By Andrew Dorward, Jonathan Kydd and Colin Poulton

This article argues for a fresh approach to agricultural policy in Africa, to exploit the strengths of both stateled and market-led development approaches pursued over the last 50 years, while avoiding their respective weaknesses and addressing the particular challenges and opportunities facing agricultural development in the early twenty-first century. Following a brief review of agricultural development policy, we describe the coordination problems in agricultural development and suggest an inclusive policy goal of “developmental coordination”.