The food and agricultural situation in Africa

Africa is a considerable net exporter of agricultural products and in 1963 the volume of its gross imports amounted only .to about a quarter of its gross exports. Since 1957 the continent's net exports have been subjected to a constant and fairly rapid increase. In 1963 the rise in net was smaller than in earlier years as gross exports increased only a little However, contrary to the past trend, the growth rate of net exports in 1963 was much higher than that of gross exports because of the reduction in agricultural imports.