Letter from the British Prime Minister to the
Japanese Prime Minister, 10 April 2008[10]
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In the past few years, investment in agriculture
for development has featured high on the donor agenda. In the
run up to the 2008 World Development Report and at the newly established
International Donor Platform for Rural Development, there has
been a lot of discussion on the need to increase the quality and
quantity of support to agriculture, especially in low income,
agriculture-dependent countries. Recent hikes in the international
prices of staple foods have also led to new rhetorical commitments
to support smallholder agriculture as a means to reduce the vulnerability
of low income food deficit countries to volatile international
prices. Yet, so far very few donors or governments have committed
new money or shown tangible support for smallholder farmers. In
the case of DFID, support to rural livelihoods as a proportion
of its total bilateral programme in Africa reduced from 5.33%
in 2004-05 to 3.17% in 2006-07.[11]
We believe that DFID needs to increase its support
to smallholder farmers and increase the effectiveness of that
support. It can do this by:
(i) placing hunger reduction and improving rural
livelihoods at the heart of its approach to agriculture;
(ii) ensuring that DFID country teams implement
DFID's agricultural policy and prioritise agriculture;
(iii) developing a comprehensive strategy on
agriculture that focuses on long-term, sustainable production;
and
(iv) ensuring that the research it supports is
focused on, and involves, poor farmers.
INTRODUCTION
1. Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, FARM-Africa,
Harvest Help and Send A Cow all work with smallholder farmers
and livestock keepers in a number of African countries. We know
from experience that the challenges in supporting smallholder
farmers can be overcome and that approaches which are effective
in enabling more productive, sustainable livelihoods can be developed.
But poor farmers often receive little support from governments
and donors and concerted action, including by DFID, is required.
FACTUAL INFORMATION
International developments
2. There is widespread recognition that
increased support to smallholder farmers in Africa is essential
if poverty and hunger are to be reduced. In his Foreword to the
World Development Report 2008, Agriculture for Development, the
President of the World Bank Group commented that accelerated agricultural
productivity growth requires "a sharp productivity increase
in smallholder farming combined with more effective support to
the millions coping as subsistence farmers, many of them in remote
areas". The authors of the World Development Report also
concluded that the enormous potential of agriculture to contribute
to development has been "vastly underused".[12]
A separate World Bank report found that "the agriculture
sector has been neglected by governments and the donor community"
and concluded that rapid growth in agricultural incomes in Africa
is achievable if improved seeds, water, infrastructure, credit
and extension, among other measures, are made available at the
same time or in optimal sequence.[13]
3. The importance of supporting smallholder
farmers was reaffirmed by the International Assessment of Agricultural
Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) in April 2008.
That assessment argued that smallholder farmers need to be placed
at the heart of agricultural development.[14]
The assessment concluded that "Targeting small-scale agricultural
systems by forging public and private partnerships, increased
public research and private partnerships, increased public research
and extension investment helps realize existing opportunities"
and that "Significant pro-poor progress requires creating
opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship, which explicitly
target poor farmers and rural labourers".[15]
4. The current world food price crisis has
led to a welcome call for increased support to agriculture by
leading international and national political leaders and researchers.
The UN General Secretary Ban-Ki Moon urged the international community
to seize the "historic opportunity to revitalise agriculture"
as a way of tackling the food crisis.[16]
The International Food Policy Research Institute identified "scale
up investments for sustained agricultural growth" as one
of the priority actions to deal with the current crisis.[17]
And the Prime Minister made a welcome call for the G8 to support
smallholders (see quote at the beginning of this memorandum).
Progress by DFID
5. The case for increased support by DFID
to agriculture is, in our judgement, overwhelming. The International
Development Committee, the Public Accounts Committee and DFID's
own Evaluation Department have made strong calls for increased
support.[18]
There is international consensus that support to smallholder farmers
is essential to improving agricultural productivity, and that
increased agricultural productivity is essential to reducing poverty
in agriculture-dependent low income countries. And the world food
prices crisis means that the time for action is now. Given this
context, what progress has DFID made?
6. There has been a number of notable developments
over the last year including:
— a review of implementation of its
agriculture strategy by DFID's Development Committee at
its meeting in November 2007, a result of which recommendations
on how to increase support were made to Ministers;
— continued support to the Malawi
seed and fertiliser subsidy programme, contributing, according
to DFID's Annual Report, to the largest maize surplus ever recorded,
benefiting two million households;
— a focus on getting "research
into use" in Malawi, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Nigeria
through the Research into Use Programme;
— identification of Uganda, Rwanda,
Afghanistan, Bangladesh and India as priority countries in
which the agriculture policy will be implemented, with Malawi,
Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and a West African Country also being
considered;
— plans to make a contribution to the
Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to support
"the institutional costs of AGRA" rather than programme
funding;
— a commitment to increase funding
for research into sustainable agriculture to £80million
a year by 2010;
— a commitment to provide £120
million a year to boost the agricultural sector in poor countries,
with more funding to come; and
— continuing support of the NEPAD Comprehensive
African Agriculture Development Programme.[19]
KEY ISSUES
AND RECOMMENDATIONS
7. We recognise that some progress has been
made by DFID and we welcome, for example, the announcement of
increased support to agricultural research and to the agricultural
sector in poor countries. But we believe that this investment
will not have any impact unless there is a much greater investment
at the grassroots to ensure that existing knowledge, let alone
new knowledge is adopted by farmers in an appropriate manner.
This includes, amongst others, scaling up and resourcing effective
national agricultural extension services. Otherwise this investment
will have no impact. To increase the effectiveness of its approach
to agriculture we believe that:
— DFID should place reducing hunger
and improving rural livelihoods at the heart of its approach to
agriculture.
— The Permanent Secretary and the Management
Board should ensure that DFID teams prioritise support to agriculture,
and that agriculture and rural livelihoods are prioritised in
DFID's Country Assistance Plans.
— DFID should develop a comprehensive
strategy on agriculture that covers the support provided through
research, its bilateral programmes, regional initiatives and multilateral
organisations.
— DFID should ensure that the research
it supports is focused on, and involves, poor farmers.
Approach
8. We are concerned that DFID's 2005 Agriculture
Policy Paper, which continues to provide the basis for DFID's
engagement, is focused solely on agriculture's role in achieving
economic growth.[20]
In our experience, agriculture in low income agriculture-based
economies serves many functions. These include pro-poor economic
growth, the protection of biodiversity, environmental conservation,
providing culturally appropriate food, and transforming rural
livelihoods. We believe that if DFID prioritises only economic
growth in its support for agriculture, we will not see a significant
transformation of rural livelihoods in low income countries, given
that these require different types of interventions. In Malawi,
for example, this shift has led to DFID's agricultural intervention
focusing solely on support for national fertiliser subsidies and
ensuring that the national subsidy programme contributes to the
development of a private sector input market. While this would
be a very useful contribution if sustained, this will not transform
rural livelihoods by itself. A more holistic approach is needed.
This will include support for market development, rural infrastructure,
and developing appropriate farming technologies together with
semi-subsistence farmers.[21]
Leadership
9. We believe that stronger leadership on,
and commitment to, agriculture is needed from DFID's senior management.
The interim evaluation of DFID's agriculture strategy concluded
that "[a] bigger attempt must be made to communicate to country
offices the need to prioritize agriculture. This... presupposes
commitment at the highest levels within DFID".[22]
A year on from that conclusion, we remain unconvinced that such
commitment exists. The review of the agriculture policy, which
was due to be completed by the end of 2008, will now only begin
in December this year. Furthermore, in a recent letter, Gareth
Thomas wrote that DFID is still "considering carefully the
recommendations of the International Development Committee and
the Public Accounts Committee conclusions".[23]
The reduction in the number of livelihoods and agriculture specialists,
which the interim evaluation highlighted, remains a problem. The
delay in the review, the fact that DFID is still only considering
the committee's previous recommendations and the continuing lack
of technical expertise do not suggest the degree of urgency that
we would expect.
Strategy
10. We believe that DFID needs to take a
more strategic and joined-up approach to its support to agriculture
and smallholder farmers. Though there have been some welcome announcements
of increased support (as outlined above), it is difficult to see
how they fit together. DFID could maximise the effectiveness of
its support by ensuring that the support to agriculture it provides
through research, through its bilateral programme, through regional
initiatives (such as the Alliance for A Green Revolution in Africa
(AGRA) and Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme
(CAADP)) and through its support through multilateral institutions
is part of a joined-up strategy. Such a strategy, which could
be developed quite quickly if the commitment exists and would
also enable progress to be reviewed annually. The development
of a strategy and its annual review need not be a time intensive
exercise. Such a strategy would help DFID to facilitate coordination
and dialogue between regional initiatives such as CAADP and AGRA.
Research
11. The additional resources for research
into sustainable agriculture are welcome and DFID should be commended
for consulting on the approach that it should take. We also welcome
DFID's adoption of the IAASTD report, which makes very challenging
recommendations on the need to scale up investment in science
and technology that benefits small-scale resource-poor farmers.
The emphasis that DFID is placing on the participation of farmers
in research is of particular importance.[24]
To make effective use of these resources for research, we would
urge DFID to emphasise the importance of local and traditional
knowledge and encourage researchers and scientists to work more
closely with farmers and local communities.
