Conclusion: Toward the Transformation of Agriculture in East Africa

Abstract

The eleven case study chapters are used to evaluate the three main hypotheses of the book which are related to the importance of markets, technological innovations, and soil fertility. We find that markets for fertilizer and some agricultural products are functioning well and that farmers are responding to changes in the markets by changing crop choice, input use, and agricultural technologies. We also find that there are ample examples of technological innovations that are productive and profitable on farms and suitable for wider scaling up in the region. In order to realize this potential, however, improving soil fertility is found to be a prerequisite. There are examples in East Africa where these three critical factors have been realized and have led to measureable success, especially in the intensive dairy-cropping systems. The policy implications for expanding these successes in Africa are stated at the end of the chapter.