Stronger agricultural growth is needed to reduce poverty in Africa, yet the region continues to fall behind. During the past three decades, many traditional African export crops have lost their competitive advantage in international markets, and many food crops consumed in Africa have faced increased competition from imports. In contrast to Africa's experience, during the same period farmers in two remote and formerly unpromising agricultural regions elsewhere in the developing world Brazil's Cerrado and the Northeast Region of Thailand conquered important world markets, defying the...