Introduction; the Central American agro-export economy - issues and debates, E.V.K. FitzGerald; perspectives of Central America's agro-exporting economy, Edelberto Torres-Rivas; international markets and perspectives for Central American traditional exports - coffee, cotton and bananas, Massimo Micarelli; selected problems of the EEC-Market for Central American coffee, Elmar Meister; export agriculture and crisis in Central America labour market problems in Nicaragua, Jan P. de Groot and Harrie Clemens; a comparative study of the Salvadorean and Nicaraguan cotton sectors, Frans Thielen; developments of the coffee and cotton sectors of El Salvador and perspectives for agrarian policy in the 1980s, Wim Pelupessy; agro-export sectors and economic recovery, Wim Pelupessy.