Smallholder agricultural mechanization in Africa

Abstract

In the past decade, agricultural mechanization has returned to Africa’s development agenda, which has led to a variety of state and market-led initiatives to promote mechanization. Overwhelming evidence suggests that past mechanization strategies often failed because institutional aspects were neglected. To avoid these pitfalls in current and future efforts, this policy brief analyses which governance challenges must be addressed to make mechanization economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.