INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty
AssessingAFRICA Development Strategies and Africa’s Food and Nutrition Security Franz Heidhues,Achi Atsain, Hezron Nyangito, Martine Padilla, Gérard Ghersi, and Jean-Charles Le Vallée
umerous strategies, policies, and programs Nintended to assist Africa’s development have been conceived and implemented by international bodies, regional and subregional groups, and national institutions. On average, a typical developing country in Africa is assisted by about 30 aid institutions in the implementation of these strategies, yet Africa is still far from achieving food and nutrition security.
2020 Africa Conference Brief 14 EVALUATINGSTRATEGIES IMPORTANTSTRATEGIES AND PROGRAMS
dequate access to food that is necessary for food ost African countries became independent in the A security must be complemented with provision of M1960s. The relatively positive socioeconomic per- health services, education, sanitary environments, and safe formances of African countries during the postindepen- water sources, among other resources, to achieve nutri- dence boom years were followed by downturns, which tion security. A comprehensive developmental approach have continued in some countries to the present date. is thus required to ensure that all groups in a population Two fundamentally different approaches to furthering achieve both food and nutrition security. The successful Africa’s development emerged in the late 1970s and the implementation of such a development strategy requires early 1980s and were pursued simultaneously; all subse- clear formulation of the strategy, a conducive policy and quent initiatives emerged from these two positions. institutional environment, a widely shared consensus The first position was that held by the Organization about the strategy and the measures required to imple- of African Unity (OAU) and was used to formulate the ment it, the human capacity for implementation, and suffi- strategies that made up the Lagos Plan of Action (LPA) cient financial resources for agencies to execute the and the Regional Food Plan for Africa (AFPLAN).This strategy. Finally, agencies and stakeholders need to have position perceived Africa’s colonial heritage and contin- adequate incentives to take the planned action. ued dependence on Western donors as the main hin- To evaluate a development strategy in detail, it is drances to future development.Thus the LPA empha- necessary to address the following questions: sized disassociation from Western donors and concen- tration on internally focused development, with each • Have key issues been clearly identified, properly country orienting production toward its own markets. analyzed, and located within their political, eco- Development aid was seen as rightful compensation for nomic, and sociocultural contexts? colonial injustices. Programs formulated subsequently, • Are objectives clearly defined, internally consis- such as the African Priority Program for Economic tent, and formulated realistically, and have possible Recovery (1986–90), followed a similar line, while also conflicts between the objectives been identified recognizing internal institutional and policy deficiencies. and trade-offs between them been addressed? The second position was based on the neoliberal • Are policies and programs for achieving these understanding of economic development and was typi- objectives appropriate to, congruent with, and cally held by donors and international institutions (such supportive of the strategy? as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund • Is the capacity to implement the strategy available [IMF]). This position took concrete form in the structur- —that is, are there sufficient financial resources, al adjustment programs (SAPs), with their emphasis on the necessary human capacity, the requisite insti- macroeconomic stability; elimination of market distor- tutional framework, and adequate infrastructure? tions, subsidies, and price controls; liberalization of trade and exchange transactions; reduction of government and • Has the time required for implementation been elimination of parastatal activities; and encouragement of estimated realistically, taking into account the the private sector. demands of institution building, education, and When the weaknesses of the SAP approach—such training? as the resulting social disruption; worsening income dis- • Have all stakeholders been included in the tribution, unemployment, and anti-poor biases inherent process of strategy development, and, in particu- in public sector retrenchment; and its short-term orien- lar, have they been involved in identifying priori- tation—became increasingly apparent in the 1990s, the ties, in defining objectives, and in planning and World Bank extended the SAP framework to include a implementing the strategy? “social dimension.” This led the World Bank to concep- • Have the lessons of past experiences of develop- tualize a more holistic approach, the Comprehensive ment strategy implementation been taken into Development Framework (CDF), which is still employed account? today. The CDF tries to involve all stakeholders in the development process and to integrate economic, social,
2 political, cultural, and environmental needs. This new unevenness of the playing field in international trade, approach focuses on poverty reduction and emphasizes with the E.U., Japan, and the United States continuing to each country’s ownership and the involvement of its protect their markets against imports from developing national, regional, and local governments, civil society, and countries, including those in Africa. private sector. Transparency, accountability, and the mon- itoring and evaluation of performance of societal institu- tions are also emphasized. This strategy has been inte- grated into the poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP) CONCLUSIONS process for each individual country—a participatory process whereby countries outline a strategy, including lthough development programs have certainly specific policies for reducing poverty, restoring macro- A experienced some success, progress toward food economic equilibrium, and establishing a framework con- and nutrition security has not been consistent throughout ducive to pro-poor growth. PRSPs also link the CDF to Africa. Since the root causes of poverty and hunger vary the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. from country to country, highly context-specific policies An initiative known as the New Partnership for and strategies are required. Recommendations for African Africa’s Development (NEPAD) was started by African governments and other agencies with respect to hunger leaders in 1999 and builds on the CDF by combining alleviation should therefore be based on the particular African initiatives and program ownership with neoliber- features of the subregion or country in question. al concepts. NEPAD supports liberalization and globaliza- Many countries have formulated poverty reduction tion but emphasizes that these processes need to be fair policies with an increased emphasis on agricultural devel- and must take place simultaneously with the leveling of opment. More progress is needed in key areas, however, the international trade playing field. NEPAD calls on such as in reducing social and economic discrimination African leaders and governments to improve gover- against women, particularly in improving their access to nance, eliminate corruption, facilitate the creation of land, credit, and input and output markets, and in fostering democratic structures and processes, encourage a free the education of girls. Similarly, in areas such as employ- press, and establish an independent, fair, and reliable judi- ment creation, natural resource protection, and gover- cial system. It also reemphasizes that agriculture and nance reform, some countries have initiated encouraging rural development are crucial to poverty reduction and measures, but much more progress is needed.The most food and nutrition security. NEPAD enjoys strong sup- successful reformers have been countries without war port from the international donor community. or civil unrest and with reform processes characterized These two contrasting positions on development by strong political leadership and a commitment to have affected most African socioeconomic development reforms with wide domestic participation and ownership. programs. The second position has had a particularly sig- It is clear that peace and security are prerequisites for nificant impact in recent years. SAPs and PRSPs have development and thus for poverty reduction. In coun- shaped regional approaches and country policies and tries that have been plagued by conflict and war, devel- their implementation throughout Africa. A significant opment has been pushed back years, if not decades. number of African countries have carried out successful Political will and the commitment to reform within programs of macroeconomic stabilization and structural a framework of good governance are crucial features of reform. Reforms and retrenchment of the public sector successful reform and development. Experience has also have been carried out in numerous countries, although shown that reform processes are most successful with often at the cost of increasing unemployment—and thus the wide involvement and participation of people at all vulnerability to food and nutrition insecurity—and a levels of society and across different organizations and decline in public services, even in essential areas such as social groups. For poverty reduction in particular, civil health, education, and research and extension services. society and private sector groups representing the poor International trade has been liberalized in many coun- need to be included in the consultation, decision- tries, and parastatal marketing boards no longer enjoy making, and implementation processes. market monopolies. A major issue in most African coun- Capacity building must be a high priority. The very tries remains the failure of the weak private sector to recent and still patchy experience of African countries take up the functions once performed by government with PRSP implementation demonstrates that capacity marketing monopolies. A further key problem is the building requires more attention and more resources.
3 Greater capacity and competence are required at all became obvious. Deficiencies in project environments levels of African administration. resulted in a 180-degree shift in approach toward lending Agriculture should be returned to the top of the for policy programs, as opposed to extending loans for development agenda, given the critical role it plays in projects. This shift forced the private sectors of the tar- African livelihoods.The priority given to agriculture and get countries to take up micro-level activities. Improving water in NEPAD and the Maputo 2003 Declaration of policy environments and strengthening institutional the Heads of States of the African Union is encouraging frameworks are necessary aims and remain a high pri- in this respect. It is essential for the World Bank and ority, but development only occurs if investment, innova- bilateral donors to follow the lead of African states and tion, and action are carried out on farms, in households, support agricultural development. Prioritizing agricul- and in villages.This means that development strategists ture cannot be achieved without making additional should reaffirm the value of the project approach. resources available to these programs. Countries need Finally, the design and implementation of good poli- to act on the Maputo Declaration’s target of allocating cies are dependent on clear, relevant, and consistent 10 percent of each country’s budget to agriculture. policy objectives, financial resource availability, and Governments and donors face a joint challenge to human and institutional capacity. Even under such ideal achieve greater cohesion in their approaches to the vari- circumstances, these processes often involve risks to ous strategies promoted by, and the requirements of, the the political and social stability of target countries.The international community. For example, monitoring speed of reform and the implementation of policies and poverty reduction in a given country is important within programs should be appropriate to each country’s the PRSP process, but care should be taken not to over- political and social absorptive capacity. burden that country’s capacity and institutions. Too For further reading: C. Eicher,“Flashback: Fifty Years of often, donors have instituted reporting and monitoring Donor Aid to African Agriculture,” presented at the requirements that place their internal institutional needs International Policy Conference “Successes in African ahead of the needs of the recipient country. Donors Agriculture: Building the Future,” Pretoria, South Africa, 1–3 should agree on a coordinated and unified monitoring December 2003; F. Owusu,“Pragmatism and the Gradual Shift from Dependency to Neoliberalism:The World Bank, and evaluation system that serves primarily to improve African Leaders and Development Policy in Africa,” World policy implementation in recipient countries. Development 31 (2003): 1655–1672. Adequate attention should be devoted to micro-level activities.The project approach, which emphasized the Note: This brief is drawn from the larger report by Franz Heidhues funding of specific development activities, dominated the ([email protected]),Achi Atsain, Hezron Nyangito, Martine Padilla, Gérard Ghersi, and Jean-Charles Le Vallée, Development development scene in Africa until the 1980s, but its limi- Strategies and Food and Nutrition Security in Africa:An Assessment, 2020 tations in nonconducive policy environments soon Discussion Paper 38 (Washington, D.C.: IFPRI, 2004).
Franz Heidhues is professor at the University of Hohenheim, Center for Tropical Agriculture, in Stuttgart, Germany;Achi Atsain is professor of economics and econometrics at the University of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and senior research fellow at the Ivorian Center for Economic and Social Research; Hezron Omare Nyangito is a principal policy analyst and head of the Productive Sector Division at the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA); Martine Padilla is a development economist and policy analyst at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute in Montpellier, France; Gérard Ghersi is director of the International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies at the Institute of Montpellier; and Jean-Charles Le Vallée is an agricultural economist, agronomist, ecologist, and nutritionist.
INTERNATIONAL FOOD This brief was prepared for the conference on "Assuring Food and Nutrition Security in Africa by 2020: POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE Prioritizing Actions, Strengthening Actors, and Facilitating Partnerships," held in Kampala, Uganda,April 1-3, 2033 K Street, NW 2004
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