Sahelian West Africa : impact of structural adjustment programs on agricultural competitiveness and regional trade

The rationale behind this argument is that these programs, which have been negotiated individually by the different African countries, serve only to reduce national budget deficits, without considering their impact on the productivity of the agricultural sector. Furthermore, the removal of input subsidies has resulted in a drastic reduction in the demand for chemical fertilizers, to the point where agricultural productivity has substantially declined, thus negatively affecting both the competitiveness of the West African agricultural sector and agricultural trade flows. Focusing on a group of countries that includes Burkina Faso, Cote d"Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea-Conakry, Mali, and Senegal, this study discusses the extent to which SAPs have been implemented, as well as the effects of these programs on production efficiency, costs of production, competitiveness of West African agricultural products, and potential regional flows. The macroeconomic and sectoral measures to counter negative impacts of these programs are also discussed. The study concludes that the potential for West Africa subregional trade is significant, but that policies to upgrade basic infrastructure to increase the efficiency of marketing agricultural products need to be improved substantially.