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Dear participant,
This is our first weekly summary and although we had an
initial slow start to the discussions, the comments have
picked up considerably this week and we have had a
majority of issues raised which I hope will give further
impetus to our discussion in the coming weeks.
Andrew Dorward began with the role of budgetary support in
agriculture. The 70s and 80s saw several large-scale
projects whose failures were due to problems with
management, implementation as well as failures to address
macro-economic and sectoral constraints. Andrew
therefore posed the question of whether budgetary support
is integral to agriculture or does DFID need to put greater
emphasis on project orientated work?
Michael Wales (FAO) commented that direct budget
support (DBS) often leads to displacement of funds which
may have been earmarked for investment projects and
whilst DBS restricted potential interference in the affairs of
sovereign states, it also reduced donor responsibility in
reducing poverty. The increasing trend for adopting DBS
has reduced the scope for money being put aside for
investments and meant resource decisions are largely left
to the Ministries of Agriculture. MoA?s are focused upon
meeting production intensive targets which means that they
have ?little sympathy with the current preoccupation with
poverty reduction.? MoA?s thus lacked the capacity to
secure sufficient funds from the Ministry of Finance. Thus
the lack of earmarking and setting aside of resources for
agricultural investments may severely hamper growth
prospects-how is DFID and other donors to operate in this
new environment?
Jock Campbell (IMM-Exeter University) placed much
emphasis in the policy making cycle and its need to be
more pro-poor. This would of course require the necessary
capacity building to enable the poor to participate in the
policy process and furthermore follow this through to the
policy implementation stages. A process that excludes the
poor in policy-making will lack relevance to the poor.
Brian Cooksey of TADREG in Tanzania brought up several
points that could lead to further discussions. He pointed out
the lack of support within Tanzania for export crop
liberalisation and even the reversal of the effects of
previously implemented policies that supported this. State
investment continues to be focused on stand alone
infrastructure projects and fails to provide an environment
that can foster institutional changes to make export
agriculture a dynamic, pro-poor growth sector. He poses
the question, ?What is your solution to the anti-market
politics??
The final comment this week from Colin Poulton (Imperial
College) commented on Michael?s earlier contribution on the
weaknesses of MoA?s to secure finance from Ministries of
Finance. Poulton emphasised the need to thoroughly
reform the MoA?s. Furthermore he states that there is a key
role for MoA in promoting agricultural growth especially in
the role of intensified small-holder agricultural production
which may become a key driver of rural economic growth.
He suggests decisions need to be made with respect to the
roles of private and public service role in the provision of
inputs, technical advice and access to finance.
Possible area for further consideration:
-The decentralisation of agricultural/rural
development planning.
-Reforming the MoA?s-greater accountability
mechanisms?
-The need for local level development planning that
is consistent with a broader national agricultural
strategy.
Thank you for the contributions made so far. We strongly
suggest that you visit the archive discussions page regularly
to access the full version of comments posted on http://dfid-
agriculture-consultation.nri.org/maillists/public-policy-and-
expenditure/maillist.html
Also please note as posted on the opening page of the
website, the consultation process has now been extended
to 28th May.
We look forward to the discussions gaining greater
momentum this week and anticipate another week of
diverse and lively comments. Please feel free to add,
comment further or introduce new topics as well as focus
upon specific areas where you would like further discussion.
Regards,
Public Policy and Expenditure Team
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