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IFPRI ForumMost governments, donors, and development experts agree that agriculture is critical for reducing poverty and promoting economic development. But what actually happens at the policy level when it comes to sequencing and prioritizing actions and investments? Do strategies match up with policies and their implementation? These are questions that IFPRI's Development Strategy and Governance Division is examining through the Agricultural Policy Support Facility (APSF), an IFPRI initiative that is part of its Nigeria Strategy Support Program (NSSP). NSSP is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency and implemented in collaboration with the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources to strengthen evidence-based policymaking in the country's agricultural sector.
Initial research results—which were presented to Nigerian stakeholders, farmer organizations, donor representatives, development partners, and members of the research community at an APSF workshop held earlier this year in Abuja, Nigeria—show that a lack of transparency and consistency in policymaking, low productivity, poor infrastructure, and insufficient financial support for the sector constrain the country's agricultural sector. However, research-based policymaking, sufficiently allocated and monitored public investment, and targeted support in such key areas as roads and rural credit can help the sector realize its full potential.
Some of the most dramatic findings came from a review of Nigeria's expenditure on agriculture, which revealed extremely low and at times erratic funding to agriculture, with a lack of evidence-based research behind budgetary decisions. Recommendations included improving how spending is tracked; clarifying the roles and expenditure assignments of the federal government as well as state and local governments; and investing in research to answer urgent questions about the effectiveness of programs that receive the vast majority of the sector's spending, such as fertilizer subsidies, a national grain storage system, and the National Special Program for Food Security.
IFPRI researchers also evaluated a World Bank community development project in Nigeria known as Fadama II and found that the household incomes of participants increased by 60 percent in one year and that they acquired productive assets (such as irrigation equipment) at a level far greater than nonparticipants. To replicate the success of this project, the researchers recommended that the Nigerian government continue its poverty-reduction efforts through similar community-driven development projects, and involve the private sector to provide affordable credit for productive assets.
In order to achieve social and economic development through agriculture, government policies must be based on evidence and designed to be pro-poor, gender sensitive, and environmentally friendly. The APSF program is working hand in hand with Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources to implement these recommendations.
For more information, contact NSSP program coordinator Valerie Rhoe (v.rhoe@cgiar.org).