Urban bias constitutes an important institutional impediment to economic development in poor countries. Some African governments now recognize that they should invest in agricultural productivity in order to reverse urban bias, but often forget the equally important objective of investing in...

Breeders face the challenging task of tailoring crop varieties to complex consumer preferences shaped through culture and history. The Casamance rice sector in Senegal is an interesting case; while the region is endowed with a 3,000-year-old cultural heritage of African rice domestication, it has...