Structural Adjustment Program and Agricultural Tradables

The IMF/World bank Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP) have been the subject of intense academic debate since their wide adoption, particularly in Sub-Saharan African countries. The present study analyses the effects of the SAP on tradable agriculture in Nigeria using the example of cocoa farming. Based on the dependent economy framework, the study examines how far economic prerequisites required for the successful structural transformations were met in the Nigerian case. Questions relating to the magnitude and length of real devaluation were empirically investigated. Furthermore, the quantum of changes in relative incentives between agricultural tradables and non tradables were analysed using the policy analysis matrix. The study also examined the factors that constrain the achievement of intended policy objectives. These include among others, dualistic institutional regulations and the effects of multiple exchange rates. Based on the findings, policy reforms were then suggested.

Autorentext

The Author: Victor Alaofin was born in 1968 at Ponyan, Nigeria. He studied Agricultural Economics at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, earning a Bachelors in 1989 and a Masters in 1991 from the same institution. The author has experience in food manufacturing and management consulting in Nigeria. In 1995 he was awarded a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship for doctoral research work in Agricultural Economics with specialisation in Policy Analysis and Market Studies. He received his doctorate degree in the above subject in 1999 from the University of Kiel, Germany.

Inhalt

Contents: Structural Adjustment Reforms - Real Exchange Rates - Cocoa Farming - Government Intervention in Agriculture - Implicit Taxation - Producer Incentives - Dependent Economy Model.