“Advancing African Agriculture”
Policy and knowledge strategies
John A. Okidi
Research Fellow - IFPRI
INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Introduction
 Agric, the economic mainstay of Sub-Saharan Africans
 Faces enormous, especially supply-side, constraints
 Pessimist contend that nothing short of a Green
Revolution kind of intervention is required
 No originally ag-based LDC developed w/o ag dev’mt
 Achieving the MDGs in Africa anchors on ag dev’mt
 EC support is, therefore, targeting the right sector
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Rest of the presentation
 Pose a general question about the EC communication
 Highlight some missing links
 Discuss policy, role of the state & general strategy
 Reconsider the role of the EU
 Outline issues on research & knowledge utilization
 General closing remarks
 Remarks on the partnership role of IFPRI
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The EU assistance package - Question
 After financing
 Formulation of ag development strategy
 Capacity building for good sector governance
 Research, knowledge systems & dissemination
 Systems for quality assurance and improvement
 Strengthening of animal disease control knowledge &
systems
 Organizational strengthening for risk management
 Then what next? How do these translate to real
improvements at the farm level?
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Some of the missing links
 Indeed, the areas are consistent with the EC chosen focus
on policy, regulatory & other enabling conditions
 Further, the level of intervention is regional & continental
 But why these choices?
 Why the presupposition of farmers’ readiness to respond?
 Reality: Most African farmers are severely constrained
 Resources to ward off weather fluctuations, e.g. irrigation
 Finances for improved inputs (seeds, fertilizer, pesticides)
 Finances for other improved ag technologies
 Finances for regular production, harvest, post-harvest and
marketing requirements
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Policy, the state and strategy
 Courageously redefine the role of the state, radically
 Continue promoting regulatory & enabling environments
 Incrementally re-engage in targeted farm subsidies
 Relax the strategy of “restrictive use of subsidies”
 If we can subsidize education & health, why not ag?
 When ag is basically a public sector in the West, why can’t
African gov’ts also act within reasonable limits?
 At Africa’s dev’mt stage, public financing for real sector
response to enabling conditions and opportunities is
critical for broad-based growth
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Role of the EU
 Minimize drawing lessons from EU experience
 Hence, de-emphasize EU-originated technical assistance
 Draw on continental, regional and national lessons from
Africa’s past and present to the greatest extent possible
 Engage Africa-based experts to the fullest extent
 Emphasize budget support rather than project-like micro-
involvement
 Hence, harness greater ownership of the process and
outcome
 Encourage some deviation from current policy stance, e.g.
expansionary fiscal policy, rationally-managed exchange
rate regimes, less obsession with inflation targeting.
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Socioeconomic Research and knowledge
(1)
 So much has been done, oftentimes asking the same
questions that have been asked and answered before
 Most research findings are “pretty much expected”
 Lots of facts and figures, and knowledge exist
 Lots of good policy documents, well-conceived
implementation, and monitoring & evaluation strategies
 Implication
 Review what research components are really necessary
 Focus on baseline stocktaking of current state of affairs &
knowledge, to inform intervention design refinement
 Provide for follow-ups for impact monitoring & evaluation
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Socioeconomic Research and knowledge(2)
 Encourage research that experiment innovative ideas
 Then deploy the services of
• International research organizations
• Continental research organizations
• Regional research organizations
• National research institutes
• Networks of national research institutes
 Minimize disparities in fee rates simply due to geography
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Closing remarks (1)
 Recognizing ag as a sector in its own right is critical; not
a transitory sector. Indeed, the communication recognizes
the sector’s role in growth and poverty reduction
 Remember: Good policies, strong institutions, effective
regulatory framework and enabling environment alone
cannot deliver the MDGs – they do not directly enter the
typical production function
 Note: The broad strategy in the communication, which is
also the dominant strategy in development assistance
sharply contrasts the state-driven, market-mediated and
small-farmer based strategy that underpinned most Asian
countries’ agricultural revolution.
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Closing remarks (2)
 Whatever policy, institutional and knowledge strategies
 IFPRI’s role
 To partner on research and policy analysis
 To design credible and relevant research programs
 To undertake program monitoring and impact evaluation
 To experiment certain aspects of the intervention areas
 To mobilize resources to take forward auxiliary issues
 To partner with you on future programs
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