Monitoring African Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) Jean Balié MAFAP Manager Agricultural Development Economics Division FAO, Rome MAFAP Launching Event Tuesday 15 November 2011 Ubungo Plaza, Dar es Salam, United Republic of Tanzania

Motivation increased attention to agriculture and food security price increases and volatility  demand pressure, resource constraints, weather  policies also play a key role  risks, but also opportunities  need for information and analysis to support policy dialogue and decision making

Better-informed decision making to ensure that: policies are fully supportive of  agricultural development  enhanced food security  sustainable use of natural resources investments target the areas of greatest need Vision

Policy monitoring a broad area, but we focus on a specific subset of quantitative indicators OECD countries use a common monitoring system  allows comparison across countries and over time  supports policy dialogue within and between countries similar analyses of developing countries  not systematic or institutionalized  did not account for key challenges in developing countries

Related initiatives AU, NEPAD, CAADP Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS) AGRA policy initiative CountrySTAT  MAFAP enters an active field, but with a relatively specific focus

MAFAP quantitative indicators of policy  incentives and disincentives reflected in prices (accounting for market development gaps as well as policies)  public expenditures  development and performance indicators capacity-building and institutionalization support national and regional policy dialogue and decision making

Incentives and disincentives farmers  access costs national markets  access costs  exchange rates international markets

Public expenditures refined classification system  type of recipient  basis for payment (area, unit of output, etc.)  commodities covered  conditions attached to obtain payment consistent with stated government objectives? consistent with needs revealed by indicators of price incentives and disincentives?

Development and performance indicators secondary data from other sources to help in interpretation of incentives, disincentives and public expenditure patterns  economic growth rates  agricultural productivity  infrastructure  poverty rates  etc.

Informing policy patterns of incentives and disincentives may signal need for attention  policy reform?  investment priority? the same can be compared with patterns of public expenditures and development performance indicators

Commodity coverage key import substitutes (e.g. rice, wheat) key export crops (e.g. cotton, cocoa, tea, coffee) key crops that are non-traded but important for food security (e.g. cassava) crops with high potential (e.g. flowers, fruit) totaling around 70% of the value of production

build on and support existing policy processes at national, sub-regional and continental levels collaborate with units in charge of policy and planning mobilize and strengthen networks of experts conduct capacity development activities support dialogue within regional economic communities Institutional approach

Partner institutions Governments and national institutions AU/NEPAD EAC, COMESA, SACD ECOWAS, UEMOA, CILSS ReSAKSS AGRA FAO OECD World Bank IFPRI Universities Gates Foundation

Country FAO Office MAFAP Secretariat FAO HQ MAFAP Country Level Ministry MAFAP Project Manager MAFAP Country Backstopping Officer Technical Partners Institutional Focal Point Other agencies Policy Forum Technical Network Institutional architecture

Key deliverables system of indicators strengthened national capacity country reports  economic and policy context  policy trends and effects (reporting and analysis of indicators)  country-specific policy issues (to be identified with national partners) triennial multi-country MAFAP report support for national, regional and international policy dialogue and decision making

Timeline

availability and quality of data harmonized methods and comparable results capacity development ownership, institutionalization and sustainability bridging the gap from information to decision making Key challenges

Better-informed decision making to ensure that: policies are fully supportive of  agricultural development  enhanced food security  sustainable use of natural resources investments target the areas of greatest need Vision

Thank you