Change in African farming systems between the mid‐1970s and the mid‐1980s

Conventional wisdom holds that Africa has been undergoing an agrarian crisis, marked by falling food production per capita and rising imports of cereals, as seen in national statistics. This paper tries to test whether African farmers have indeed experienced the setbacks suggested, by looking at village‐level studies of change in fanning systems between the mid‐1970s and the mid‐1980s. Fourteen studies from six countries were examined. Contrary to the above thesis, there was little evidence of decline, and much of increased production per head, albeit by modest margins. If the studies are representative, then talk of crisis is exaggerated, the national statistics probably seriously underestimate farm output and unspectacular policy may suffice to support African farmers to produce and market more.