Dear all,

Apologies for the delay in getting back on this exhange. This discussion was very fruitful and I thank the many members of the EvalForward network for sharing their ideas on the problems that prevent agriculture to get more funding and on ways to increase attention and resources in this sector.

We all know the importance of agriculture in Africa. However, this does not mean that governments regard it as a priority and the share of the budget allocated to agriculture is very low in many countries. Beyond structural problems such as the insufficient tax coverage, some reasons of low attention to agriculture put forward in the discussion include lack of trust in the Ministry of Agriculture itself in some countries, the inability of agriculture to demonstrate the return on investment of funding and to package attractive programmes for donors and investors. The fact that most of the agriculture sector is still dominated by the informal economy and not able to show its contribution to GDP does not help.

Several contributors stressed the need for increased attention to the efficiency of expenditures and for a focus on program-based funding instead of funding based programming. This links also to M&E’s role, which should help in raising the case for agriculture spending by improving performance and tracking the impact of agriculture activities.  

It is proved that agricultural growth has a special capacity to reduce poverty in all countries and this is what we are struggling with in Africa. The example of China shared by Emile Houngbo is striking where it is estimated that the growth from agriculture has been 3.5 times more effective that growth from other sectors in terms of poverty reduction.

I am quoting below some of the ways forward and calls for action from the discussion:

·         It’s time we start talking about the efficiency of the expenditures in terms of returns to investment rather than focus on the potential of the sector (Tim Njagi);

·         Clear results-based programming could improve government funding and we should discourage blanket allocations  (Abubakar Moki); 

·         Enhance private banking sector financing by supporting agriculture insurance implementation at large scale in order to mitigate the risks of climate change (Jean Stanislas Ouedraogo); 

·         A number of international Agreements and Decisions could help to mobilize more funding for the country’s agricultural sector. In addition to the Malabo Declaration, the Paris Climate Agreement, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDGs 1, 2, 3, 8, 10, 15 and 17, the African Union Agenda 2063 on Africa we want, the Nairobi Package on Agriculture, Cotton and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) issues, the Addis Ababa Action Plan on Sustainable Financing for Africa (Paul Mendy and Emile Houngbo); 

·         The example of FISAN from Niger (Fonds d'Investissement pour la sécurité alimentaire et Nutritionnelle), with the establishment of an agriculture bank to promote private and public investment in this sector (Abdoulaye Falla); 

·         It is important for the policy/decision makers in the agriculture sector, depending on country context and underlying donors’ interests, to ensure their projects’ proposals are well packaged so they “speak the language” of potential donors in order to increase their chances of funding (Ahmedou OuldAbdallahi);

·         Establish and leverage the value chain by creating functional value chain and value chain financing to help farms interlink with markets and benefit from this (Masresha Yimer Kelkele);

·         Make agriculture a revenue generating activity along with value chain, which will create an environment conducive to private investment (Bertin Dakouo);

·         Specify and enhance the functions of M&E: the functions of M&E and its linkages to other ministries should be articulated in order to receive more resources (Kelvin).

Best regards, 

Christine