Population pressure, the environment and agricultural intensification : variations on the Boserup hypothesis

MADIA DISCUSSION PAPER 4 FI 8325 WtPE&Q RU UX MEEg UMA LELE STEVEN W. STONE MANAGING ______ AGRicuLTURAL\_____ DEVELOPMENTI_____ IN AFRICA ____ 1  FOREWORD The MADIA study and the papers comprising this MADIA Discussion Paper Series are important both for their content and the process of diagnosis and analysis that was used in the conduct of the study. The MADIA research project has been consultative, nonideological, and based on the collection and analysis of a substantial amount of concrete information on specific topics to draw policy lessons; it represents a unique blend of country-oriented analysis with a cross-country perspective. The conclusions of the studies emphasize the fundamental importance of a sound macroeconomic environment for ensuring the broad-based development of agriculture, and at the same time stress the need for achieving several difficult balances: among macroeconomic, sectoral, and location-specific factors that determine the growth of agricultural output; between the development of food and export crops; and between the immediate impact and long-run development of human and institutional capital. The papers also highlight the complementarity of and the need to maintain a balance between the private and public sectors; and further the need to recognize that both price and nonprice incentives are critical to achieving sustainable growth in output. The findings of the MADIA study presented in the papers were discussed at a symposium of senior African and donor policymakers and analysts funded by USAID in June 1989 at Annapolis, Maryland. The participants recommended that donors and African governments should move expeditiously to implement many of the study's valuable lessons. The symposium also concluded that the process used in carrying out the MADIA study must continue if a stronger, more effective consensus among donors and governments is to be achieved on the ways to proceed in resuming broad-based growth in African agriculture. The World Bank is committed to assisting African countries in developing long-term strategies of agricultural development and in translating the MADIA findings into the Bank's operational programs. Stanley Fischer Edward V K. Jaycox Vice President Development Economics Vice President and Chief Economist Africa Regional Office  MADIA DISCUSSION PAPER 4 POPULATION PRESSURE, THE ENVIRONMENT AND AGRICULTURAL INTENSIFICATION VARIATIONS ON THE BOSERUP HYPOTHESIS UMA LELE STEVEN W. STONE THE WORLD BANK ____ WASHINGTON, D.C. . I 1lU  Copyright