This short article has two themes: it is prompted first by a feeling that many African countries, in their natural impatience for maximum economic development in the shortest possible time, are in some danger of getting their strategy and priorities not quite right in regard to the rural—urban, agricultural—industrial balance. More specifically, a plea is made for greater attention being given to traditional food farming (for subsistence or cash), which has been somewhat neglected in research, in spite of the fact that it must inevitably continue for a long time to support increasing numbers.

The year 1966 was the first for which Tunisia prepared an annual economic plan, as it has done every year since then. These plans are published, usually in April for the year concerned, the latest available at the time of writing being Rapport sur le budget économique de l'année 1970 (Tunis, 1970). Such documents are in the nature of forecasts, and experience has taught that plans are not automatically achieved. But the full report on implementation does not appear until two years later; for example, Rapport d'execution du plan pour l'année 1968 (Tunis, 1970). Meanwhile, in order to know whether in reality things are moving as foreseen in the annual plan, monthly data have been collected since 1968 concerning a number of important economic indicators, including government capital expenditure, drawings on foreign project loans, levels of domestic production, imports, exports, and the finance received by private enterprise from banks and government subsidies.

The two most striking features of the 13th annual meeting of the African Studies Association were what did and what did not happen. Unlike the 1969 meeting at Montreal there was no disruption of academic discussion or general meetings, and no threat of violence, racial or otherwise – see Africa Report, December 1969. What was evident at Boston was a thoughtful and constructive effort to find through discussion a common meeting ground.