Office of Sustainable Development
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US Agency
for International Development Office of Sustainable Development |
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AgricultureAg Initiative |
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USAID Managed Administration Initiative to End Hunger in
Africa (IEHA)*
The Initiative to End Hunger in Africa originated in the global recognition that hunger in Africa is one of the most significant development challenges facing the world today. USAID’s commitment to implementing the initiative rests on the recognition that clear political and technical options for reversing the trends of hunger and poverty in Africa now exist. The initiative recognizes that success requires sustained investments in agriculture-based strategies, programs and policies, in conjunction with improvements in health, education, infrastructure, environment and public policy management. The initiative calls for a wide ranging, extensive partnership that includes African leaders, civil society, donors, private concerns and African governments to work and invest in a smallholder-oriented agricultural growth strategy. Since significant domestic and foreign investment from the private sector is also necessary, the conditions to attract and support private investment need to be established and maintained. The Initiative has the following five elements which define IEHA. THE HUNGER CHALLENGE
AN AGRICULTURAL ACTION PLAN
FOCUS COUNTRIES AND INVESTMENTS
A FRAMEWORK TO GUIDE USAID AGRICULTURAL GROWTH INVESTMENTS IN AFRICAOPERATIONAL PLAN FOR 2002 AND 2003THE HUNGER CHALLENGE
The problem of hunger in Africa is widespread and getting worse. The numbers are staggering. It is estimated that one in three people in Africa are currently undernourished and that a third of all the world’s undernourished people reside in sub-Saharan Africa. According to a USDA study, by 2010 Africa may account for nearly two-thirds of the undernourished people in the world.
At the same time, the spread of major infectious diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, resulting in extraordinarily high death rates, also drains labor from rural economic activities. The total costs in human suffering, lowered economic productivity, and lost intellectual resources to rural Africa can scarcely be overstated. Reducing hunger and poverty in Africa is of key strategic importance to Africa and the United States. This country has strong political, economic and humanitarian interests in supporting higher agricultural growth in Africa. Without such growth, widespread hunger and poverty will increase the likelihood of political instability and costly conflict across the continent. U.S. exports to Africa are already substantial, totaling $6.1 billion in 1996 alone and creating an estimated 100,000 American jobs, but an expanding African agricultural sector and greater African economic growth means expanding markets for U.S. exports and even more American jobs. [go to top]
AN AGRICULTURAL ACTION PLAN
The Initiative to End Hunger in Africa focuses on promoting agricultural growth and building an African-led partnership to cut hunger and poverty. The primary objective of the initiative is to rapidly and sustainedly increase agricultural growth and rural incomes in sub-Saharan Africa.
q Create a coordinated sub-regional/multi-country momentum and dynamic to induce and encourage agricultural growth. q Support the efforts of countries and leaders committed to agricultural growth as a critical development pathway. q Identify and target options and opportunities to accelerate smallholder-based agricultural growth, leading to more efficient and profitable use of resources. q Forge effective linkages with other sectors and initiatives, including education, health, macroeconomic reform and infrastructure improvement, to achieve common economic and social development objectives. q Build alliances and a broad-based political and financial commitment among public and private development partners, both in Africa and internationally, to cut hunger in half by 2015. A regional vision is crucial. Regional cooperation and harmonization of agricultural trade systems will play a critical role in creating national, regional and international opportunities for farmers and firms. Regional portfolios to promote agricultural growth will focus on agricultural trade, technology development/transfer, and information systems that help countries identify and take advantage of opportunities, promote spillover of benefits, and avert disasters. African leadership is likewise indispensable if progress is to be sustained. In particular, African leaders need to put agriculture at the center of programs targeting economic growth and poverty reduction. Experience demonstrates that where African leaders are committed to agricultural growth, donors partner with them and achieve significant results.
Multi-sector approaches to reduction of malnutrition and poverty are essential, involving the promotion of better public health, education, and clean water, as well as increased food supplies and non-farm sources of income. Integration of HIV/AIDS education, health care, and family assistance into agricultural projects and rural investments can all nurture rural livelihoods and agricultural growth. Finally, to achieve the initiative’s goals, substantial investment will be needed. African governments, international development agencies, private sector investors, civil society, universities, and a broad range of interest groups that provide support for African development, including USAID, must work together to mobilize the necessary resources. [go to top]
FOCUS COUNTRIES AND INVESTMENTS
The concept of focusing used here has three
important dimensions for achieving agricultural growth and the success
of this initiative. The approach will concentrate on focus countries in each of three subregions—i.e., Eastern, West/Central, and Southern Africa. A sub-regional platform to complement country-level efforts will be vital to accelerating agricultural growth. Of particular importance is the fact that it will spread the benefits of the agricultural initiative beyond the focus countries. Therefore, both the nine focus countries and the appropriate USAID sub-regional units (REDSO, WARP and RCSA) will prepare individual five-year action plans. In preparing their plans, the focus countries in each sub-region will work closely with each other, with their sub-regional unity, and with AFR/SD and EGAT for maximum coordination and synergy. The initiative will encourage a focus A FRAMEWORK TO GUIDE USAID AGRICULTURAL GROWTH
INVESTMENTS IN AFRICA
Evidence from Africa and throughout the world
demonstrates that few regions can emerge from poverty without sustained
agricultural growth, and that sustainable agricultural growth requires a
continuous flow of innovations that increase productivity. Increased
agricultural productivity and more competitive markets are essential
ingredients of smallholder agricultural growth, and both offer numerous
opportunities for high-impact USAID investments. Country and sub-regional action plans will be built around six focal themes for maximum coordinated impact:
Improving the efficiency of agricultural trade
and market systems contributes to agricultural growth by raising
African competitiveness in export and domestic markets, connecting
African farmers to consumers, and integrating African countries into
global markets. More effective market systems will add value to products
and processes, deliver high-quality, safe products, and reduce costs for
consumers. Furthermore, they will create a climate and infrastructure
that attract private and foreign investment to Africa agricultural
businesses. Community- and producer-based organizations
contribute to agricultural growth by providing a wide variety of
business, training and leadership development services and by giving a
political voice to the economic interests of farmers, who are normally
too poor and too scattered to be heard. Such organizations can also
create basic linkages between farmers (especially small-scale farmers)
and businesses (input vendors, food processors, manufacturers, traders
and food outlets) or research groups that are unable or unwilling to
deal with them individually. These linkages create opportunities and add
value to producer efforts while offering businesses an efficient means
of reaching producers. Developing human capital, infrastructure and
institutions is a fundamental building block of agricultural growth.
It is vital to build Africa’s human
and institutional capacity to shape and lead policy and research,
as well as provide agricultural education. Furthermore, over the past
decade there has been significant policy reform, but limited
institutional reform. Many institutions created during central
government control of markets and services now find themselves
ill-equipped to work in a liberalized market environment and in need of
restructuring. Finally, the need to develop Africa’s
infrastructure—in transportation, energy, water/sanitation and
telecommunications—is increasingly urgent.
Finally, environmental management contributes to agricultural and rural sector growth through the conservation and production of environmental goods and services that generate public and private economic benefits. Proper environmental management makes agricultural production and water management sustainable and reduces or reverses degradation caused by inappropriate farming practices, overgrazing and poor forest management. [go to top] “Quick Start” activities have already begun to lay the foundation for the initiative’s launch in 2003. These activities emphasize (a) training in agricultural science and policy and (b) wide dissemination of agricultural technology packages, including biotechnology, especially through the new TARGET program. The process of consulting with focus countries, the
development community, and private investors has been underway since
last year. It will continue with the firming of commitments and the
weaving of strategies, programs and alliances with input and feedback
from all these stakeholders. Monitoring and evaluation commenced with the Quick
Start activities and will continue throughout the life of the
initiative. The process of elaborating sample indicators for the
initiative is already well advanced, and planning will coordinate timing
and content of projects to make it possible to learn from comparisons
between both focus countries and sub-regions. Strategic analysis to guide strategies, work plans and monitoring has also begun, and the focus countries and sub-regional units will start crafting their Action Plans in the next few months. The process for developing these Plans began with a workshop held in Washington in June 2002. A new funding mechanism will permit them to add dedicated staff to help realize the vision—ambitious, yet eminently realizable—of this initiative. [go to top] Initiative to End Hunger Newsletters HUNGER FACT SHEET - Initiative Announcement Initiative Overview Paperunder construction (below links) Link to Implementing Mission Web-Pages - Link to Documents, Including Technical Papers
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Widespread
poverty compounds the problem of hunger in Africa. Low per capita
agricultural income is directly linked to high rates of poverty and hunger
in Africa, forming a vicious, recurring cycle that leads to a low-growth
trap: poverty limits people’s ability to purchase food, while
malnutrition and poor health limit their ability to earn income, leading
to still deeper poverty.
To
grow out of poverty, smallholder farmers and agricultural firms need to
generate profits and income from their products and services. Elements of
an action plan to tackle the problem of hunger in Africa therefore
include: 
Scientific
and technological applications that harness the power of new
technology (e.g., information technology and biotechnology) and global
markets contribute to agricultural growth in two ways: by raising the
productivity of food and export products and by increasing the stability
and volume of supplies. But expanding food supplies is not enough.
Agricultural technology needs to improve product quality, relieve
pressure on natural resources, reduce post-harvest losses, help
producers respond to markets, help entrepreneurs develop profitable
enterprises, raise farm incomes and lower the price of food to consumers
to be considered fully successful. Planning for the initiative will take
these multiple imperatives into account.
Another
essential element in Africa’s agricultural growth must be integrating
vulnerable groups and countries in transition into sustainable
development processes. This effort recognizes that hunger and poverty
are not immutable issues, but are often human-made problems to which
human-made solutions in many cases already exist. Specific objectives
include: (a) helping the chronically poor and hungry in rural Africa
find viable paths out of poverty by accumulating assets, (b) reducing
the vulnerability of poor people to weather-, market- and
conflict-induced shocks, and (c) enhancing the capacity of countries to
manage shocks that have regional and national impacts.