| Summary: | The purpose of this chapter is to introduce some of the major themes of the book and to discuss their importance to the challenges facing agricultural development and policy analysis in Africa. The chapter starts with a broad overview of the agricultural development policy challenges, noting some of the successes and failures in agricultural development. Section 1.2 provides an overview of past policy trends in agricultural development. In Section 1.3 the importance of complementary technical, infrastructural, and institutional changes in economic development is recognized, with a focus on the role that institutions play in this process. A distinction is drawn between the institutional environment and institutional arrangements and, within the latter, between gift exchange, hierarchies, and markets. Section 1.4 concludes.
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