加快西非农业生产力增长的新成果

Emerging Successes in AcceleratingAgricultural Productivity Growthin West AfricaPublic Disclosure Authorized Andrew DabalenKeith FuglieAparajita Goyal Africa RegionOffice of the Chief EconomistFebruary 2026 Policy Research Working Paper11323 Abstract This paper examines agriculture growth performance in 20countries in West and Central Africa over 2001–23. Mostcountries in the region continued to depend on land expan-sion to raise agricultural output. However, two countries inWest Africa, Ghana and Senegal, stand apart. Over thesetwo decades, Ghana and Senegal achieved rapid improve-ments in yields for a wide range of crops and agro-ecologicalzones. Agricultural labor productivity and total factor pro-ductivity also grew at rates comparable to those of the rest of the world. The paper investigates policy choices that mayhave contributed to accelerating and sustaining produc-tivity growth. Compared to other countries in the region,Ghana and Senegal deepened rural infrastructure, investedsignificantly more in agricultural research, extension, anddevelopment, and expanded access to financial services.These factors helped achieve wider adoption of improvedinputs and technologies and stimulate new economic activ-ity along commodity value chains. The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about developmentissues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry thenames of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely thoseof the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank andits affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. Emerging Successes in Accelerating Agricultural Productivity Growthin West Africa Andrew Dabalen, Keith Fuglie, Aparajita Goyal∗ Keywords:agricultural productivity, crop yield, total factor productivity, input intensification,agri-food system, value chains, Sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana, Senegal JEL Codes:O13, Q12, Q13, Q16, Q18 1. Introduction Most growth in agricultural output in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) continues to rely on areaexpansion. This is in sharp contrast with other regions of the world that have transitioned fromresource dependence to productivity-led agricultural growth.Adoption of modern agriculturalpractices in SSA has been slow and yield gaps with the rest of the world have widened. Reasonsfor Africa’s weak agricultural development have been attributed to both geography and policy.Geographic factors -- weathered tropical soils, high risk of drought, and land-locked borders, haveconstrained the adoption of improved farming technology and development of agri-food marketsand value chains (Collier & Gunning, 1999; Binswanger and Townsend, 2000; Pingali, 2012).Policy choices have also played a role. Macroeconomic and market policies have at timesadversely affected agricultural terms of trade (Anderson and Masters, 2007) while low levels ofinvestments in rural public goods, including research and extension, transportation networks,irrigation and water management have limited the options to improve agricultural productivity(Fuglie et al., 2019; Jayne & Sanchez, 2021). When measured in terms of growth in value-added output, agriculture grew by an average of 3.7%per annum (p.a.) in SSA and 4.2% p.a. in West and Central Africa (AFW)1over 2001-2023. Whilethese growth rates have at least kept up with population growth, they have not been sufficient toproduce sustained economic development. Suri & Udry (2022) note that the shares of agriculturein total employment and GDP have remained relatively high in SSA over the past 50 years,reflecting low per capita income and an absence of structural transformation. The slow growth orstagnation of agricultural productivity in the SSA region revealed by macro statistics appears to beconsistent with micro evidence as well. Using household surveys conducted over 2008-2019 in sixAfrican countries, Wollburg et al. (2024) find little evidence of yield growth in crops. Moreover,the great majority of agricultural growth in the region has come from expanding land undercultivation and not by raising productivity. This is not a sustainable growth path for land-scarcecountries, and even for land abundant countries, comes at a significant environmental cost asforests and natural grasslands are lost. This paper examines the evidence on agricultural output and productivity growth in Africa,focusing on 20 countries in AFW over the past two decades (i.e., from 2001 to 2023). Even if theregion, on average, has not experienced much productivity improvement, that does not rule out thepossibility that some countries may have achieved sustained, productivity-led agricu