Beyond state-supported schemes, policy distortions against agriculture, especially for export, and scant public investment in rural areas reduced private investors’ incentives so that most area expansion was by smallholders. Policy reforms of the 1990s allowed agricultural growth to accelerate and paved the way for renewed investor interest in the continent. Still, structural issues arising from long-standing neglect of technology, infrastructure, and institutions continued to contribute to disappointing performance of commercial cultivation of bulk commodities, where, in light of its land endowment, Africa should have a comparative advantage (World Bank 2009a). Past success with commercial agriculture was limited to traditional.
