1. Analysis of Governance in Agriculture – A conceptual Framework and Applications
Suresh Babu
International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC
Devi Prasad Juvvadi
Center for Good Governance, Hyderabad
International Conference on "Governance and Service Delivery in Agriculture and Allied Sectors"
International Conference on
"Governance and Service Delivery in Agriculture and Allied Sectors"
Hyderabad, December 18, 2014

2. This presentation will cover
Emerging Issues in Agricultural Development and Why Governance in Agriculture is important
Definitions of Governance applied to agriculture
A conceptual framework for Analysis Governance in Agriculture
Applications to Agricultural Development Challenges
Specific Priorities and Constraints
Concluding Remarks

3. Emerging Issues Recent Food Crisis and Food price volatility
Sustainable Production Systems
Climate Smart Agriculture
Agricultural – Nutrition- Health Linkages
Improving Markets and Trade in Agriculture
Building Resilience in Food and Agriculture Systems
Strengthening Institutions and Governance
Resolving these require Good Governance

4. Why study governance in agriculture?
Poor governance in various subsectors stifle progress in agriculture development
Large wastage of resources prevention spending on productive investments
Low morality of the public servants
Low quality of inputs – seeds and fertilizers to the farmers
Low standards and marketing regulations increase transaction costs and reduces income of the farmers
Poor regulation of food safety laws affect consumers
Unorganized regulatory system for biotechnology affects adoption of new technologies
More examples could be said that are context specific.

5. Definitions of Governance
Several Definitions Exist:
Governance as the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country’s economic and social resources for development. (Asian Development Bank)

6. Overseas Development institute definition
Formation and stewardship of the formal and informal rules that regulate the environment in which state and other players interact to make decisions (ODI).

7. UNDP definition
Governance is the exercise of political, economic, and administrative authority in the management of a country’s affairs including mechanisms, processes, and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations, and mediate their (UNDP)

8. World bank definition
Traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised such as selection of governments, capacity to formulate and implement policies and the respect for institutions that govern the interactions of the state and its citizens (World Bank).

9. Agricultural Governance involves
Agricultural development process which improves:
Organization and management of Institutions
Effective functioning of the institutions
Design and implementation of policies
Development of rules and regulations to support policies and laws
Ensuring active participation of all stakeholders at all levels

10. Major Principles of Good Governance (UNDP)
Participation
Consensus-orientation
Accountability
Transparency
Responsiveness
Equity and inclusiveness
Effectiveness and efficiency
Consistency with the rule of law.

11. Indicators of good governance
Voice and accountability
Political stability and absence of violence
Government effectiveness
Regulatory quality
Rule of law
Control of corruption
Source: Kraufmann, D. & Kraay, A Growth without governance. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No

12. Governance in Agriculture
Agricultural Governance depends on the governance of various sub sectors
Land sector
Input supply systems – eg: seed, fertilizer, mechanization
Output marketing systems
Market institutions
Food processing sector
Food safety systems
Agricultural education institutions
Agricultural research institutions
Agricultural extension institutions

13. Analysis of Agricultural Governance

14. An Hypothetical example for developing an Agricultural Governance index
Enlist different sub sectors of the agriculture
Apply a set of indicators of governance to each of them – a range from 0-1
Conduct a key informants interviews to find out the values of the indicators
Combine them to form an index at the sub sector level
Combine the sub sector indexes into aggregate level Agricultural Governance Index
An example is given next – could be done for comparing – districts, states, countries.

15. Agriculture Governance index

16. International level National level Public Sector / Government
Levels of Analysis
International level
National level
Public Sector / Government
Private sector
Civil society
Local level

17. Thematic Approach to Measuring Agriculture Governance – Applications to Agricultural Development Challenges

18. Governance for sustainable food production
Governance for global understanding and debate of issues and agenda setting
Governance of groups working on specific emerging challenges – Eg: climate change
Supporting the CAADP framework
Global and National governance of technology development -Biotechnology and Biosafety
Global and national governance of Natural resource degradation

19. Governance for Promoting healthy food systems
Governance of development and adoption of nutrient enhanced crops
Governance of agriculture –Nutrition – Health Linkages
Governance of new nutrition initiatives: how repetitive they are and compete for resources
Governance of steering smallholder sector to the Nutrition Objectives – local, national , global levels

20. Governance for improving markets and trade
Governance of food markets – National and international market regimes –
eg: WTO
Governance in innovation marketing –
eg: Reducing information asymmetries via contract farming
Global and National governance for managing food price spikes and volatility
Governance of new markets for supporting smallholder farmers in the event of climate change – eg: Insurance markets

21. Governance for agriculture transformation
Governance for transformation of small farms: eg: business orientation of small farms
Governance of Mechanization : eg: medium-scale farms transformation
Supporting the CAADP framework
Governance for promoting transformation at the regional and global levels eg: CAADP
Governance of development of Value chains: eg: retail food markets

22. Governance for building resilient food systems
Governance though decentralization: can it improve resilience of local food systems ?
Governance of Transfer modalities: Cash, food, or vouchers?
Governance for Emergency responses – information – early warning - Targeted transfers for emergencies
Governance of interventions and resilience in conflict zones

23. Strengthening institutions for improved governance
Governance of Knowledge flow – evidence based policy making and policy process
Governance for creating and nurturing new institutions : Eg farmer cooperatives
Governance to promote gender mainstreaming in agriculture
Governance for improved rural service delivery

24. Specific Challenges

25. Specific challenges
Lack of understanding of the concepts of Governance and it implications
No serious efforts to measure or monitor the governance indicators to compare progress temporally and spatially
Specific subsectors may pull down overall governance – need for closer look beyond sectoral level
Lack of quality research and outreach to engage policy makers

26. Concluding remarks
Little effort has been made to apply Governance Concepts in agriculture
Need to integrate broader governance goals in the agriculture sector – problems are diverse and sub sectors are multiple
Apply the concepts to identify the governance gaps in various indicators and subsectors – conceptual framework is presented
Further emerging thematic areas require governance research at all levels – global, national, local.