Ideally, long-term development policies should be able to discriminate between those who are potentially viable in the sector and those who are not, creating improved competitive conditions for the former and facilitating adjustment via diversification or exit for the latter. Generalised agricultural policies, such as price support or sector-wide input subsidies, cannot do this. Indeed they run the risk of impeding structural adjustment. Smallholder adjustment here is understood to be the optimal path to higher long-term income, be that improved competitiveness within the sector, income diversification (from agricultural or non-agricultural sources), or exit to other sectors.