Scale Needed in Africa The Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a research group funded by governments, international organizations and development groups, notes the limits of rural advancement in Africa. Most development organizations advocate a focus on improving subsistence agriculture, but experts at a conference hosted by ODI’s Chronic Poverty Advisory Network argued that “opportunities for sustained employment in the agriculture sector in rural African regions are in decline.” The data shows that sustained recovery from poverty is happening in Africa’s cities, whereas the focus on agriculture has become less effective. The understandable rationale is that non-poor farms must be larger so that the input-to-out...

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