This book consists of five chapters that focus on recent agricultural policy. Chapter one argues that adaptation and households' responses to changes in the environment are complicated by the fact that human actions do not occur in a social vacuum and are often mediated by a variety of historical and social factors, which are socially embedded. Chapter two explores the significance of wage employment to rural livelihoods and how the enduring formal unemployment crisis, witnessed since the 1990s, has affected peasant agriculture. Based on an application of Mancur Olson's collective action approach, chapter three draws attention to the role of Northern development NGOs in advancing agricultural protectionism. Using Malawi as a case study, chapter four contributes to the contemporary debates on the youth employment challenge, particularly those centered on the potential role of agriculture in solving youth unemployment, accelerating economic growth, and accelerating intra-continental trade. Chapter five provides a brief scrutiny of major issues in agricultural policy analysis aiming at contributing to informed policy debate in this subject area.
