This is a great ‘Kente cloth’ of a book: an ambitious design, with narrative strips woven together to create a composite picture of African smallholder realities based on household surveys done in 2002 and 2008. Many hands have joined in the process, using as their raw material the experiences reported by households growing staple crops (maize, cassava and rice) in 100-plus villages in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, Nigeria, Tanzania and Mozambique. The result is not a clear and consistent pattern of positive change, but, rather, a mixed set of outcomes: ‘smallholders caught in poverty – flickering signs of agricultural dynamism’. Analysis of the 2002 Afrint I survey (published in 2005) had noted declining trends in production and productivity for all major food crops based upon farmers’ historical recall and estimated levels of current production. The 2008 survey took a fresh look at village-level realities, to see where change had occurred, in light of the fact that ‘African governments [had begun] playing a more active role in terms of policy and institutional reforms, in order to achieve food security and even use agriculture to drive economic growth.’ Expectations that upward trends might be seen in the second survey round were not met. Some Afrint II data show promising growth in yields, often due to investments in roads, but reported production increases came largely from area expansion. Perhaps the next ‘Kente cloth’ analysis of African smallholders will be woven in brighter colours, especially if the lessons behind the lagging agricultural dynamism explained in this volume are taken to heart before the Afrint III survey is carried out.