AGRICULTURAL AND INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE SAHELIAN COUNTRIES OF WEST AFRICA: A REAL CHALLENGE IN TECHNICAL CO-OPERATION GLENN Department
of Agricultural
Economics,
C. W. AMES University
of Georgia,
Athens,
Georgia,
USA
& LAWRENCE Department
of Sociology,
University
BUSCH
of Kentucky,
Lexington,
Kentucky,
USA
(Received:25 August, 1978) SUMMARY
In recent years the drought in the Sahelian region of West Africa has reducedfoodand livestock production, and large imports of basic grains were neededfor emergency relief. West African countries have requestedcontinuedfoodgrain assistance andalso technical co-operation in building viable agricultural development institutions for teaching, research and extension, This paper examines the problems of building up such institutions andsuccessfully integrating them into thesocial andeconomic infrastructure, so that Sahelian agriculture can build up the output needed to recoverfrom the drought and face future, adverse climatic conditions with more confidence.
INTRODUCTION One of the primary goals of foreign technical assistance in agriculture is to increase food and fibre production. In recent years the drought in the Sahelian region of West Africa has reduced food and livestock production and large imports of basic grains were required for emergency relief. However, requests for food grain assistance have continued even after the return of near normal weather. In addition, West African countries have requested technical co-operation in building viable agricultural development institutions with strong teaching, research and extension programmes. The Agency for International Development, US Land Grant Universities, Canadian, European and other international institutions have responded to requests for technical assistance by building agricultural institutions for the Sahelian countries. (US assistance will be provided under TitleXII of Public Law 94161. Passed in December 1975, it amends the US Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and 199 Agricultural
1979 Printed
Administration in Great
Britain
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provides the means for an expanded role for US Land Grant Universities). At this juncture, both donor institutions and recipient countries might well reflect on the accumulated experience of previous university technical assistance efforts and the future task of institution building in the Sahel. The purpose of this article is to review briefly the current Sahelian agricultural situation and the task of building teaching, research and extension institutions to meet the needs of the farming sector, with special focus on Upper Volta. The current situation in Upper Volta presents a formable task relative to the work of strengthening the country’s agricultural programmes. New-style development projects are specifically designed to reach groups of people in a predetermined way, and to be implemented and operated primarily by local institutions. Sahelian countries generally have weak public administrations and institutions, which make project implementation more difficult and problematic. The article concludes with recommendations for an improved assistance strategy.
THE
CURRENT
SITUATION
IN
AGRICULTURE
Lagging agricultural production There are many social and economic factors which may limit the contribution of institution building to the long-run goals of expanding aggregate crop and livestock production, and improving levels of living in the Sahel of West Africa. A review of Sahelian agricultural production data shows, with few exceptions, a lacklustre performance during the last decade due mainly to the drought and low level of technology. The drought of 1970-75 in the Sahelian countries aggravated persistent problems of hunger, malnutrition and food distribution. The downward trend in production will continue unless output can be expanded through an increase in area cultivated and/or yields. Output expansion appears possible as yields of basic food grains-sorghum, millet, maize and cash crops such as cotton and peanuts have been low by world standards, indicating a potential for substantial improvement if resources are available for yield-increasing technology.‘~i0,i6 Livestock production has remained static, or declined until the end of the drought of 1970-75. Overall national agricultural production has actually fallen or remained static in many Sahelian countries since 1970. Cereal production in Sub-Sahara Africa, which accounts for 55 per cent of total production of major food staples, grew less than 0.5 percent/year in 1967-75 (Table 1). Annual average production growth rates of 3.5 to 3.8 per cent would be needed to meet estimated market demands (International Food Policy Research Institute,’ 4 p. 97). Area expansion accounted for almost all of the increase in food output. Average yields actually declined during the period. Production of coarse grains, which make up more than 85 per cent of the cereal output in Sub-Sahara Africa, grew less than 0.4 per cent/year in 1967-75. Wet rice production improved with output increasing at two per cent/year, while crops that depended entirely on rain were subject to drought and dec1inin.g production.
196&75 196&66
Sub-Sahara” Africa 1.3 2.6
Production 1.2 2.3
Area
All cereals
RATES OF PRODUCTION,
TABLE 1
0.1 0.3
Output/ha 2.8 4.0
Production 2.9 2.7
Area
Rice
-0.11.4
Output/ha 2.5 3.7
0.3 2.3
Area
Wheat
Policy
1.8
2.2 1.4
Research
0.4
1.1 2.4
Production
196C-75,196s66
Output/ha
MARKET ECONOMIES,
Production
AREA AND YIELD OF CEREALS IN DEVELOPING
1967775 0.5 0.6 -0.1 I.9 3.3 -1.4 -0.8 -2.6 a Includes the Sahelian countries of Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Upper Volta. ’ Less than 0.05. (From, USDA, Foreign Agricultural Service, Computer Printout on Production, 1975 in International Food
Period
GROWTH
Region
AVERAGE ANNUAL
0.4
1.0 2.3
Area
(%)
p. 38.)
b
0.1 0.1
Output/ha
grains
1967-75
Institute,t4
Coarse
AND
2
F2
2 $
2 3 c” 5
z
s i!
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W.
AMES,
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BUSCH
The projections of food production indicate the magnitude of the problem in food-deficit developing market economies (DME) may be severe if output is not increased. Given an annual population growth rate of 2.2 per cent, a 3.2 per cent annual rate of growth in production would be needed to maintain per capita consumption at the 1975 level (Table 2). Several years will be required before additional investments and improved agricultural policies can raise production growth rates. Moreover, serious production shortfalls arising from adverse weather conditions are likely to recur. Recent trends in cereal production indicate that the TABLE 2 ANNUAL
GROWTH
RATES OF STAPLE CROP PRODUCTION ECONOMIES TO MEET CONSUMPTION
Projected production growth rate
1975-90 North Africa/Middle Sub-Saharab Africa
East
NEEDED BY FOOD DEFICIT REQUIREMENTS IN 1990(x)
DEVELOPING
Required production growth rate consumption requirement in at 1915 IOW high per capita income income level growth growth
2.5 2.3
42 3.2
4.9 4.0
5.2 4.4
MARKET
to meet
1990”
at 110% of energy requirement
5.0 4.6
“Based on the trend value of production for 1975. b Includes the Sahelian countries of Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger Senegal and Upper Volta. (From, International Food Policy Research Institute,i4 p. 22.)
Sub-Saharan countries may find it difficult to maintain production growth without additional investments in agricultural research and development (Table 3). Any improvement in consumption levels would require an even greater increase in cereal production. More investments will be needed to maintain average yields-per-acre as well as to expand existing areas under cultivation. TABLE
AVERAGE
3
ANNUAL GROWTH RATE IN MAJOR STAPLE PRODUCTION 196&75 AND PROJECTIONS REQUIREMENTS FOR SAHELIAN COUNTRIES TOMEET CONSUMPTION IN 1990(x)
Country
Esf imated production trend
196&75 Chad Mali Niger Senegal Upper Volta (From, International
-6.1 - 1.8 -0.3 1.8 0.3
Required production growth rate to meet consumption requirements in 1990 At 1975 Low High At 110% per capita income income of energy level growth growth requirements
2.8 2.9 3.2 5.1 2.9
3.0 3.2 3.3 5.2 2.9
Food Policy Research Institute,i4 Table 20.)
3.5 3.4 3.5 5.4 3.2
5.2 5.8 5.6 6.3 4.9
OF
AGRICULTURAL
Sahelian Agricultural
AND
INSTITUTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
203
Research Institutions
International agricultural institutions have conducted research in biological technology for increased production of basic crops and livestock in the Sahelian environment. Much of this research is applicable to Upper Volta. USAID assistance has been requested at the university and secondary level to expand the Voltaic capacity for adaptive research. The benefits of this type of research have been well documented.1,2*3*9*1 I.1 * In addition to the biological technology, increases in agricultural production require inputs such as seed, fertiliser and plant protection materials. Sufficiently attractive market prices are needed to motivate producers and to cover transportation costs for both inputs and outputs. Thus technology, inputs, markets, producer incentives and transportation are all essential for growth in agricultural production. In addition, agricultural credit institutions and extension education programmes facilitate the adoption of new production practices. If one of these essential elements is absent, no increase will occur or at least the rate of increase will be greatly diminished. In the past many technical assistance missions have focused heavily on biological technology while ignoring infrastructure, markets, credit and extension education. This situation limits the response to agricultural innovations and frequently serves to concentrate wealth in the hands of a few.‘* Decisions on the use of new technology are usually made at the farm level and rarely occasion national debate or discussion unless these technologies fail dramatically. In contrast, national policy decisions related to agricultural price policy, which are designed to maintain incentives, are often extremely sensitive issues. High food prices may motivate farmers to produce, but they may undermine urban stability as consumers face inflation in food prices. Moreover, in most Sahel nations, keeping food prices low serves the interests of the urban elite. l5 As a recent report put it, ‘Grain price policies have tended to favor urban consumers. Official consumer (ceiling) prices are commonly set too low to cover producer (or market) price [costs] plus marketing margins. . . . It has bad growth effects, to the extent that the subsidies are financed out of general public revenues which might have been used for development purposes. It has bad equity effects to the extent that it benefits urban consumers who are already better off than producers of cereals or export crops.‘6 Political decisions relative to food prices are sometimes made in the absence of adequate information about conditions in rural areas and the bureaucracy’s ability to carry out those policy decisions. For example, if the government establishes a guaranteed minimum price or fixes the prices at the farm, wholesale, and retail levels, and does not have the funds to implement the programme except on a sporadic basis, farmers, bureaucrats and consumers become disillusioned. Upper Volta and other Sahelian countries may find themselves in this situation due to their limited resources.
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THE
GENERATION
AND
C. W.
AMES,
DIFFUSION
LAWRENCE
BUSCH
OF AGRICULTURAL
TECHNOLOGY
Advances in basic knowledge widen the horizon for applied research and make it more productive by providing new opportunities for technological innovations. The rate of technical progress in agriculture reflects both (a) the rate of growth in the supply of new knowledge, resulting from investment in basic or supporting research, and(b) the rate of growth in the effective demand for technical change as reflected by investment in agricultural experiment station capacity (Arndt & Ruttan,’ p. 8). Upper Volta and other Sahelian countries have only recently begun to make the investments in basic and applied research at the experiment station level. Moreover, previous agricultural research capacity had been developed primarily to facilitate production of export crops, mainly cotton and peanuts, rather than domestic food commodities. Sales of export crops provided foreign exchange but did nothing to improve domestic food supplies. The availability of research capacity in developing countries has important effects on the diffusion of innovations discovered elsewhere under similar environmental and economic conditions. Many Sahelian countries have begun to expand their adaptive research capacity to bring the benefits of international innovations to local environments. Sahelian countries also need adaptive research capability so that local scientists can develop improved technology for local conditions. Evenson & Kislev’s’ studies of international diffusion of sugar-cane varieties and other commodities show both direct and adaptive diffusion processes at work. The rate of diffusion depends in part on the availability and quality of indigenous research capabilities. Research capacity can speed up the importation, testing, and release of varieties generated elsewhere. Sahelian countries without the capacity to do significant agricultural research also lack the capacity to benefit from agricultural research in similar geo-climatic zones. Therefore, an investment in Sahelian agricultural research capacity is needed to complement and take advantage of research being conducted in similar areas. Sahelian countries need a viable marketing system in addition to research capacity. Market prices determine the relative profitability of crop and livestock innovations and ultimately create the demand for new research. The persistent under-pricing of food grains by political authorities in developing countries is a major factor constraining demand for research and diffusion of agricultural innovations (Arndt & Ruttan,’ p. 8; Brown4 p. 43). Indeed, the decision not to adopt may be the most rational alternative open to a small farmer.5 Sahelian countries have used price controls, government marketing systems and export controls which greatly limit the profitability of basic crops. Often, government marketing systems have not functioned due to the lack of funds or management capability. Farmers can easily be discouraged from adopting an innovation when prices are kept low. (Hertford’s analysis of research in Columbia reveals the importance of pricing for the demand for research and the diffusion of
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AND
INSTITUTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
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new innovations.i3) However, farmers will rapidly adopt new innovations if such innovations are profitable despite the lack of formal communications system and government support. (Thus Sansom’s study” of a simple motor pump in the Upper Delta of Vietnam indicates that even though opposition to the pump came from the government, USAID and the Viet Cong, farmers found it useful and profitable. ‘The motor pump invention provides evidence supporting the market view of development, which stresses the productivity benefits of such technologies. However, the origin of the invention-the subsistence efforts of a farmer attempting to overcome the effect of a drought-indicates that such production benefits may be more likely to arise from strongly motivated subsistence efforts than from marketoriented attempts to increase profits. The argument is stated with caution, and it implies that other considerations relevant to innovation (for example, education) should be more evenly distributed in underdeveloped economics’.) Moreover, the critical long-run effects of price incentives on agricultural production occur through changes in technology at the farm level, in public and private investments related to agriculture, and in institutional structures influencing agricultural output-marketing services, input distribution facilities and extension services (Brown4 p. 43). Farmers respond rapidly to long-run expectations of favourable farm prices by adopting new high yielding varieties, chemical inputs, plant protection, land levelling, reservoir and tube well irrigation, and other output increasing measures. Moreover, the higher returns to agriculture generate more income and savings within the farm sector and the ability to finance additional agricultural investment. In addition to research capacity and market incentives, a viable extension system may facilitate the rapid diffusion of new technology. However, Sahelian countries have extension services with little or no research capacity to support their efforts. The situation translates into frustration: agents are expected to apply agricultural knowledge they have never had the opportunity to learn or practice themselves. Applied agricultural research training for the extension agents will have to wait until new experiment stations have the research and development capacity.
CURRENT
AGRICULTURAL
RESEARCH
AND
EXTENSION:
THE
CASE
OF UPPER
VOLTA
Due to limited research and extension activities in the Sahel countries, information as to the current situation is difficult to obtain. The authors were fortunate enough to have an opportunity to spend time in Upper Volta in the autumn of 1977 talking with research, extension and administrative personnel. While the scope of this report refers specifically to Upper Volta, similar situations may exist in the other Sahelian countries. Currently, agricultural research in Upper Volta is carried out by a number of bilateral and international research organisations.’ 9 At least ten different research
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BUSCH
organisations of varying size and complexity were identified. The fledgling College of Agriculture (Institut Superieur Polytechnique) at the University of Ouagadougou, has inadequate laboratory facilities and no research station. While bilateral and international research organisations cover most of Upper Volta’s major crops, they do not form a research system. Indeed, one of the major problems in doing agricultural research in Upper Volta, as well as other less developed countries (LDC), is a substantial amount of donor rivalry, a result of specific nonagricultural interests which are typically represented by each of the donors. This is particularly true for bilateral donors as opposed to international research organisations. Moreover, rivalry results in unnecessary secretiveness which slows the rate of technological diffusion and innovation. Members of one research organisation related their attempt to see a methane converter that had been constructed by another organisation. When they arrived at the research station, they were denied access as they had not obtained the necessary written authorisation. In addition, it appears that erroneous basic assumptions are frequently made regarding the capital-labour ratio, energy usage and market access. For example, despite the lack of infra-structure, especially transportation and agricultural credit, several bilateral and multinational organisations were at work testing varieties of hybrid seeds utilising high cost technology which were unavailable to even the wealthiest farmers. Even though their research may be of a high quality, it will certainly remain unused for many years to come. Given the overall shortage of research funds, this is quite counter-productive. Equally serious is the fact that there is a lack of a central body of literature on which to build. No scientific journals exist in most Sahel countries including Upper Volta. Moreover, while the Ministry of Agriculture has a research coordination committee, not all research organisations are represented and the annual report of the committee is virtually devoid of scientific information. As a result, a great deal of research is conducted without any analysis of what has already been done in the field or the laboratory. Indeed, it appears that each donor organisation assumes that it is the first and proceeds from there. In addition, there is pressure from the host government for immediately usable research results. Understandably, both donor organisations and governments are quite concerned, though perhaps for different reasons, to see that their research results are quickly disseminated. Consequently, results have often been released before they were fully developed leading to subsequent peasant disenchantment. Moreover, long term research has frequently been avoided in favour of simple, easily diffusible research products. Finally, there are substantial information flow problems in getting the results of the research to potential users. Many research organisations merely issue annual reports in technical jargon and do not attempt to translate reports into terms usable by either extension agents or peasants. Moreover, this blockage of information flow is perpetuated in two ways. First research organisations are separate from extension organisations. Second, researchers, who are frequently foreign expatriates, are generally hired for a period of two to five years. During their tenure they tend to
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AND
INSTITUTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
207
focus on the technical issue at hand and have little time to consider the diffusion of the research product. Indeed, in one case it was reported that a regional extension director wrote to the ministry requesting research to develop higher yielding peanut varieties. Ministry officials responded that such research had taken place several years earlier within that very region. Inquiries revealed that the research report as well as the seed occupied a desk drawer at a nearby research station. In contrast to the fragmented character of research activities, extension efforts are relatively well organised since virtually all extension personnel are government employees in the same ministry. However, extension agents may not have much in the way of appropriate technology to offer farmers due to the country’s weak research capacity. Four categories of extension personnel currently exist. At the most basic level are the Encadreurs who are directly in contact with farmers at the village level. They generally have a primary school certificate and a nine-month course in agriculture. The second and third levels of extension personnel are the Agent Technique Agricole and the Conducteur des Travaux Agricole respectively. The former have generally two years of high school and four years of specialised agricultural training while the latter are high school graduates with three years of training of which one year is in a speciality. Finally, at the highest level in the extension service is the Ingenieur de Developement Rurale. The Ingenieurs have completed a college programme leading to the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree. Extension training is provided at an agricultural high school (Centre Agricole Polyvalent) and at the agricultural college. The agricultural high school, the training centre for middle level extension personnel, has a current enrolment of approximately 240 students. It has a large campus including provisions for irrigated farming during the dry season. Initially established in 1963 by the United Nations Special Fund, it now has a staff of 17 faculty members of whom only one is an expatriate. Teachers tend to lack pedagogical training and have difficulty in relating classroom activities to field work. Nevertheless, it appears that the students receive substantial practical agricultural education. In contrast, the College of Agriculture at the University of Ouagadougou has approximately 120 students and a faculty of 21. However, while the college has sufficient faculty staff for the basic sciences, it has currently only 6 agricultural scientists. Moreover, only one of these, a veterinarian, holds a doctorate degree. In addition, the University completely lacks research plots, textbooks and adequately equipped laboratories. As a result, students take very heavy course loads and must rely entirely on course notes for all that they learn. It is apparent to all concerned that the lack of facilities and supplies makes the current programme ineffective. In short, while extension, education and research facilities do exist, they are rudimentary in character and quite fragmented. They are constrained by both the lack of funds and the incomplete institutional structure that currently exists. If the current situation remains unalleviated, it appears that what little funds are available will have been wasted and the already tenuous position of the peasantry will have deteriorated even further.
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FUTURE
LAWRENCE
BUSCH
PLANS
A recently funded technical assistance programme will provide substantial numbers of trained personnel for both the agricultural high school and agricultural college. This will permit a substantial expansion of the student body at the existing high school and the construction of another. In addition, funds have been procured for the construction of a central research station and three field stations in different ecological zones for use by the college of agriculture.ig Traction equipment as well as textbooks and laboratory supplies will also be provided. Moreover, additional training both within Upper Volta and outside the country for professors and recent graduates will be provided. However, it is unlikely that any of these inputs will have the desired impact unless some of the problems identified above are addressed. Specifically, the following issues must be addressed: 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Classroom instruction and experiment station field work must be coordinated both conceptually and in practice. Moreover, field work should, insofar as possible, approximate the conditions experienced by peasants. If, in contrast, field work is always accompanied by a full complement of western agricultural inputs and equipment, students will learn little that they can disseminate to peasants. Both the agricultural college and high school need to become involved in a research programme. At the college level, this should be tied in with the specific research needs identified by the college faculty. On the other hand, research performed at the agricultural high school should focus on field trials. In this way students will have the opportunity to learn how they might conduct similar trials at the village level. As the college creates its own scientific capacity, it needs to take the lead in the development of agricultural research at the national level. As the only indigenous research organisation, it should be responsible for seeing that not only its research results, but those of other organisations, are properly disseminated. Researchers and policy makers need to be made aware of the tacit social and economic assumptions that frequently underlie their research relative to its utilisation by the agricultural sector. Farmers, extension and college officials need to be in frequent contact so as to insure that research activities reflect farmers’ needs and that they are understood by extension personnel. Without this coordination it will be difficult to set relevant research priorities for the intended recipients, the great majority of small farmers. Ifextension personnel are to be effective, they must receive adequate training at the college or high school level and support for their work in rural areas. In addition, extension personnel should be gathered together periodically
AGRICULTURAL
for short training techniques.
AND
INSTITUTIONAL
programmes
to inform
DEVELOPMENT
209
them of recently developed
In summary, improvements in the Sahelian level of living and agricultural production will require more than improved inputs. A viable system of agricultural education, research, and extension, and its integration into the social and economic infrastructure can make a substantial contribution to the growth of Sahelian agricultural sector. A healthy and prosperous agricultural sector is likely to add to export earnings and reduce imports, provide food and raw materials for the urban sector and make a substantial market for manufactured goods. However, an impoverished agricultural sector, without the support of viable research and extension institutions, cannot make significant contributions to economic development that Sahelian countries need in their recovery from the recent drought and in their plans to build up food supplies in anticipation of future adverse climatic conditions.
REFERENCES
1. ARNDT, T. M., DALRYMPLE, D. G. & RUTTAN, V. W. (Eds.), Resource allocation ofproductivity in national and international agricultural research, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1977. 2. ARNDT, T. M. & RUTTAN, V. W., Resource allocation andproductivity in nationaland international agricultural research, a seminar report, The Agricultural Development Council, Inc., New York, September 1975. 3. ARNOLD, M. H. (Ed.), Agriculturalresearchfor development, Cambridge University Press, London, 1976. 4. BROWN, G. T., Agricultural pricing policies and economic growth, Finance & Development, 14 (December 1977). 42-5. 5. bUSCH, L., Undirstanding understanding: two views of communication. Rural Sociology, 43(j) (1978) vv. __ 450-73. pricepolicy andstorage offoodgrains in the Sahel, Vol. I, University of Michigan 6. CILCS, Marketing, Center for Research on Economic Development, Ann Arbor, 1977, p. 12. 7. COOPER, ST G. C., Agricultural research in tropical Africa, East African Literature Bureau, Nairobi, 1970, pp. 968. 8. EVENSON, R. E. & KISLEV, Y., Agricultural research andproductivity, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1975. 9. FISHEL, W. L. (Ed.), Resource allocation in agricultural research, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1971. 10. GEUS, J. G. DE, Fertilizer guide for the tropics and subtropics, Centre d’Etude de I’Azote, Zurich, 1973, pp. 110-18. 11. GRILICHES, Z., Research costs and social returns: Hybrid corn and related innovations, Journal of Political Economy, 66 (1958) pp. 419-31. 12. GRILICHES, Z., Research expenditures, education and the aggregate agricultural production function, American Economic Review, 54 (December 1974), 961-74. 13. HERTFORV, R., ARDILA, J., ROCHES, A. & TRUJILLI, C.. Productivitv of aaricultural research in Colombia, ADC/RTN Conference on Resource Allocation and P;oduct&ity in National and International Agricultural Research, Airlie House, Virginia, January 2629. 1975. 14. International Food Policy Research Institute, Food needs of develobing cointries: Projections of production and consumption to 1990, Research Report 3, Washington, DC, December 1977. 15. LIPTON, M., Why poor people stay poor: The urban bias in world development, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1976.
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16. NORMAN, D. W., Economic rationality of traditional Hausa dryland farmers in the North of Nigeria. In: Tradition and dynamics in small-farm agriculture economic studies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, Robert D. Stevens (Ed.), The Iowa State University Press, Ames, 1977, p. 89. 17. SANSOM, R. L., The economics of insurgency in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, The M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1971, p. 179. 18. TIMMER, C. P. & FALCON, W. P., The political economy of rice production and trade in Asia. In: Agriculture in development theory, Lloyd G. Reynolds (Ed.), Yale University Press, New Haven, 1975. 19. United States Agency for International Development, Agricultural human resources development (Upper Volta), Unpublished project paper for USAID, Washington, DC, January 18, 1978, p. 207.