Aid Under Pressure: Support for Development Assistance in a Global Economic Downturn - International Development Committee Contents


Written evidence submitted by the UK Forum on Agricultural Research for Development (UKFARD)

  1.  The UK Forum on Agricultural Research for Development (UKFARD) is making this brief submission to the International Development Committee's inquiry, because of its serious concerns that the UK Government faced with major domestic financial challenges may seek to review and reduce support for some of its development assistance programmes. Past experience in the UK and in many of the countries receiving "untied" Budgetary Support from this country indicates that support for the agriculture sector is often the first target for cutting when there is any pressure on development assistance programmes. Yet, there is universal recognition of the overriding importance of agriculture/rural development if hunger and poverty are to be eliminated throughout the developing world. Recent high-level examples of this, including some triggered by the global food crisis, are given below.

  2.  The World Development Report 2008 stated that promoting agriculture is imperative for meeting Millennium Development Goal 1 (MDG 1) of halving poverty and hunger by 2015 and although rural people in many countries of the South, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, have been diversifying their livelihoods to include a range of non-farm activities, agriculture remains the most important livelihood activity for most rural, and many peri-urban, families. Agriculture is defined here as including crops, livestock, forestry, fisheries and, more broadly, all aspects of natural resource management. The livelihoods of 75% of the world's poor will continue to depend on agriculture for the foreseeable future. At the same time, rising food prices are likely to make problems of hunger and poverty worse for urban and rural poor. Subsistence production represents a vital safety net for many poor people as it provides some degree of food security and affirms community-held agrarian values. However, if the MDGs are to be met and poor people are to climb out of poverty, small-scale commercialised agriculture is one of the few ways for bottom-up economic growth and a way out of poverty to a better life.

  3.  Research that produces innovation in agriculture is therefore more important than ever for reducing poverty. Agricultural development, however, is a multi-dimensional, complex and above all, long term issue. Between the late 1980s and the early years of the new millennium, international investment in agricultural research for development fell dramatically particularly in Sub Saharan Africa and this was mirrored by overall reductions in agricultural production. In part, the thinking was that this did not matter because there was a surplus of food in the world, but this has now changed with predicted global food shortages such that national and regional food security is now firmly back on the agenda both in the developing and developed world.

  4.  This, together with rises in international food prices and the financial crises of recent months, mean that major players in the development sector such as World Bank and DFID now acknowledge that it was a mistake to ignore agriculture and that poor developing countries particularly in Sub Saharan Africa need to make massive efforts to increase agriculture and food production. Indeed the World Community as a whole is now recognising this. For example, in January 2009 a high-level meeting on "food security for all" was held in Madrid, convened by the Government of Spain and the UN. This brought together a broad range of stakeholders from more than 126 countries. They came from national governments, civil society, trade unions, private sector, academia, donor agencies and multilateral organizations and the purpose was to accelerate progress in meeting MDG 1, namely, to half the global level of hunger and poverty, and address the effects of price fluctuations on vulnerable populations.

  5.  To achieve this, many inputs are required ranging from new agricultural technologies to extension services and micro credit, and from rural feeder roads to local market development and international trade. Also, there will be a need to address emerging issues related to agriculture and natural resource management to mitigate the effects of climate change. There is, however, an additional vital and often overlooked input required in order to underpin more effective agriculture and food production in Sub Saharan Africa and that is appropriate levels of trained people. Most agricultural research, extension and educational establishments in Africa have been starved of funds over the last quarter of a century as African countries have followed the lead of international institutions and cut back on investment in agriculture. This all needs sustained and long term investment and now that the international community is once again recognising (and investing in) agriculture it is vital that this is maintained as a long term investment and not knocked off track by the financial crisis.

  6.  UKFARD therefore urges the IDC to strongly recommend that DFID maintains its full support for development assistance in the agriculture sector, given that sector's vital importance in addressing hunger and poverty, and its total interdependence with other sectors, including health, water, energy, education, and the overarching issue of climate change.





 
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