The Bias Against Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa: Has It Survived 20 Years of Structural Adjustment Programs?

This paper deals with the question of whether the discrimination against agriculture that prevailed in Sub-Saharan Africa until the early 1980s has continued to characterize the region despite the widespread adoption of structural adjustment programs. The evolution of both direct interventions in agricultural markets and the indirect effects resulting from overvalued exchange rates and import substitution policies is evaluated empirically. It turns out that the taxation of export crops has become less severe but is still significant in most producing countries, and that progress in eliminating macroeconomic distortions has differed enormously between countries, with a slightly positive overall trend.

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