Incentive Policies and Agricultural Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa

This essay examines the experience of sub-Saharan Africa with economic incentives in general, and agricultural incentives in particular, and analyzes the effects of these incentives on economic performance. Section I of the essay reports on the findings of an econometric investigation on the responsiveness of exports to incentives. Section II reviews changes in the export market shares of sub-Saharan African countries pursuing different development strategies. Section III examines changes in export market shares for four sub-Saharan African countries, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana, and the Ivory Coast. Sections IV and V provide a comparative analysis of agricultural policies and performance for two pairs of these countries: Tanzania and Kenya (Section IV) and Ghana and the Ivory Coast (Section V).