World Bank, Agriculture, Perspective In an earlier dfn posting I questioned the ability of the World Bank to do
something positive with agriculture in Africa in the future.  I expressed
two reservations:  the bank's experience with agricultural development
activities in Africa has been south of dismal and it has few staff who are
agricultural specialists.  I should have mentioned an even more important
hurdle that faces the Bank.

 

A variety of explanations have been given for the poor performance of
African agriculture: colonial sins, agricultural policies in developed
countries, and donors directing too few funds to the region, especially for
rural development projects.  I'd like to suggest far more important
impediments to previous agricultural performance: Nkrumah, Nassar,
Houphouet-Boigny, Nyerere, Mobutu, Rawlings, Idi Amin, Gaddafi, Bokassa,
Mengistum, Kaunda, Moi, Eyedema, Taylor, Omar al-Bashir, Mugabe, Toure,
Karume, Bokassa, Nguema, Abacha, and a long list of other African generals
and political leaders.  Many African leaders have been inefficient, corrupt,
and/or enforced policies that were highly damaging to agriculture.

 

Donors must work through local governments, even if they are kleptocracies.
Can the World Bank or any other donor do much in agriculture in Africa
before this governance problem in resolved?  Where do you start to work with
a dysfunctional political system such as the one in Zimbabwe? ........jane

