Chapter 2. A historical comparative analysis of commodity development models in West Africa 45
- Introduction and motivation
1.1 General context and scene setting
After gaining their independence, West African countries have continued to rely on the same
“traditional” export crops (cotton, coffee, and cocoa) that dominated during the colonial
administrations. Following the structural adjustment programmes in the 1980s, the state’s
interventionist policies in the management of key export sectors were gradually receding, giving way
to liberalization and privatization. This development coincided with the emergence of global food
value chains driven by agrobusinesses and food retailers in high- income countries. For some West
African countries, new opportunities opened up for producing and exporting non-traditional high-
value food products (horticulture, floriculture). However, despite the positive impact on participating
farmers and local employment benefits, these high-value export value chains have had minimal
aggregate impact on the agricultural sector as a whole and could not compensate for the negative
impact from the collapse of the traditional export markets.
Another key factor accounting for the deterioration of the export position of West African countries
was the continued erosion of competitiveness vis-à-vis other emerging suppliers in the developing
world, in both traditional and non-traditional food commodities. For West Africa, the combination
of weak levels of agricultural investments, restricted market access in Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) markets, and timid engagement by the private sector follow-
ing the state retreat all contributed to a significant erosion of agriculture performance in the region.
The food-deficit situation continued to worsen as populations increased and rapid urbanization
continued apace, resulting in ever-growing rural poverty, precarious food security and increasing
dependency on food imports (Rakotoarisoa et al., 2011).
For a few years after the conclusion of the Uruguay round in Marrakesh, there was growing recogni-
tion among developing countries, especially the poorest ones, that the new World Trade Organization
(WTO) agreement failed to live up to its promise and that developed countries had not liberalized
agricultural subsidies and labour-intensive industries (textile quotas) as promised. When trade minis-
ters met in Seattle in 1999 to launch a new round, they were met with huge and violent protests
that succeeded in derailing the ministerial meeting (Table 1). The protesters did manage to get their
message across – that the world was failing in its battle against poverty. Apart from China, the condi-
tion of world poverty had barely improved and was particularly devastating for sub-Saharan Africa,
which saw the number of people in absolute poverty nearly double, from 164 million to over 316
million from 1981 to 2001 (World Bank, 2004, see Figure 1).