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Africa is the only region in the world where poverty and hunger are on the increase. About 49 percent of the people in Africa lived below poverty in 2000, an increase from 47.7 percent in 1990 (Resnick, 2004). On current projections, Africa will be the only continent that is unlikely to meet the international community’s targets to reduce poverty, hunger and disease- the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. The World Bank (2004) estimated that, on current trends, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) will meet the MDGs in 2147, more than a century off target. Resnick (2004) notes that meeting the MDG targets requires growth rates of 7 percent per annum, but only 10 African countries have achieved a growth rate of at least 5 percent per annum. GDP growth averages about 3 percent per year and the population has continued to grow at 2.7 percent per year. It is estimated that about a third of the African population is undernourished, representing about double the number of undernourished in the late 1960s (FAO, 2005). Agriculture is by far the single most important economic activity in SSA and it remains key to achieving the poverty targets of the MDGs in Africa. Several studies have emphasized the importance of the agriculture sector in SSA (NEPAD, 2003; Haggblade e