Poverty in sub-Saharan Africa is predominantly a rural and agricultural phenomenon. The large majority of all poor are farmers and herders, therefore as long as the poor remain smallholders, alleviation of poverty remains an agricultural task. African Smallholders documents the farm-level effects of agricultural policies, focusing on a variety of themes including micro-credit, infrastructure, cash crop production and food security. To deepen our understanding of agricultural development it discusses staple food production in sub-Saharan Africa and its response to changing geo-political, macro-economic and agricultural policy. It is a useful resource for all those researching or involved with food security, agricultural and rural development in sub-Saharan Africa.

This book questions many key assumptions about the efficacy of NGOs and civil society in development. It provides suggestions on how to improve NGO performance and how NGOs can better link with local African initiatives and agendas. Beginning in the 1980s, sub-Saharan Africa witnessed a veritable explosion of NGOs and CSOs engaged in efforts to develop the subcontinent. Often praised for their commitment, flexibility, close contact with grassroots movements and marginalized groups, these organizations have become the darlings of donors and the UN system. During the same period, however, rural Africa has sunk deeper into poverty. The massive NGO engagement appears not to have made any meaningful progress. ""Snakes in Paradise"" breaks through the generalizations and neat theories to discover why these efforts have failed. Focusing especially on those local NGOs that are frequently overlooked by studies that cover the major international players, Holmen uncovers a NGO landscape that is considerably more ambiguous than the popular development literature would have people believe.

Why can Asia now feed its rapidly growing population, but Africa continues to experience famine? This book is the outcome of a three-year project coordinated by a group of Swedish researchers with collaborating scholars from Africa and Asia. It provides a comparative study between Asian agricultural development during the Green Revolution in food production and the current problematic agricultural situation in sub-Saharan Africa. Based on case studies of eight African and eight Asian countries (focusing on the early part of the Green Revolution), this book presents a causal and explanatory model of Asian green revolutions. It discusses why such progress has been made in Asia, but has not yet occurred in Africa. It also examines the implications of the case studies for future development in Africa.