potential of the traditional media, while the way in which different methods and media can be combined in an extension campaign or programme is considered only very briefly.
Book Reviews
Accelerating Food Production in Sub-SaharanAfrica. Edited by John W. Mellor, Christopher L. Delgado and Malcolm J. Blackie. Johns Hopkins University Press,Baltimore and London, 1987.417pp. Price: g31.05. Three and a half yearsis too long a lapsebetweenthe presentation of papers at a conference and their final publication. Taking into account the preparation time required by individual contributors and the inevitable lags in data series,some of the perspectivesin this volume-the proceedingsof a conferenceunder the same title held at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe in August 1983-reflect the situations faced by African countries at the beginning of the 1980s. Events have moved on since then: in the last two years the problem faced by some countries is no longer food deficit, but how to dispose of surpluses.This, together with increasing surpluses generatedin Europe and the USA hasprompted the World Bank’ to open a recentsurvey with the words: ‘The world has ample food’. Whether and how thesediffering perspectivescan be reconciled is left largely to the reader. Other circumstances relevant to sub-SaharanAfrica have also changed: major initiatives to reform agricultural researchservices have been set in motion in some countries; among donors, the previous emphasis on shortterm stabilisation has been moderated by pressures for structural adjustment; support for privatisation has emerged partly as a responseto inefficiency among parastatals; the respectiveroles of domestic production, buffer stocks and foreign trade in meeting food security requirements have come under fresh scrutiny. Introductory (pp. 3-22) and concluding (pp. 353-76)chapters written within the last 2 yearsby the editors update the Agric. Admin & Extension (28) 1988-a 1988. Printed
in Great Britain
75 Elsevier Applied
Science Publishers
Ltd, England,
76
Book reviews
perspective somewhat, but the fact remains that in so far as they are addressedat all, evidence and argument on these issues have a distinctly dated tone. At first sight, then recent events undermine the claim that these papers provide ‘an up-to-date.. . approach to key issues’(p, xvii). But thosetempted to pass over the book as dated (and, at &31.00,expensively so!) should reconsider for at least three reasons: some recent initiatives (amongst them, privatisation) may prove so constrained as to limit their practical impact; (ii) current grain surpluses in some African countries may not be an indicator of enhancedfood security for the long-term, but merely a feature of continuing climatically-induced instability in production; (iii) most importantly, many of the issuesaddressedin this volume are key oneslikely to remain central to the agendaover the next decade. 6)
Recognising the tendency towards disjointednessinherent in conference proceedings, the editors have organised the 27 contributions into five thematic sections:defining the problem; technology development; support systems; food policy in national development strategies; and donor assistancestrategies.Each section is introduced by the editors and rounded off by commentaries. A concluding section by the editors highlights priorities for accelerating food production. The volume is extensively referencedand indexed. Two generalreservationsarise: first, in spite of firm editing, there remains the problem of important issues being raised in contributions and then inadequately addressed when overall conclusions are drawn. The main example here is the incisive paper by Bienen (pp. 296-308) on domestic political issues-a frank treatment of the difficulties posedfor development by ethnic and factional alliances,patron-client relations and the burgeoning of inefficient bureaucracies-issues which at many conferences are diplomatically swept under the carpet. But having allowed the issuesto be raised, the editors seemat a loss on how to cope with them. Whilst Ndegwa in his commentary proposes practical measures-some of them donorfundable-to promote loyalty to the nation above that to the tribe, the editors’ conclusions do not substantively treat Bienen’s evidence. A further reservation arises from the restrictive focus on the narrow context of food production: the arguments are inadequately located within recentdebateson food security. The casual readermight attribute this to the publication lag, but the editors themselvesexplicitly exclude food security and consumption from their remit (pp. 372-3) with the revealing result that, on referring to the index under ‘food security’, the reader is told: ‘see:selfsufficiency’.Thus, the demanddeficiency debateis not given evena passing
Book reviews
71
acknowledgement. More important, there is no serious discussion of how and why domestic production strategies should be informed by trends in world markets towards increasing surpluses in certain food staples, with their implications for donor attitudes towards food aid (again, underanalysedhere).Agreed, to have treated all of thesein depth would havemade the volume unmanageable, and much the same position would probably have been reached anyway concerning the overall importance of food production for Africa. But that position should be seen to have been reached, however briefly, with specific inferences drawn regarding, for example, the formulation of policies on buffer stocks vis-ci-vis food imports, and the spatial implications of such policies for production given the (excellently documented) shortcomings in infrastructure and marketing. The volume’s very considerable strengthslie in the evidenceit assembles, and the practical conclusions the editors draw, on issueswhich will remain central to policy formulation on African food production for the foreseeable future. Emphasising the unproductive character of relations hitherto between donors and national governments, they argue that, far from being strengthened by donors, national governments have had their room for policy manoeuvre circumscribed, and their administrations sapped by shortsighted and conflicting donor strategies. However, African governments themselvesmust resolveto place the food sector on centre stage.This requires recognition that to acceleratefood production is feasible and most appropriately achievedthrough the smallholder sector,that the implications for public sector funding are immense, with consequent reduction in allocations to non-food sectors,and that acceleratedfood production will stimulate growth in other sectors (p. 354). The sectionson support systemsand food policy in the context of national development strategiesare particularly strong: the former highlighting ways of achieving a balanced approach to input and output marketing in which state and commercial activities are focused in areas of respective comparative advantage;the latter examining the impact on production and equity of ‘getting the prices right’. Noteworthy papers on support systems include: Olayide and Idachaba on marketing systemsfor inputs and outputs in Nigeria: Blackie on the remarkable re-orientation of Zimbabwean marketing systems towards smallholders; Lipton on conceptual issues in infrastructural development; and on food policy: Aboyade on growth strategy in the agricultural sector,and Ghai and Smith on food price policy and equity. Taken together, the two sectionsprovide much evidenceon why this is a necessarybut in itself insufficient policy instrument for agricultural growth. Recommendations are made (pp. 359-73) on priorities by function (fertiliser, agricultural research, rural infrastructure, human capital) by
78
Book reviews
region and by commodity. The importance of establishing a national capacity in food policy analysis as a source of advice to administrators is stressed,as is the need among donors for greater long-term perspectiveand support for national institutions. The editors’ most urgent plea is reservedfor the final lines: if anything at all is to be achievedwhere administrations are weak, the focus must be on a very limited setof functions within the food sector;if governments are to be convinced that increased allocations to the food sector are worthwhile, resultsmust beproduced quickly. This, they argue,meansfocusing resources on high-potential areas. Some may disagreewith this last proposition, but all will gain from the wide range of evidence-uniquely assembledin a single volume-which is advanced in support of these conclusions.
REFERENCE 1. World Bank, Poverty and hunger: Issues and optionsforfoodsecurity countries. Washington, DC, 1986.
in developing
John Farrington Guide to Extension Training. By P. Oakley and C. Garforth, FAO, Rome, Training SeriesNo. 11, 1985,viii + 144pp. (ISBN 92 5 1014531). No price quoted.
This is not so much a guide on how to train extension agents,as a textbook on extension methods with some discussion of the socio-cultural context, programme planning and evaluation. It doesnot discussthe managementof extension, or the T and V system, or extension-researchlinkages. This provides an opportunity for greater attention to be given to extension methods than is to be found in similar textbooks. In generalthis discussionis clear and makes many useful points. However, it frequently offers prescriptions which, though valid in many situations, will not be in all. It stimulates the reader less,for example, than Werner and Bower’s book’ to learn from his own experiencehow to use extension methods effectively in his particular situation and for his goals. For certain purposes, smaller or larger extension groups than the recommendedsize of 20 to 40 members might be useful, e.g.it is seldom that all members participate actively in the discussionin groups of more than 15. Not much attention is given to the potential of the traditional media, while the way in which different methods and media can be combined in an extension campaign or programme is considered only very briefly.