African Association of Agricultural Economists. Shaping the Future of African
Agriculture for Development: The Role of Social Scientists. Proceedings of the Inaugural
Symposium, 6 to 8 December 2004, Grand Regency Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya
Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics for Eastern, Central and
Southern Africa
Bernard Bashaasha
Department of Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness, Makerere University
P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda, E-mail: aspsmuk@infocom.co.ug
Program Genesis:
Since the 1970s, African economies have under-performed and incomes have declined. Similarly, the
agricultural sectors have malfunctioned and agricultural production shrunk despite over two-thirds of the
population being dependent on agriculture for survival subjecting them to food insecurity, reduced
incomes, massive poverty, unemployment and unsustainable resource utilisation. The decline in
agricultural performance was brought about by numerous factors, including markets dynamics that tended
to protect the agricultural products of developed nations at the expense of developing economies; persistent
institutional weakness and market failures in Africa; poor linkage of policy results to policy making and
implementation; poor understanding of environmental impact assessment and management skills for
sustainable agricultural development; poor understanding of smallholder agriculture; and inadequate
appreciation or understanding of the role of Science, Technology and Information in promoting rapid
agricultural and rural development as well as overall economic growth and development. In response to the
above situation and the realisation of the changing trends in markets, there arose the need to re-examine
ways and means of managing and promoting agricultural development, which forms the backbone of many
African economies. It was visualised that one way of tackling the problem was through enhancing capacity
for policy analysis in agriculture in order to allow effective generation