More aid for african agriculture: policy implications for small-scale farmers
2008
R. Dechenne
After years of ‘neglect’ in favour of health and education assistance in Africa, the food crisis has concentrated the donor community’s minds on the need for overseas development aid for African agriculture. This is welcome, but what sort of policies are being proposed and what impact will they have for the African farmer? <br /><br />This report reviews policy documents of some of the major donors providing aid for African agricultural development – between 2004 and 2008 – as well as United Nations, international finance, agricultural research and African institutions. The research seeks to determine what underlies the expressed policy of each actor; how they influence each other’s priorities; and what mainstream agenda has emerged. <br /><br />It also raises a number of pertinent questions over how the new aid to African farmers will be realised. These include: Aid effectiveness - will there be a shift in agricultural aid towards the production of <br />food by local food producers, involving local communities and farmers’ organisations?<br /> Market and private sector-led agricultural growth - will the ‘growth agenda’ be dominated by export-led and high-value crop production, supported by proprietary technologies including GM crops and increased use of agrochemicals?<br /> Exiting agriculture - will the new agriculture agenda defend small-scale farmers, especially women, and protect local food production and food provision? <br /> Improved governance and political processes - will governance systems be able to deal with the pressures from the corporate-sector , seeking to benefit through dominance of the food system and the resources used, that limit options for local and national control?<br /> African ownership - will African peoples, from local communities to nation states, be <br />allowed to determine their own development of their own food systems? The research concludes by asserting that agriculture and rural development in Africa will have to concentrate on more people-centred, food-focused and environmentally sustainable approaches if the development of African agriculture is to serve the long-term interests of the majority of Africans. <br />
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