Africa: African agriculture and the World Bank

Smallholder agriculture is the dominant occupation in many sub-Saharan African nations. The influence of World Bank policies on this sector is well-doucmented, particularly with reference to Structural Adjustment policies of the 1980s and 90s. Despite wide-spread criticism of the World Bank's agriculture policy prescriptions, its major annual publication, the World Development Report (WDR), remains largely focussed on this economic sector. This paper offers a critical reflection of the WDR’s portrayal of world agriculture with respect to Africa.