The falling share of agricultural exports is likely due to a combination of much higher oil and other mineral prices in excess of rising agricultural prices. This is even more pronounced for petroleum exporting countries in Africa -compared to petroleum exporters in other regions of the world - but holds for all of SSA, including South Africa. Despite the importance ostensibly accorded to agriculture for African development in the Berg Report, the period since the 1980s has also seen a general neglect of agriculture and food security. Public spending for infrastructure, agricultural research and development, extension services and agricultural subsidies declined while official support and encouragement was limited to export-oriented agriculture. The agricultural sector had indeed performed relatively poorly in the 1960s and 1970s, and was seen to be in crisis. The Berg Report blamed excessive government interventions for the stagnation, and advocated for the removal of subsidies, price and import liberalization.