Future Agricultures ConsortiumA Research and Policy Alliance on

African Agriculture

An Overview of the Consortium’s Research, Communications and

Policy Engagement Activities

January 2013

www.future-agricultures.org

Future Agricultures Consortium

Established in 2005….“to encourage dialogue and the sharing of good practice by policy makers and opinion formers in Africa on the role of agriculture in broad based growth”

Future Agricultures Consortium Focus on…• Producing cutting-edge, policy relevant research at national

and regional levels to help decision-making for accelerating agricultural growth and reducing poverty

• Building on solid long-term partnerships with programmes and processes related to CAADP, adding value through synergies and collaboration

• Communicating evidence and facilitating access to knowledge and information through communications and networking

• Investing in social science capacity and careers in an African context through a successful Early Career Fellowship programme and post-doctoral programme

• Why now? Lack of focus on the political economy of agricultural policy processes

X-cutting policy questionsAssuming that effectiveness of policy is a major determinant of agricultural performance…

• Which agricultural policies get implemented (in a particular country/context ) – and why?

• Why might implementation of a particular policy prescription lead to very different outcomes across countries?

• How does the political economy of national agricultural policy processes affect sub-national/local level processes?

Partners and countries• UK: IDS, ODI, SOAS +

partners in Brazil & China• Africa: multiple partners

across the continent with “hubs” in Accra, Cape Town and Nairobi

• Southern Africa: Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

• Eastern Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda

• Western Africa: Burkina Faso, Congo-Brazzaville, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal

2013 and beyond• DFID accountable grant – 3 years to April 2013 –

£1.5m/yr

• Extending research activities into West Africa both francophone + anglophone, with links across

• New funded research programmes for 2013 on Land and Commercialisation, Brazil and China in Africa

• Major conference on political economy of agricultural policy in Africa, March 2013

• Strengthening the capacity of young researchers

• New regional, Africa-centred structure based on 3 Africa-based hubs with 1 European hub

Our research themesResearch, analysis and debate on the political economy of agricultural policy

1. Policy Processes2. Land3. China and Brazil in African Agriculture4. Commercialisations5. Growth & Social Protection 6. Science, Technology & Innovation7. Climate Change & Agriculture8. Pastoralism9. Young People & Agri-Food Systems10. Gender and Social Difference

Policy processesFocus

• What determines which policies and investments for agricultural development are ‘politically feasible’ in different contexts?

• How might political economy factors influence how donors can engage most usefully in agricultural policy?

• How might political economy factors influence the outcome of CAADP processes?

• How do political economy factors constrain/support the policy options to promote smallholder commercialisation?

42%22%

12% 17%

LandFocus

• What international and national policy processes influence transnational commercial land deals in Africa?

• What competing discourses, interests and power relations define struggles over transnational land deals in different places?

• Who wins and who loses from such land deals, in terms of gender, class, ethnicity?

• What are the impacts of different kinds of land deals?

42%22%

12% 17%

China and Brazil in African Agriculture

Focus

• What investments are Brazil and China making in agricultural production in Africa?

• What visions and models underpin Brazil and China cooperation programmes?

• How do Brazil and China’s visions and models compare with one another and with traditional donors’ approaches to development?

• What are the implications for traditional donors and for pro-poor development in Africa?

42%22%

12% 17%

CommercialisationsFocus

• What pathways to which types of commercialisation are open to smallholder producers?

• What market and institutional innovation in supply chains might help smallholder producers?

• How do labour markets and institutions affect agricultural growth and poverty reduction?

• How can coordination failures in finance, input and output supply be remedied?

• How can agri-business be developed and regulated?

42%22%

12% 17%

Social protectionFocus

• Can synergies be identified between welfare-protecting and growth-promoting social protection and agricultural policies?

• Are there combinations of growth and social protection strategies and instruments that can promote both agricultural and non-agricultural growth and social protection?

• What does ‘graduation’ mean in such intrinsically vulnerable and unpredictable livelihood contexts?

42%22%

12% 17%

Science, technology & innovation

Focus

• How does the political economy of innovation processes shape agricultural R&D in different settings?

• What public and private actors and interests are influencing debates and policy decisions on Africa’s new Green Revolution agenda – and whose voices are excluded?

• How can the agricultural R&D process be governed so that it works for poor African producers?

42%22%

12% 17%

Climate changeFocus

• What are the key policy processes, at national and international levels, that shape the links between climate change and agriculture?

• How are international climate change policy goals on mitigation and adaptation negotiated in the agricultural sector at the national level?

• How do government adaptation and mitigation policies manifest themselves in agricultural sector strategies?

42%22%

12% 17%

PastoralismFocus

• What are the key issues influencing the future of pastoralists in sub-Saharan Africa?

• What mechanisms are pastoralists employing to develop and spread their own innovations?

• What are the opportunities and constraints to promoting the uptake of these innovations?

42%22%

12% 17%

Young people & agri-foodFocus

• How is demographic change affecting the availability of farmers in the future?

• Is de-agrarianisation inevitable?

• What are changing perceptions, expectations and aspirations among youth about the future of agriculture in different contexts?

• How can agriculture across the whole value chain be made attractive as a livelihood option for rural youth in Africa?

42%22%

12% 17%

Gender & social differenceCross-cutting all themes…

• How do gender and social difference affect how different people in different places benefit from agricultural development?

• How can stereotypes and assumptions about women and men in African agriculture be challenged?

• What are the circumstances which allow structures to either open or limit access to opportunities?

Convening policy events• Farmer First Revisited: Innovation for Agricultural

Research and Development – IDS, Dec 2007• Towards an African Green Revolution? – Salzburg, 2008• African Agricultural Policy Seminars – ODI, 2008 & 2010• Awakening Africa’s Sleeping Giant: Agricultural

Development in the Guinea Savannah – SOAS, Jun 2010

• Seasonality Revisited Conference – IDS, Jul 2009• University of the Bush 1 + 2 – Borana, Ethiopia, Mar 2009;

Malka Bisan Adi, Kenya, Nov 2010 • What Agriculture for Sustainable Development in Africa?

– CEDRES, Burkina Faso, Dec 2010• Future of Pastoralism – ILRI, Ethiopia, Mar 2011• Global Land Grabbing 1 + 2 – IDS, Apr 2011; Cornell, 2012• International Conference on Young People, Farming and

Food – Accra, Ghana, Mar 2012• International seminar on South-South Co-operation –

Brasilia, May 2012• International Conference on the Political Economy of

Agricultural Policy in Africa – Mar 2013

Communications for change

FAC Publications reaching different audiences• Policy Briefs, Working Papers• Journals, Books, Reports• Electronic Bulletin• English & French

FAC Website a key portal• Research• Publications• News and events• E-debates, blogs, video• 213,825 unique visitors since May

2010 (excluding associated websites)

‘Communications Alliance’• Comms Coordinator (Beatrice Ouma)• Food & Ag Convenor (Nathan Oxley)• IDS Knowledge Services• WREN Media (Susanna Thorp)• South Africa (Rebecca Pointer, PLAAS)• Communications capacity building

www.future-agricultures.org

Building capacityFAC Africa works to strengthen the capacity of junior African researchers in generating high-quality policy relevant research and using this to influence policy processes:

1. Early Career Fellowships Programme

2. Fieldwork Scholarships for Masters Degrees

3. Land Deal Politics Initiative (LDPI) Small Grants

FAC early career fellowships• International, open competition run in 2010, 2011 and

2012 – hundreds of applicants

• 27 Early Career Fellowships awarded since 2009-10 to promising post-graduate researchers in Africa and the UK

• Coordinated by Gem Argwings-Khodek (Kenya)

• Each Fellow is assigned one/two FAC Mentors to support and supervise research and writing

• Each Fellow expected to build on own research or link to a specific FAC theme

Round 3 FAC Fellows• Mariam Mapila, Malawi (Youth)• Manase Chiweshe, Zimbabwe (Youth)• Loveness Msofi, Malawi (Gender)• Akwen Sah, Cameroon (Gender)• Trust Kasambala, Malawi (Science,

Technology & Innovation)• Laura Silici, Italy (Commercialisation)• Jane Chege, Kenya (Commercialisation)• Denboy Kudejira, Zimbabwe (Climate)• Eunice Githae, Kenya (Climate)• Fayera Simi, Ethiopia (Growth & Social

Protection)• Miguel Loureiro, Portugal (Policy Processes)• Yassin Terragi, Ethiopia (Land)• Yared Lemma, Ethiopia (Pastoralism)• Gutu Wayessa, Ethiopia (Pastoralism)

MA fieldwork scholarships• Strategic partnership with the Collaborative Masters Program

in Agricultural and Applied Economics (CMAAE)

– CMAAE involves 16 universities in 12 countries in East and Southern Africa (Secretariat based in Nairobi)

– Students pursue MAs in Agriculture and Rural Devt; Ag Policy and Trade; Agribusiness Mgt; Environment & Natural Resource Mgt

– FAC scholarship recipients receive £1500-£2000 awards

– Selection and supervision is by CMAAE & home universities

– Expectation is that each recipient will produce a summary of their fieldwork that can become a FAC Research / Policy Brief

• Additional scholarships provided directly by FAC partners in African universities

LDPI small grants• FAC contributes to a series of small grants under the Land

Theme through the Land Deal Politics Initiative

• Small grants of c. £2000 are provided to researchers in Africa (and elsewhere)

• Focus is on the political economy, political ecology and political sociology of land deals centred on food, biofuels, minerals and conservation

• 20 small grants awarded in 2010-11

• 21 grants awarded in 2011-12

FAC Africa New, regional, Africa-centred structure with 4 “hubs”

• East and Central Africa Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development, Egerton University, Kenya

• Southern Africa Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, South Africa

• West Africa Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, University of Ghana

• EuropeInstitute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK

Coordination & governance• Management team Ephraim Chirwa (Malawi), Gem Ardwings-

Kodhek (Kenya), Ruth Hall (South Africa), Sam Asuming Brempong (Ghana), John Thompson (UK) and Beatrice Ouma (Kenya)

• Africa “hubs” are related to the major regional economic communities in Africa (COMESA, ECOWAS and SADC). Hubs are located in leading, university-based, policy research institutions

• Over 90 researchers in 15 countries in Africa working with partners in the UK, Brazil and China

• CAADP Engagement CAADP Coordinator (Sam Asuming Brempong) + Consultant (Kate Wellard Dyer)

• Gender and Social Difference cross-cutting focus (Christine Okali)

Further information:

Sam Asuming-Brempong asumbre20@hotmail.com

Future Agricultures Consortium

c/o ISSERUniversity of Ghana

P.O. Box LG 74Legon, Ghana

Tel: (233-21)512502 (233-21)512503

www.future-agricultures.org

Thank you