Africa Agriculture: CISLAC’s POSITION PAPER

CISLAC’s POSITION PAPER

FOR

AGRA’S STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK SESSION

SEPTEMBER 2011, ACCRA, GHANA

By:

Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani)

Executive Director,

Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)

CISLAC, No. 7, Mahathma Gandhi Street, Off Shehu Shagari Way, By Bulet Garden, Asokoro, Abuja.

Email: cislacnationalassembly@yahoo.com, info@cislacnigeria.org

Website: www.cislacnigeria.org

GSM: +234-(0)8033844646, 07034118266

1.0     STATE OF AGRICULTURE AT CONTINENTAL, REGIONAL AND NATIONAL LEVELS

1.1     Africa

In Africa there is a wide variety of farming systems as agro-ecologies, climates and cultures. It is therefore essential to develop agricultural policies which adapt to each context. Africa will only achieve significant increases in food production by empowering small-scale farmers which constitute most of the agricultural labour force in Africa and that provide 70 to 80 percent of agricultural production, not by supplanting them with industrial farming. Achieving equity requires paying special attention to women farmers, who often do the majority of the work but have unequal access to land, farm inputs, financing and education. Programs must be aimed at expanding the opportunities open to smallholder farmers, particularly women, through access to improved seeds, to organic farming techniques, to entering cash-crop production, or to a host of additional options designed to be environmentally and economically sustainable. African soils are the poorest and the most degraded in the world requiring systems of natural resources management to restore and sustain them. Contrary to other continents (Asia and Latin America) which relied on industrialization to develop their agricultural sector, an African Green Revolution must rely on a sustainable model which allows it to conserve and promote the diversity of African crops, cropping systems and livestock.  

1.2     West-Africa

West-African economies and people’s jobs, incomes and food security depend upon agriculture. This sector accounts for up to 35% of the region’s Gross Domestic Product. Agricultural exports constitute an important element of the region’s economy generating around six billion dollars, or 16.3% of all the products and services exported from the region. In terms of jobs, it is still the biggest employer, with over 60% of the active population in the ECOWAS region engaged in agriculture, even though it pays less than other economic sectors. Women play a major role in the production, processing and marketing of agricultural produce. Agriculture is also a vital factor in efforts to combat poverty and food insecurity. At the moment, 80% of the regional population’s food needs are met by regional produce, but over the next few years West African agriculture will have to meet a huge increase in demand generated by demographic growth. The population of the region currently stands at 290 million, and is set to exceed 400 million by 2020 and 500 million by 2030. Finally, agriculture plays a key role in land management, soil fertility, natural resource management and environmental protection.

Despite its pivotal role in the regional economy, West African agriculture is characterised by low productivity and plagued by major environmental constraints. A 25% decline in rainfall over the last fifty years has had serious consequences for dryland areas. Per-hectare yields for most crops are among the lowest in the world, only increasing by an average of 42% between 1980 and 2005 and accounting for just 30% of the increase in agricultural and food production. The three most important factors of production – selected seed, fertiliser and agricultural machinery – barely feature in most producers’ operations. Research on agronomic diversity has been of little help to them until now, often favouring vertical approaches that take insufficient account of the global nature and complexity of production and agrarian systems. Over the last twenty years increases in production have generally been obtained by putting more land under cultivation, with a 229% increase in farmland accounting for 70% of the growth in regional production. The system is not sustainable in the long term, as production systems have not intensified in line with galloping urban development. The result has been a dramatic decline in soil productivity, increasingly degraded natural resources and more and more conflicts over land use, particularly between farmers and herders, as pressure on land intensifies and good land becomes progressively saturated. Disinvestment by governments, international institutions and the donor community as a result of liberalization, especially in the context of structural adjustment, has negatively affected progress.

Agricultural policy tools are primarily geared towards commercially profitable cash crops rather than the support needed to achieve its objectives of food security, rural employment and integration into the regional market. Several countries in the region have become accustomed to relying on cheap imported produce to feed their people. In the meantime, exports fetch less on the international markets, while regional produce has to compete with cheap imports generated by the subsidies given to producers in developed countries as agricultural markets reached saturation point in the mid-2000s. The net result of all this is that this agricultural model, which is largely dependent on natural resources and poorly paid labour, has become unviable. If it is to be sustainable in the long run, agriculture needs to be transformed so that it can provide a way out of the poverty endured by most of the rural people whose livelihoods depend upon it.

The last twenty years have seen some fundamental changes in the region’s agricultural production. Huge increases in production have largely outstripped growth in demand, as cash crops rose from 19 million tonnes in 1980 to 38 million tonnes in 2006, and food crops soared from 59 million tonnes in 1980 to 212 million tonnes in 2006. And although the region imports large quantities of foodstuffs (5.4 billion per year between 2002 and 2004), it is not overly reliant on imports to cover its food needs. Over the last twenty years, agri-food exports have risen by 95% while imports have only gone up by 64%. Thus, the region has seen its agri-foods trade balance shift from a 267 million deficit to profits of over 522 million. However, while dependence on imports may be low, it is still cause for concern in a region whose development strategy is built on its agricultural sector. The major agricultural trends in West Africa are counteracted by the success of export crops like coffee, cotton and cocoa, as well as the market gardening belts around urban areas. The current cotton crisis and the increase of foodstuff prices during 2007-2008 in countries which are highly dependent on imports as a result of the increase of international prices are however a reminders that these productive areas are vulnerable.

1.3     Breadbasket areas in West-Africa: Ghana and Mali

a)       Ghana

The agricultural sector is expected to continue to play a major role in Ghana’s economic growth and development in the short to medium term. Its importance is by virtue of the contributions the sector makes to several important economic variables. It contributes the highest proportion to gross domestic product (GDP), an average of about 40% since the mid-1990s. Agriculture offers job avenues to the highest proportion of the economically active population mainly as farmers, farm labourers, and other workers in agricultural related activities. The sector employs about 60% of Ghana’s active labour force.

Another important role played by the agricultural sector is the provision of food for the large non-agricultural and mainly urban population. This segment of the population is now expanding very fast, at a rate of about 3.2% per annum, and also acquiring new tastes and demanding diversified food products. The country has been self-sufficient or nearly so in the production of several food commodities, particularly, roots and tubers, plantain, fresh fruits and vegetables, and some cereals such as maize, sorghum and millet. Furthermore, the sector provides raw materials (cocoa, cotton, palm oil, etc.) for some of the agro-based industries in the country, and for export.

The role of agriculture as a pivot for poverty reduction in Ghana cannot be overlooked. About 40% of Ghanaians fall below the poverty line of less than half a dollar a day. A majority of these poor people live in rural areas where agriculture is the main source of livelihood. Improvement in their living standards hinges on agricultural growth and development.

Notwithstanding the direct roles agriculture plays, there are also indirect roles, which are important to the economy of Ghana. The sector keeps a lot of people in informal employment as processors of agricultural commodities and as traders, especially women, who buy agricultural commodities from the farm gate to the urban centers for sale. In addition, agriculture provides job avenues for those who are in agricultural input trade as well as those engaged in the haulage of agricultural commodities.

b)       Mali

In real terms, per capita GDP in Mali is slightly lower today (1999) than it was twenty years ago. However, over these two decades, GDP per person has fluctuated considerably. During the second half of the 1980s, it fell, then moved up and down in the first half of the 1990s, and began to grow steadily in the second half of the 1990s following devaluation in 1994.

Agriculture generally represents about 45 percent of total GDP, but its influence through forward and backward linkages goes far beyond that level. In fact, using regression one finds that variability in agricultural GDP explains 92 percent of the variability in Malian GDP. Consequently, if we want to achieve higher and more consistent economic growth, we must stimulate and stabilize agricultural growth. Cotton is Mali’s major foreign exchange earner. In 1999, Mali had a production of 218,000 tons. Buoyant world prices have increased foreign exchange earnings from cotton. In 2001, Mali’s trade surplus in agricultural products was $46.7 million.

Poverty in Mali is quite high, with 64 percent of the population considered poor or very poor most of whom live in rural areas and their subsistence depends on agriculture. Seventy three percent of the population lives on less than $1/day, and 91 percent on less than $2/day. Only the southern part of Mali is suited to farming, and less than 2% of Mali’s area is cultivated. Output fluctuates widely as a result of the amount and distribution of rainfall. Agriculture in Mali is mostly carried out on small farms. Mechanized farming is not much practiced in Mali. The farmers depend on manual labor for tilling of land, sowing of seeds, ploughing and harvesting.

1.4     Nigeria

In spite of the role that petroleum plays as a major source of revenue for the nation, the inevitable position of agriculture and its relevance to the daily life of the average citizen and household in Nigeria, remains an immutable reality. The sector contributes up to 42 percent of the GDP and employs 70% of Nigeria’s population, 90% in rural areas where the majority of the population reside.

With an estimated population of 150 million, of which 52% live below the poverty line and 53 million Nigerians suffering from hunger, and chronic or seasonal food insecurity and malnutrition, high demographic pressure and fast urbanization make, the issue of Nigeria a food insecure country. Overdependence on agricultural imports and fluctuation in international prices make Nigeria highly vulnerable to external shocks. In spite of Nigeria’s vast resources of arable land, she is one of the biggest importers of staple food, especially rice and wheat which she can comfortably grow to the level of self-sufficiency.

Nigerian farmers suffer from limited farmer organization; a challenging business environment; and inefficient markets. Although Nigeria has long been West Africa’s leading seed supplier, national breeding capacity has deteriorated. The use of modern inputs is estimated to be less than 15 percent of market potential, and average fertilizer use stands at 8 kilograms per hectare of land, a fraction of the global average of 100 kg/ha. This has led to soil infertility: low to medium in productivity, Nigeria’s soil quality is also impoverished by soil erosion from wind and water (splash and rill erosions). Both can be prevented by planting trees near farms and by covering the soil with canopy. Irrigation problems can also be identified because farmers lack water resources during the dry season. By adding irrigation canals and access roads to these areas, yearly production yields are expected to increase. We can also find food processing related problems like harvesting by hand which incurs in 20%-40% loss of production, inadequate storage leading to physical damage of the production. Generally, there is less incentive for local farmers to grow local foods, when cheaper, more palatable foods are imported. This forces local farmers to reduce prices, which reduces the income generated by the farm.

2.0     RELEVANT CONTINENTAL, REGIONAL AND NATIONAL POLICIES TO DEVELOP THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

2.1     African Union

The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) is at the heart of efforts by African governments under the AU/NEPAD initiative to accelerate growth and eliminate poverty and hunger among African countries. The main goal of CAADP is to help African countries reach a higher path of economic growth through agriculturally-led development which eliminates hunger, reduces poverty and food and nutrition insecurity, and enables expansion of exports. As a program of the African Union, it emanates from and is fully owned and led by African governments.

The CAADP aims at (i) achieving an annual agricultural growth rate of at least 6 percent. During the African Union’s Fertilizer Summit held in Nigeria in 2006, African heads of state and government committed to take concrete steps to ensure this 6% growth by ensuring that farmers have access to fertilizer and seeds, credit and irrigation facilities, better transport means, and extension and market information service (ii) allocating at least 10 percent of the national budget to agriculture as stated by the Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security that was signed during the African Union Summit held in Mozambique in 2003.

In the West Africa region, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been mandated to support and coordinate the implementation of the program. In this context, ECOWAS developed the regional agricultural policy (ECOWAP). The ECOWAP is the framework of reference that provides the principles and objectives assigned to the agricultural sector and guides interventions in agricultural development in the region. During 2005, ECOWAS and the NEPAD Secretariat developed a joint ECOWAP/CAADP action plan for the period 2005-2010 for the development of the agricultural sector.

2.2     ECOWAS

Efforts to create a framework for a regional agricultural policy designed to encompass West Africa’s numerous sub-regional institutions began at the start of this decade. This process which was set out in the revised ECOWAS treaty culminated in the adoption of a regional agricultural policy (ECOWAP) by member heads of state and government on the 19^th January 2005.

Reasons for the creation of ECOWAP:

• The strong complementarities between areas of production and consumption and the ecological diversity of the region consequence of the difference in rainfall gradients.
• Many natural resources, such as rivers, biodiversity reserves and underground aquifers span several West African countries, which therefore need to cooperate over their management.
• As economies and trade become increasingly globalised, regional integration is seen as a key vector for positioning the region on the world stage.
• The new international context created by rising prices represents a historic opportunity to re-establish the bases of agricultural development in the region.

Historical fragmentation of West Africa’s national agricultural policies, e.g. existence of two regional economic organisations (ECOWAS and WAEMU), represents an obstacle to integration. However, the establishment of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) has seen African leaders resume control over development orientations and methods across the continent, especially in the agricultural sector (Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, CAADP). In 2002, heads of state gathered in Yamoussoukro and gave ECOWAS the mandate to coordinate and monitor the implementation of NEPAD in West Africa, thereby contributing to the emergence of a single centre for planning regional development in the area.

The regional agricultural policy adopted by ECOWAS sets out a vision of “a modern and sustainable agriculture based on effective and efficient family farms and the promotion of agricultural enterprises through the involvement of the private sector. Once productivity and competitiveness on the intra-community and international markets are achieved, the policy should be able to guarantee food security and secure decent incomes for agricultural workers”. Its general objective is to “contribute in a sustainable way to meeting the food needs of the population, to economic and social development, to the reduction of poverty in the Member States, and thus to reduce existing inequalities among territories, zones and nations.”

ECOWAP was adopted at a time when most agricultural and food policies were still essentially free-market oriented, so relatively little government intervention was anticipated in terms of market regulation, curbing price volatility or providing safety nets for the poorest sectors of the population. The food crisis of 2008 highlights the need to provide structural responses to the issues raised by rising prices, by focusing on sustainable production, improving the functioning of markets and reduction of the vulnerability of the poor populations. The countries and actors concerned will need to define appropriate instruments enabling them to tackle these new challenges. Ministers with responsibility for the economy, finance, agriculture and trade came together from fifteen countries to examine the situation and define a common strategy, which was swiftly adopted by their respective heads of state. This three-pronged regional “Offensive for food production to combat hunger” revolves around: Increasing the productivity and competitiveness of West African agriculture; Implementing a trade regime within West Africa; Adapting the trade regime vis-à-vis countries outside the region.

2.3     Breadbasket areas: Ghana and Mali

a)       Ghana

A major policy focus of the government after independence was the modernization of agriculture. The traditional subsistence system of agricultural production was considered obsolete, and incapable of being modernized and adapted to the needs of an expanding economy. The government established the Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) to spearhead the modernization of agriculture by way of large-scale production with massive government investments. Particularly from 1961, the state intervention in agricultural production assumed ideological dimensions being socialist oriented, but the performance of these large-scale units was rather disappointing.

After a persistent decline of the economy during the 1970s, an economic recovery programme (ERP) and related structural adjustment programme (SAP) embarked upon in 1983 by the government with the assistance of the Bretton Woods institutions reversed the declining trend. Following the commencement of the ERP in 1983, the Agricultural Services Rehabilitation Project (1987-90) was the first integrated intervention in the agricultural sector. The objectives were to (i) strengthen the institutional capacity and services of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, and (ii) to support policy reforms involving the privatization of certain services (including fertilizer marketing, tractor services, and veterinary drugs). The Medium Term Agricultural Development Programme served as a main policy document for the Ministry of Food and Agriculture during the 1990s, and from it emerged various programmes and projects (with funding from the World Bank mainly) for improving the agricultural sector. Nonetheless, the effect of the liberalization of the agricultural markets on both the aggregate and individual commodity output has been mixed, and more effort is needed to ensure that the efficiency envisaged by the policy reforms is achieved in the sector. . By the end of the 1980s, only cocoa continued to enjoy guaranteed price because of the unique position it occupies in the Ghanaian economy, even though its internal marketing has largely been deregulated to promote efficiency.

Today cocoa is still Ghana’s major agricultural produce. Its production has kept increasing all over the years. Yet the reasons for this huge production increase are varied and in fact Ghana’s cocoa yields per hectare are still low by international standards. The most important factors that have influenced the increase in the production are: New land brought under cultivation; More intensive use of household labour; A good rainfall pattern; and Effectiveness of farm spraying and increased fertilizer use. However, researchers suggest that Ghana’s cocoa farmers are not making the best use technological innovations in their production and instead their increased production is not sustainable and bringing new land under cultivation is risky, as much of the land was previously forest and after a short period and without adequate attention this land may be exhausted. Intensive use of labour has led to high increases in the cost of labour and may impact profitability and high rainfall is only periodic.

In the case of Ghana, the focus of the CAADP process is to strengthen and add value to the Food and Agriculture Sector Development Policy II and the Sector Plan under the National Development Programme. FASDEP II provides a sector wide framework for guiding investments and interventions in the sector. A seven year agriculture sector investment plan is designed as an instrument for implementing the policy and would be rolled out in annual plans under the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). In line with the FASDEP, GoG has defined in the sector plan, the following six major programmes for the period 2009-2015: Food Security and Emergency Preparedness.

• Improved Growth in Incomes and Reduced Income Variability
• Increased Competitiveness and Enhanced Integration into Domestic and International Markets.
• Sustainable Management of Land and Environment.
• Science and Technology Applied in Food and Agriculture Development
• Enhanced Institutional Coordination (the need for a coordinated approach for effective development of the agricultural sector has become paramount in the face of global crisis with the potential to undermine development efforts aimed at combating food insecurity and poverty reduction).

Since 2006 the Government (Ministry of Agriculture) and the Development Partners have expressed a commitment towards adopting a Sector Wide Approach (SWAp). The Agriculture SWAp is anchored on the FASDEP and the Sector Plan. Key elements of a SWAp include:

• The existence of a sector wide policy linked to the macro framework
• Public finance management system
• Institutions and capacities
• Accountability and performance monitoring
• Aid alignment and harmonization
• Coordinated donor support and limited transaction costs

Though the policy environment has been gradually improving, it falls far short of providing an investment climate that encourages doing business. Ghana, like many other African countries, today demonstrates the constraints of a neo-patrimonial political system (one in which the mechanisms of patron-client relationships conflict with formal political institutions and ‘legal-rational’ principles, thus compromising the state’s political autonomy). Public service driven policies become constrained by the need to service patronage networks. The conflict between ‘horizontal’ associations such as those based on professions, economic activities (business, agriculture) etc., and ‘vertical’ relationships (patronage-based), stymies policy reforms or their implementation. Indeed, they argue that behind Ghana’s moderate growth statistics, there is limited structural economic change, especially in agriculture. The agriculture economy is largely untouched by technological progress, and more by extensive growth. Of particular importance has been the limited ability of the government to offer an investment climate under which a strong and modern private sector can grow and flourish; to undertake public service reforms, especially in the civil service; and to steadily maintain macroeconomic stability. Both of the previous NDC and NPP governments have had difficulty with these three reform areas.

b)       Mali

Following independence in 1960, Mali followed a socialist-oriented approach to economic development. Thirty-three state enterprises controlled most sectors of economic activity. Agricultural and food policy remained highly state controlled for the first two decades of independence. In the early 1980s, Mali started liberalizing markets for agricultural commodities to varying degrees. The first efforts focused on cereals with the Cereal Market Restructuring Program (PRMC). Two of the major goals of the program were to increase cereal production and farmers’ incomes. Reforms included elimination of the official state trading monopoly and liberalization of most of the cereals sub-sector. These reforms were carried out over the decades of the 1980s and 1990s. The market reforms were effective in increasing competition in cereals trading, lowering distribution costs, and increasing consumer access to cereals. While the cereals markets have largely been liberalized, cotton production and trade remains essentially under the control of the Malian Company for the Development of Textile Fibers (CMDT). Rice production and distribution lies somewhere between these extremes, but probably closer to the other cereals. The role of the Office du Niger (ON) in managing all aspects of production and distribution has changed significantly since the early 1980s such that it is now basically a provider of irrigation and extension services

The Malian position for the WTO meetings in Doha (November 2001) summarizes Malian government policy objectives: The principal objective of economic policy of the Government of Mali is to succeed in growth oriented towards the reduction of poverty. The realization of this objective, among others, is accomplished by putting into place commercial policies and investments that aim to increase the supply of goods and services destined for export or for the domestic market, by improved exploitation of comparative advantage of the country in the framework of multilateral trade liberalization.

Mali has developed the Malian Rural Development Strategy in accordance with poverty reduction strategy paper focussing on growth and rural development. The major objectives contained in the Rural Development Strategy are as follows:

• Increase the contribution of the rural sector to the economic growth of the country by obtaining a sustained increase in the volume of agricultural production, especially food crops.
• Reinforce food security by creating a socio-economic and institutional environment in the rural sector favorable to the sustainable production of agricultural goods and services by motivated and organized actors who have access to factors of production (land, credit), to intensive technologies, and to markets.
• Improve incomes and living conditions of rural populations by the promotion of food systems and appropriate financial and intermediation services, and by access to basic social and agricultural services.
• Protect the environment and assure better management of natural resources by the development of a body of law, regulations and institutions involving participation of all actors, the reinforcement of capacities of these actors so that they can undertake actions to restore and conserve natural resources, and to take into account management of natural resources in all agricultural development programs.

Priority intervention areas are as follows:

• Food security
• Restoring and maintaining soil fertility
• Development of irrigation
• Development of agricultural, animal, forestry, and fish production
• Development of support services

The Niger Office, now a state-controlled agency, was set up in 1932 to aid in improving cotton and rice production. It developed the irrigation and modern cultivation of some 81,000 ha (200,000 acres) in the dry inland delta of the Niger; in 1998, about 138,000 ha (341,000 acres) in Mali were irrigated. The infrastructure includes a dam (2.6 km wide/1.6 mi), irrigation canals, ditches and dikes, and such installations as housing stores, warehouses, rice and oil mills, cotton-ginning factories, sugar refineries, soap factories, research stations, schools, and dispensaries. Growing cotton in irrigated fields did not succeed and was abandoned in 1970. All cotton is now grown in non-irrigated fields in the regions of Bamako, Ségou, and Sikasso. Cotton is Mali’s most significant crop; Mali is one of the largest producers of cotton in Africa, after Egypt and Sudan. Cotton production is almost all based on small-scale family farms, with village cooperatives in the south-east being coordinated by the highly influential parastatal Compagnie Malienne pour le Developpement des Textiles (CMDT), in which the French Compagnie Francaise pour le Developpement des Textiles (CFDT) owns a 40 percent share. While the World Bank has pressed for liberalization of the sector with a view to increasing farmers’ returns, the CMDT has countered by arguing that under the current system production has more than doubled since 1993.

2.4     Nigeria

In the 1960s, the government policy was largely informed by a philosophy of agricultural development with minimum direct government intervention. Hence, the government adopted a laid back attitude to agriculture and the private sector and particularly the millions of small traditional farmers bearing the brunt of agricultural development efforts. However, by the turn of the early 1970s, signs of instability and general apprehension about the condition of the Nigerian agricultural sector emerged, leading to a fundamental change in the philosophy of government towards agricultural development from one of minimum government intervention to one of almost maximum intervention, especially from the Federal level.  Sector-specific agricultural policies were largely designed to facilitate agricultural marketing, reduce agricultural production costs and enhance agricultural product prices as incentives for increased agricultural production. The major policy instruments for this purpose were targeted at agricultural commodity marketing and pricing, input supply and distribution, input price subsidy, land resource use, agricultural research, agricultural extension and technology transfer and agricultural mechanization. It also saw the establishment of several institutions aimed at advancing the implementation of these policies. Such included the commodity pricing Boards, research institutes and credit and loans schemes. This strongly interventionist period pushed Nigeria to the position of the world’s top producer of rubber, groundnuts and palm oil, and the world’s second-largest cocoa producer.

The advent of oil exploration witnessed government’s loss of interest in supporting agriculture resulting in a downturn that culminated into heavy dependence on importation of food which unfortunately has remained a feature of the Agricultural sector in Nigeria till date. Ad-hoc programmes like the OFN and ‘Green Revolution’ programmes in the late 70s and early 80s focused on strengthening agricultural production, providing subsidised inputs, community development, and access to credit but did not make significant changes and the trend has persisted. These and the subsequent policies were designed and implemented largely under successive military regimes. Apart from the 1960-66 post-independent government and the 1979-83 second republic administration, every other Agricultural policy up until 1999 were designed and implemented without a legislative input and intervention. This includes the period of the notorious Structural Adjustment Program introduced in 1985. There were huge budgetary allocations, disbursement of funds and enormous expenditures without parliamentary involvements. There were no evaluations and monitoring of projects and spendings, institutional efficiency were not examined and performance was never appraised because the principle of oversight was missing. Therefore, in spite of the billions of Naira expended in the implementation of these policies over the years, agriculture in Nigeria is still plagued by technical, resource, socioeconomic and organizational constraints.

Since the inception of the present democratic government, efforts to reverse the trend have continued without much success. The current Agricultural policy is informed by three main sources: the NEEDS II, New Agricultural Policy (NAP) and the Rural Sector Development Strategy RSDS. These are closely linked to the 7-point agenda, with deliberate designs to integrate it with the realization of the MDGs and the Vision 20:20:20 which aims at increasing current domestic production six-fold. There is also a National Food Security Programme (NFSP) issued in August 2008 by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources that is designed to attain food security by ensuring that all Nigerians have access to good-quality food while making Nigeria a major exporter of foodstuffs.

The objectives that the government has adopted in the NAP are aimed at ensuring sustained improvement in agricultural productivity and output: Creating a more conducive macro-environment to stimulate greater private sector investment in agriculture; Rationalizing the roles of the tiers of government and the private sector in their promotional and supportive efforts to stimulate agricultural growth; Reorganizing the institutional framework for government intervention in the agricultural sector to facilitate the smooth and integrated development of the sector; Articulating and implementing integrated rural development programs to raise the quality of life of the rural people; Increasing budgetary allocation and other fiscal incentives to agriculture and promoting the necessary developmental, supportive and service-oriented activities to enhance agricultural productivity, production and market opportunities; Rectifying import tariff anomalies in respect of agricultural products and promoting the increased use of agricultural machinery and inputs through favourable tariff policy.

The Nigerian Government is increasing its attention to agriculture. As of 2009, it has devoted more than 10 percent of the national budget to this sector. This meets a key goal of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), an initiative of the African Union’s New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) set by the Maputo Declaration. On the contrary, there still appears to be a gap between what is allocated, what is released, what is actually spent and the actual implementation of projects. The government budget for agriculture is still not enough to ensure 6% annual growth in the agricultural sector and therefore does not fulfil the second main goal of the CAADP. International aid groups have supplemented the funding of the government, but most of the funds don’t reach the local farmer. It is therefore essential to ensure participation of small farmers in the formulation of agricultural policies to ensure their effectiveness.

The CAADP and the ECOWAP have led to the approval of a Medium-Term Sector Strategy (MTSS) for Nigeria covering investments funded by the federal government and partnership programmes initiated by international funding agencies. These will require funding for which appropriation must be made and which must be monitored. There are also the interfacing challenges of MDG goals and targets, also drawing funds from the national commonwealth. The challenges of climate change, the environment and other natural factors pose additional challenge to Agriculture in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s agricultural policy is still bedevilled by a general lack of coherence, issues of programme continuity, issues in relation to other sectoral policies and implementation issues at various institutional levels. These are further compounded by policy instability, policy inconsistencies, narrow base of policy formulation, poor policy implementation and weak institutional framework for policy coordination. Presently, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture has over 38 parastatals under its supervision and is overseeing the implantation of several programmes at the same time. The proliferation of institutions, multiplicity of programmes, overlapping of responsibilities presents a major challenge and possible avenues for duplications and resource leakages or wastage, highlighting the inevitability of resource allocation, prioritization, budget tracking, and implementation and performance evaluation, if policy implementation must be effective. These are very overwhelming for the legislature. The relevant legislative Committees in terms of capacity, staff strength, knowledge of the issues and familiarity with the several policy frameworks is not able to effectively engage and ensure that adequate and requisite budgeting is done and oversight conducted. Policy implementation inconsistencies can be found at the level of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources (FMAWR), as a result of the incapacity of the Department of Planning, Policy Analysis, and Statistics (PPAS) to adequately process information. It is therefore necessary that the legislature and the executive access the needed knowledge and information, acquire the necessary skills and develop the necessary capacity and muster the political will to strengthen their legislative intervention and effectively engage the process of the implementation of the Agricultural policy in Nigeria and make it effective to meet the yearning of the teeming population.

The new National Agricultural Policy allotted responsibility to the various tiers of government to provide funding and support for Agriculture, yet, in reality the Local Government Councils have been incapacitated by the prevailing practices of state governments. Being closest to the rural communities where the farmers are, it is problematic to effectively implement any agricultural policy without empowering these councils. These also require the intervention of the National Assembly.

Thus, democracy brought a multiplicity of concurrently administered policies and programmes, proliferation of institutions and complexities of processes and procedures, but still with little effect in the welfare of the people. Some of the effects of these are that as at 2008, about N1.3 trillion was being expended annually on the importation of rice alone. This is equivalent to the size of the year 2007 federal budget. Another N54 billion was also spent annually on wheat importation.

3.0     ALLIANCE FOR A GREEN REVOLUTION IN AFRICA

AGRA was established in 2006 as a direct response to Annan’s call to create a uniquely African Green Revolution in 2004 during his speech at the African Union Summit held in Ethiopia.

3.1     Vision, Mission and Goals

An African Green Revolution will succeed when it:

• Develops and implements home-grown solutions;
• Is led by African farmers, governments, scientists and civil society;
• Focuses on smallholder farmers, the majority of whom are women;
• Protects the environment and crop biodiversity;
• Expands the choices available to smallholder farmers through a joint focus on technologies that meet their needs and supportive, pro-poor polices;
• Works with partners to achieve its goals, and
• Is sustainable economically, socially and environmentally.

AGRA’s mission is to trigger a uniquely African Green Revolution (AGR) that transforms agriculture into a highly productive, efficient, competitive and sustainable system to assure food security and lift millions out of poverty.

To achieve a smallholder-based African Green Revolution that will enable Africa to be food self-sufficient and food secure. Smallholder farms that today produce one-quarter the global average yield could sustainably double or quadruple their output. 

Three goals for 2020:

• Reduce food insecurity by 50 percent in at least 20 countries.
• Double the incomes of 20 million smallholder families.
• Put at least 30 countries on track for attaining and sustaining an AGR

3.2     Portfolios:

• Portfolio One concentrates on catalyzing Green Revolutions in four change-ready countries with high-potential “breadbasket” areas: areas with large concentrations of smallholder farmers, relatively good soil and basic infrastructure. The four initial countries will be Ghana, Mali, Mozambique and Tanzania. AGRA will allocate about 40 percent of its resources to this portfolio during 2009, and monitor this approach until 2012 at which time it will be evaluated for possible scale-up.

• Portfolio Two lays the groundwork for agricultural transformations in a second set of nine countries (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia ). Work in these countries will strengthen smallholder productivity, develop staple crop markets and improve market access. It will emphasize flexibility and innovation. Portfolio 2 will represent around 40 percent of AGRA’s resources in 2009. Furthermore, AGRA is exploring program possibilities in Sierra Leone, Liberia, South Sudan, and Madagascar.

• Portfolio Three coordinates regional initiatives and advocacy to establish a supportive environment, whether through developing policies or raising funds for rural roads and power lines. AGRA will allocate about 13 percent of its resources to this portfolio

3.3     Programs:

• Policy and Partnerships Program engages national governments and donors to establish an enabling environment for achieving a Green Revolution in Africa. For all of these efforts to have a widespread impact, agricultural policies must provide smallholder farmers with comprehensive support on national, regional and global levels. At the same time, partnerships are needed to marshal the resources and expertise that will catalyze change. It helps improve access to seeds, revive African depleted soils, expand markets, clarify land tenure, adapt and mitigate climate change. Throughout all five areas, AGRA pays special attention to issues of gender and equity. In October 2009, AGRA launched a US$15 million Policy Initiative, which focuses on five countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, and Tanzania).

• The Seeds Program (Program on African Seed Systems- PASS). AGRA’s Program in Africa’s Seed Systems (PASS) works to dramatically increase Africa’s capacity to breed, produce and disseminate quality seed of staple food crops such as maize, rice, cassava, beans, sorghum, millet and other staples. This US$150 million initiative aims to develop seed systems that deliver new crop varieties to smallholder farmers efficiently, equitably and sustainably. PASS operates through four sub-programs which form a seed value chain: Education for African Crop Improvement (EACI); Fund for the Improvement and Adoption of African Crops (FIAAC); Seed Production for Africa (SEPA), and the Agro-dealer Development Program (ADP).

• The Soil Health Program focuses on a rapid dissemination of locally adapted and environmentally sound integrated soil fertility management technologies. The Soil Health Program improves farm productivity through increasing farmers’ access to locally appropriate soil nutrients and promoting integrated soil and water management. AGRA is addressing this need through its US$180 million Soil Health Program, launched in early 2008. It aims to regenerate 6.3 million hectares of degraded farmland over 10 years through balanced, integrated soil fertility management. To reach this goal, AGRA’s Soil Health Program operates four sub-programs: Fertilizer Supply; Soil Health Extension; Soil Health Research; and Soil Health Training.

• The Markets Access Program promotes efficient and profitable output markets to assure higher returns to technology investments by farmers. This will be achieved by lowering transaction costs, reducing risks, improving market information systems and enhancing value addition through processing. Once improved seeds and soils engender higher yields, farmers need access to markets for their surplus. AGRA’s Market Access Program pursues multiple routes to expanding market access for smallholders.

• New efforts on Extension, Water, and Youth Program are being developed.

• AGRA’s cross-cutting Initiative on Innovative Finance works with Africa’s financial institutions and other partners to increase access to low-interest loans for smallholder farmers and agricultural businesses. To turn this around, the Innovative Financing Initiative works to: lessen the risks of lending to agriculture; develop appropriate financial products for farmers; improve the performance of agricultural markets, and improve farmers’ financial literacy. AGRA has used these principles to spark a revolution in lending to smallholder agriculture. Using $17 million in loan guarantees to reduce risks of lending by banks, AGRA and its partners have leveraged $160 million in affordable loans from commercial banks in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana and Mozambique.

• We are designing our M&E system: As a management tool, to provide a basis for program adjustment, as the organization learns from its achievements and constraints.

3.4     Programs in Nigeria

• Building the private seed sector to serve smallholder farmers: In the southern Borno state, AGRA supports the production of improved, affordable varieties of maize, rice, cowpea and soybean by the Jikur Seed Producers Cooperative Society. In five north-western states, AGRA’s support to Manoma Seeds is expanding production and distribution of improved maize, rice and soybean varieties to smallholder farmers.

• Building networks of agro-dealers: To provide smallholder farmers with easier access to seeds, fertilizers and other inputs, AGRA is working with the International Fertilizer Development Center, strengthening 1,400 agro-dealers who serve poor farmers in four disadvantaged zones of Nigeria.

• Expanding access to credit: AGRA is working with private and public investors to increase seed companies’ access to affordable credit, particularly through support for the West African Seed Alliance. Currently, commercial lending rates are a prohibitive 18 – 20 percent.

• Doubling the rice harvest: Nigeria is the world’s second largest importer of milled rice, importing about 40 percent of its rice consumption annually. AGRA supports the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD), which works in Nigeria and other African countries to double the continent’s rice harvest within the next 10 years. AGRA, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), NEPAD and other partners formed CARD. AGRA also supports Ebonyi State University efforts to develop rice varieties suited to Nigeria’s growing conditions.

• Supporting agricultural education: AGRA supports students earning Master’s degrees in crop sciences at the University of Ibadan and Ahmadu Bello University. In addition, two Nigerian students are earning PhDs in crop breeding at the AGRA-initiated West Africa Center for Crop Improvement (WACCI) at the University of Ghana. These efforts are training a new generation of African crop scientists.

3.5     Results of the Two-Day Dialogue between AGRA and Civil Society Lays Groundwork for Collaboration toward a Food-Secure Africa and goals for the September 2011 Strategic Framework Planning Session with Civil Society Organizations

The first-of-its-kind forum between the AGRA and civil society organizations (CSOs) from across Africa was held in Nairobi on the 16^th July 2010. The two days of dialogue were convened by AGRA to consider how to reach a common agenda for achieving an African Green Revolution when the ultimate goal is the same for all parties—food security for a continent where too many people suffer from hunger and malnutrition by developing the smallholder farming sector. The objective was to initiate an open consultation and active collaboration with CSOs to expand AGRA’s ability to achieve a Green Revolution and ultimately, improve the lives of Africans across the continent. These initial two days of consultation set the stage for developing an approach to strengthen civil society’s work with smallholder farmers and between AGRA and CSOs.

The following approaches were identified by participants in the July 2010 Dialogue. They can also be included in the discussion of the Strategic Framework during the September 2011 Accra Dialogue:

• Realize a Common Vision and effective steps to make this vision real to all stakeholders
• Promote a comprehensive forward-looking agricultural program for the continent with a focus on breadbasket crops plus forward-looking policies in every country that support food security. Governments, donors, farmers, suppliers, technologists must all come together.
• Develop an advocacy, communication and outreach strategy to CSO constituencies and the general public in Africa that will help everyone realize that a Green Revolution is possible and essential.
• Expand the technological and financial base for AGRA programmes (and resulting CSO partnership efforts) so that external forces do not dominate an African-led Green Revolution
• Produce the best prepared and resilient farmers anywhere who use the most up-to-date technology and agricultural knowledge. Insure that state-of-the art agricultural education and technology are widely accessible.

Several key questions were raised at the July 2010 Dialogue which can be used to help guide the development of a strategic framework for AGRA’s collaborations with CSOs. They include:

• What is our common (or shared) vision for the Green Revolution for Africa? What must we do to realize this vision – across Africa and specifically in each of the four priority countries (Ghana, Mali, Mozambique and Tanzania). If we are successful with an AGRA-CSO strategic framework, what will African agriculture look like? What will be different or improved?
• What outcomes do we want from stronger collaborations between AGRA staff and CSO constituents, especially in the four priority countries? How will this help advance a Green Revolution for Africa? Will the desired outcomes identified above help us realize our Common Vision in the four portfolio-1 countries within 4-5 years?
• How can CSOs in the portfolio-1 countries dramatically help accelerate a Green Revolution for Africa?
• What strategies can we use to effectively engage: women, small farmers, youth, policymakers, agribusinesses, research institutions/universities and media?
• Which AGRA programmes and activities are best positioned to leverage the strengths of CSOs effectively?

The following list includes those issues mentioned prominently by participants at the July 2010 AGRACSO Dialogue as being crucial to improving collaborations:

• Greater understanding and communication about the AGRA breadbasket strategy  Strengthened investment in organizations representing youth, women and smallholder farmers in order to best prepare the next generation of farmers in Africa.
• Expanded investments in capacity strengthening, especially for smallholder farmers (with emphasis on women and youth) to learn new technology and farming techniques.
• Increased commitment to review and reduce gender disparities in all elements of the agricultural sector and AGRA’s work including land ownership and inheritance, loans and grants, land reform policies, access to new technologies, access to new markets, regional trading, national export policies, and involving women in advocacy and communication for the Green Revolution. A specific recommendation was made to produce an AGRA policy on a gender sensitive approach to agriculture and adopt affirmative action policies within AGRA programmes.
• Create more large commercial farmers: A goal must be to work together to help small farmers become large commercial farmers, especially in the breadbasket countries.

The small group dialogues produced many suggestions and recommendations. They can be grouped into the following categories:

• Capacity strengthening, training and education for smallholder farmers, particularly women, and their associations
• Partnering with major civil society organizations for stepped up advocacy to national states on issues ranging from national budget allocations to policies about land use, inheritance laws and land rights.
• Increased and ongoing contact and involvement with CSOs as AGRA makes programming and strategy decisions.
• Increased access to new markets within countries and between countries in Africa.
• Improved infrastructure to promote and deliver African agricultural products.
• A specific outreach, advocacy and communication effort for the Green Revolution designed to reach Africans of all backgrounds – using African voices.
• Ongoing and sustained ways to update and educate farmers on issues of climate change and environmental degradation along with new agricultural technology, policy changes and farming techniques.

Outstanding Challenges

• Creating new markets and expanding existing market opportunities especially for exports to other African countries, bilateral markets and regional markets.
• Developing mechanisms to keep even the smallest farmers well-educated and equipped with the latest agricultural technology continually?
• Planning now for the exit strategy once a Green Revolution is under way. How will the Green Revolution be sustained and who will own the process?
• Negotiating and reconciling AGRA’s programming focus so that it supports rather than conflicts with the ongoing work of major CSOs in Africa.
• Resolving any misunderstanding among key stakeholders about why AGRA was created, how it makes decisions, how it determines its grant recipients, and the fact that its truly an African organization.
• Rebranding AGRA and its work as not just a technology-driven organization but also as an organization that is fighting the war against hunger in Africa.
• Sustaining collaborations with CSOs so that they are an integral part of every AGRA operation for the long-term.

The goal of the September 2011 strategic framework session is to produce a strategic framework on the basis of the outcomes of July’s 2010 Dialogue that will guide the way AGRA and CSOs will work together to produce a Green Revolution for Africa.

4.0.   CONCLUDING REMARKS:

a)       PROPOSED POSITION TO PRODUCE THE STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK

This meeting represents a clear opportunity for CISLAC to influence in the direction of the interventions that are going to be developed by AGRA in the future. These are some of the ideas that I think CISLAC should advocate for during the meeting:

• AGRA’s close collaboration with Civil Society is a must if the alliance wants to achieve its goals.
• This requires training sessions for CSOs, in which CISLAC can participate as the leading advocacy organization, and creating and sustaining a strong CSO regional network on agricultural issues. The inclusion of smallholder farmers in these activities has to be included a priority.
• Due to the huge impact that policies are having on the development of the agricultural sector, legislative and policy advocacy interventions must become a priority for AGRA. This would help re-branding AGRA and would also help strengthening the ties between advocacy CSOs and AGRA.  
• Governments and the private sector with a strong support from CSOs must be held responsible for sustaining the Green Revolution in Africa.
• Due to the similarities of the West-African countries, the alliance must engage in national as well as in regional interventions.
• Regarding regional advocacy ECOWAP must become the main target of AGRA’s advocacy strategy.   
• Though breadbasket areas like Mali and Ghana must remain the main targets of the strategy, an equal amount of financial resources must be allocated to portfolio-2 countries (Nigeria lies within this group) to also promote the development of breadbasket areas in these countries. 
• Important financial resources must be allocated to Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa which has great potentials regarding agriculture.
• Despite the importance of advocacy interventions, particularly in countries with important revenues like oil-rich countries, none has been developed in Nigeria yet. Consequently, advocacy interventions in Nigeria must also be developed if AGRA wants to increase its impact on the development of Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
• CISLAC’s excellence in the development of advocacy strategies and its presence in West-Africa represent an opportunity for AGRA to carry out this kind of interventions in the region. The elaboration of a partnership between AGRA and CISLAC is therefore essential.   

b)       PROPOSED ADVOCACY INTERVENTIONS

According to the problems that have been previously identified, these are some of the advocacy activities that any advocacy strategy should include.  

At continental level:

• Monitor progress of African states regarding the two main goals of the CAADP agreed during Nigeria and Mozambique’s Summits. 

At regional level:

• Create a single body in charge of all regional agricultural policies that ensures due coordination and avoids duplication/fragmentation.   
• Push for the establishment of a customs union at regional level which ensures free circulation of people and goods and a single foreign trade policy through the common external tariff (CET) and a common competition policy.
• Push ECOWAS to advocate for the development of stronger intervention at national level.
• Create a fair trade label for agricultural products that have been produced according to the principles of the Green Revolution.

AT NATIONAL LEVEL IN THE WEST-AFRICAN COUNTRIES

• Work in close collaboration with/ build the capacity on agriculture and advocacy of NGOs, farmer cooperatives and the media to develop a comprehensive advocacy strategy.
• Strengthen the capacity of the legislature and MDAs on agriculture with a particular focus on smallholder farmers.
• Strengthen the power and autonomy of the local governments which are key actors in data gathering and formulation and implementation of adapted policies.  
• Need to study in depth and replicate the positive point of the agricultural strategies developed by Mali and Ghana to also develop breadbasket areas in their territories.
• Stability in legislation and elimination of neo-patrimonialism to create a more stable investment environment.
• Push for more intervention at national level that effectively promotes the development of hybrid management systems in between liberal and interventionist policies.
• Develop policies oriented towards increasing productivity (mechanization and animal traction, development of irrigation and transport infrastructure) as opposed to those which aim at increasing the area of cultivated land. 
• Land property rights must be a priority in all strategies with a focus on developing smallholder farmers’ property land rights. Land possession is the best way of convincing farmers to invest to increase their productivity.
• Advocate for the improvement of seed and soil health policies that ensure the survival of locally adapted seeds and grant farmers with high quality fertilizers that reduce the environmental impact of agriculture.
• Advocate for the approval and real implementation of a sector wide approach; e.g. develop initiatives that maintain or increase the purchasing power of West-African citizens who are the main engine of agricultural growth and better the living conditions of farmers by further developing basic amenities in rural areas.
• Advocate for the provision of micro-credits and subsidies to farmers
• Develop initiatives aimed at stopping deforestation and desertification by developing an environmentally friendlier agricultural sector and combating climate change.