Food trade and urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa: from the Early Stone Age to the Structural Adjustment Era

This paper analyses a selection of the literature that has been published on the relationship between the development of food trade and urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa. The evolution of food marketing systems and the urbanization process are described in three phases: the precolonial period, the colonial period, and the postindependence period. The paper concludes that the evolution of food trade and urbanization have been closely interlinked from the beginning. Sometimes urbanization was the cause and food trade the consequence, at other times both were the consequence of external factors such as intercontinental trade and colonial policies. The evolution of marketing channels and the location of market places have been determined not only by population developments, but also by existing agroecological and ethnic boundaries, emerging national entities, changing government policies, and local social values

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