A country-specific economic structural adjustment programme model for the acgricultural sector: a case study of Zimbabwe

Traditionally, agriculture has been one of the mainstays of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) economies and plays a pivotal and vital role in economic activity and development (Westlake, 1994). Africa has been a net importer of foodstuffs over the last thirty years (Smith, 1999). This led the donor community to spotlight the agricultural sector as an area where reforms were badly needed. Since the 1970s the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) have driven Economic Structural Adjustment Programmes (ESAP) in SSA with varying degrees of success (FAO, 1988). Zimbabwe's independence, in 1980, coincided with the start of the first decade of structural adjustment in SSA.