Aid To African Agriculture

The findings of a comparative study of African aid programs in Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tanzania. The study Managing Agricultural Development in Africa (MADIA) was carried out between 1984 and 1988 by the World Bank and donor agencies from seven countries.

This book analyses the diffusion and implementation of Aid Effectiveness Principles in Kenya’s agricultural sector. Although Aid Effectiveness Principles represent a significant step in aid and development discourse, studies on its implementation remain inadequate, especially in the African context. This book combines the perspectives of the Kenyan government, donor representatives and small-scale farmers. The discussion on Kenya brings in comparative perspectives and, therefore, would have broader relevance to the African region, in general. It highlights a disconnect between the government and farmers concerning the ownership concept, where farmers lack a voice in important policy matters. The book shows that donors have exploited the weaknesses in government responses to interpret The Principles in ways that suit their strategic interests. Consequently, the book argues that the diffusion of Aid Effectiveness Principles has taken the form of symbolic imitation – a form of policy diffusion where the policymakers choose policies for their symbolic value rather than their effectiveness.

This study investigates the impact of foreign agricultural aid on agricultural GDP and productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). I rely on secondary data regarding foreign agricultural aid, agricultural GDP, and productivity indicators from 47 SSA countries spanning 2002-2010 and employ a Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) framework.