This paper looks at the challenges of using agricultural statistics as an evidence base for agricultural policy making in Africa. ‘Success stories’ in African agriculture, such as the Africa Rice Centre’s New Rice for Africa (NERICA), which are based on such ‘evidence’, are critically considered.
In response, the need for a more open and inclusive understanding of what ‘evidence’ is is identified, an idea that inevitably and necessarily brings more people (and their evidence bases) into the policy process.
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