PUBLIC POLICY AND EXPENDITURE

Summary from the Moderator, Tini Chatterjee, 30th April.

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