抄録
There are currently two prevailing approaches to explaining the stagnation of African agriculture over the last two decades. One emphasizes external factors which have contributed to the distortion of African agriculture. Colonization by the European powers and the current unequal international division of labour are listed among the determinant causes. The other approach focuses on the state's relationship with the peasants, over whom it is attempting to exercise political and economic control.
This approach claims that the main cause of Africa's agricultural stagnation is the disfunction of the state's agricultural policies. This article, by analyzing the case of Senegal in the, post-colonial era, attempts to detail the successive agricultural policies initiated by the Senegalese government, and their failure to reach the rural areas. The New Agriculture Policy of 1984 was yet another attempt to gain the confidence of the peasants, who had grown tired of ambitious government slogans.
