摘要：During the last 30 years, thephysical, cultural, and socioeconomic environmentin which cropping is carried out has changed inmuch of Africa. Population densities andFINDINGS: The authors (1) identify numerouspopulation growth rates have increased; arablesituations where poor data lead to incorrectland per capita, soil quality, and tree cover haveestimates of African land and labor productivitydeclined; input and credit markets have changed;and (2) argue that better coordination of macroand the relative importance of non-farm income(country-level), meso (district- and zone-level),has risen. African governments and donors haveand micro (farm-level) data collection, reporting,devoted much time, effort, and money to identifyand analysis can lower costs and improve theconstraints, to develop new technologies, and toability to monitor trends and to quantify deter-change the policy environment so that farmers canminants of agricultural productivity. Seven keybetter cope with their evolving environment, thuspoints are made in the discussion:raising farm output and productivity. As govern-ments implement new agricultural policies andprograms, it is imperative that they accuratelymonitor their effect on productivity. Poor agri-cultural data and inappropriate analyses can leadto misallocation of scarce resources and policyformulation that fails to resolve critical develop-ment and productivity problems.
