Management of the Agricultural Economy in Sub-Saharan Africa After Structural Adjustment Programme

African economies, after having achieved a high rate of growth during the 1960s and early 1970s, started to decelerate in the 1980s and the 1990s. The major engine of growth for African countries during the decade of high growth was their exports of primary commodities to the developed market economies. The steady downward trend in African economies since the early 1970s constituted a source of major concern for many policy makers both at the national and international levels. Consequently, since the early 1980s many African countries have embarked on adjustment programmes, supported in most cases by Bretton Woods institutions to ameliorate the poor performance of their economies. Overall, the African experience does not seem to have conformed to the classical model of balance of payments adjustment mechanism. Especially, the unresponsiveness of agricultural export growth to exchange rate adjustment. In the light of the above it is proposed that structural adjustment policies in Africa should in addition to focusing on macro-economic stability be implemented in the context of recovery and growth. The vast agricultural resource base of many African countries points to the significant potential role of agriculture and its inter-relationship with overall growth. Hence it is proposed that more emphasis should be placed on the accelerated development of the agricultural sector in sub-Saharan Africa.