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try to increase their staple food production there will not be much demand for it in urban areas, so
that there is not much incentive for farmers to increase their traditional staple food. This is the main
reason why Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole has basically been able to keep self-sufficiency in the
traditional staple foods while high percentages of rice and wheat have been imported mainly for
urban population (Table 2).
There is not much room for increasing wheat production in Sub-Saharan Africa. However,
situation is different in the case of rice. West Africa has a long history and experiences in rice
production and there remains a lot of unutilized swamped land there. There is a good prospect to
increase rice production in West Africa for commercial sales to urban areas (Sakurai, 2006).

Summary and Conclusions
In recent years India is experiencing a rapid economic growth, especially after the 1990s when
it started to liberalize its economy in a full scale. However, the author emphasizes the critical
importance of the preceded 1980s when Indian agricultural sector registered a high growth rate. The
Green Revolution in India started in the late 1960s and with its success India attained food
self-sufficiency within a decade. However, this first wave of the Green Revolution was largely
confined in wheat crop and in northern India, resulting in a limited contribution to overall economic
development of the country. On the contrary, the agricultural growth in the 1980s involved almost all
the crops including rice and covered the whole country, it enabled to raise rural income and alleviate
rural poverty substantially. Such a rise of rural India as a market for non-agricultural products and
services was an important pre-requisite for the rapid economic growth based on non-agricultural
sectors‟ development in India after the 1990s. The 1980s was a critical decade for South Asia and
Sub-Saharan Africa to make a great divergence in the economic development thereafter. The
implication for Sub-Saharan Africa is that raising income in rural areas through productivity growth
of agricultural sector, especially the staple food sector, is essential for the success of economic
development through industrialization.
However, the actual situations which Sub-Saharan Africa faces at present are much more
challenging, if various disadvantages are taken into consideration. Disadvantages of contemporary
Sub-Saharan Africa include; diversified staple food in which rice and wheat has only a minor share,
scarcity of irrigated land, labor shortage in rural areas, difference in staple food between rural and
urban areas and so on.
The Green Revolution which India and other Asian countries experienced in the past is much
needed in Sub-Saharan Africa now for the long term economic development. It is forecasted,
however, that imports of rice and wheat will continue to be increased, especially in urban areas.