Agribusiness for Africa’s Prosperity. Country Case Studies
Coherence of Policies In some case study countries we observe significant problems in synchronizing agriculture and industry policies, and this seriously affects the development of agro-industries. Raw material shortages and quality problems, along with perishability and transport problems give evidence of weaknesses in the chain from pre-harvest to harvest and then to post-harvest production activities. Senegal suffers from weaknesses in its government machinery to coordinate agriculture and industry agendas, and to integrate donor policies and programmes with agriculture and agroindustrial development policies. Governments not only in Senegal, but also in Nigeria, Zambia, Ethiopia and Mali now try to overcome these deficiencies in government machinery by leaning towards a value chain approach. Ethiopia and Mali tried quite hard to synchronize their agriculture and agro-industrial development policies, but still there are gaps and conflicting policies. Decentralized support is not yet forthcoming and is not yet successfully applied. The same problems are observed in Nigeria, as the comparative advantages of the 36 states with agroindustrial production potential are not yet exploited by supportive measures. Zambia seems to apply now quite successfully more integrated and coherent agricultural and agro-industrial development policies, and this may help to overcome the dependence of the economy on mining, but it will be very important to streamline the many new support institutions towards this goal. Cameroon has yet to implement its programmes for rural development and agriculture competitiveness, especially by supporting the weak infrastructure, and needs to synchronize these policies with the programmes and policies for agro-industrial development, as the applied policies currently lack coherency. Nigeria and South Africa have immense problems in supporting agriculture/communal agriculture at the level of states, provinces, and local communities, and in making these policies coherent with their agro-industrial development policies. Kenya has not only to broaden its agricultural and agro-industrial development policies and other support policies towards the smaller and more informal producers but has also to improve its support for large commercial farmers and industrial producers so that they do not revert to “do it alone� strategies (by avoiding contacts with the government bureaucracy). While Kenya (along with other case study countries) is developing agro-industrial development strategies on the basis of a Vision and Action Plan, implementation at all government levels is the problem. There are many other policy areas where coherence is needed: competition and technology policies, taxation policies, fiscal management and fiscal decentralization policies, spatial development policies, rural development, poverty reduction and income redistribution policies, and sub-regional trade, investment, integration and development policies. All these policy areas affect agro-industrial development and agribusiness. Evidence from the eight countries shows that some progress is observable in terms of policy coherence, but coherence is still affected by the different levels of implementation of specific policies relevant to agro-industrial development. LESSON 4: Considering the scope of policies which are affecting agro-industrial development It is necessary to look at policy formation and execution in the various policy areas that affect agroindustrial development and the promotion of agribusiness. The most important areas are macroeconomic and growth policies, trade and investment policies, taxation policies, agricultural and industry policies, spatial and regional development policies, structural and technology policies, etc. It is necessary to consider all these policies in order to maximize the benefits form a holistic policy approach. It is also necessary to extend the scope of policies affecting agro-industrial development by including also competition and corporate governance policies, but also small enterprise, land development and rural development policies, fiscal management and fiscal decentralization policies, and infrastructure development policies. The highly fragmented view on support policies for agro-industrial development has to be overcome. There is a need for multidimensional action programmes based on a broader scope of policies.
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