Douglas Ncube

A Country-specific Imf/wb Sap Model for the Agricultural Sector: a Case Study of the Impact of Esap on Zimbabwe's Agricultural Production and Marketing Strategies Douglas Ncube

Since 1980 an increasing number of Sub Sahara African (SSA) countries had adopted stabilizatioin and structural adjustment programmes with the support of the IMF and WB. But overtime increasing concerns started to be expressed, not only with the respect to the relevance of these programmes to SSA's long term development objectives but also with respect to their social, economic and financial impact. Although the adjustment programmes aim at restoring growth, generally through the achievement of fiscal and external balances and the free play of market forces, these objectives cannot be achieved without addressing the fundamental structural bottlenecks of SSA economies. Three scenarios have emerged (a) the SSA governments were not diligent and committed enough to make structural adjustment programmes worthwhile (b) the standard IMF/WB model was not appropriate and (c) if (a) and (b) were not addressed and rectified SSA will soon have an increase in poverty and tremendous food shortages.