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What Role for Ministries ofAgriculture in the

21st Century?

Narratives on agricultural policy

Dierent narratives or storylines about

agricultural policies are being pushed

by dierent actors in the policy process,

each envisages a dierent kind o ministry o

agriculture.

Three dierent versions are elaborated. One

sees the return o the hey-day o the sectoral

ministry with capacity and policy clout to

address the major constraints o agriculture, itis argued, what is required is a strong, well-

unded line ministry, and the challenge today

is to rebuild such an organisation. A second at

the other extreme sees such sectoral ministries

taking on a minimal role, ocused on oversight

and regulation, as the private sector takes on a

more substantive role in a ree market environ-

ment. A third, perhaps less stridently articulated

than the others, sees an important role or the

state and the ministry o agriculture, together

with other state agencies in addressing the

coordination and intermediation roles o getting

markets to work eectively, while ensuring at

the same time public eorts are targeted topoverty reduction.

Which o these models or hybrids and vari-

ants o them make sense today? In the twenty-

irst century, ministries o agriculture are no

longer the key architect and driver o agricultural

policies and policy reorm. Other public sector

agencies and non-state actors play, increasingly,

a more central role in the reorm and develop-

ment o the agriculture sector.Under existing policy rameworks empha-

sising liberalisation and structural adjustment,

important areas o state intervention and

spending in agriculture are oten no longer

within the mandate o ministries o agriculture.

With the state removed rom agricultural

production and marketing, the key areas o

public sector intervention are now rural inra-

structure development (construction and main-

tenance o roads, transports, communications

and irrigation), stabilising the economy

(managing the exchange rate and maintaining

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iscal discipline and low inlation), contract

enorcement, and negotiating trade conditions

with commercial partners (taris, biosaety stan-

dards, etc.). Hence, at the beginning o the

twenty-rst century, the role o ministries oagriculture seems to be no longer that o trans-

orming the sector, or indeed the whole

economy, as they had been expected to be

beore, but one o regulation and acilitation,

in a context where they act merely as part

players.

Alternative visions for ministries of

agriculture?What is the state o play today? There are signs

that old-style, top down, hierarchical ministries

are still desperately clinging to their vision,

making the case oten in nationalist terms or

state commitment to agriculture as a core sector

(or growth, ood security, etc.). On the other

hand, there are also signs o concessions to

elements o liberalisation and structural reorm,

although there has not been an entire buy-into the ree market vision, where the states role

in agriculture would nearly disappear. The result

is, it appears, oten a poor compromise.

There is neither the capacity to deliver on

conventional roles (extension, research etc.), nor

the agility or responsiveness to be the new-style

regulator, coordinator or acilitator. Also, minis-

tries oten become, at the admission o their

own sta, unable to unction eectively, and soail to respond eectively to the many chal-

lenges and opportunities o the sector and

beyond.

This has been exacerbated by a range o other

actors, including declines in available nancial

resources, rom government or donor coers;

the impacts o structural adjustment on state

capacity and unctioning; eorts at decentralisa-

tion which have resulted in deconcentration and

dissipation o eort and competence; shits in

the aid ramework towards direct budget

support reducing the role and inluence o

sectoral ministries; the loss o technical capacity

within sectoral ministries to other jobs in the

NGO sector, and the on-going and devastating

impacts o the HIV/AIDS epidemic on all public

services in Arica.

Beyond the impasse?The conusion on roles and responsibilities has

not been claried by the recent statements by

aid donors on agricultural development direc-

tions by donors and others, who have oered

ambiguous messages as to what is expected o

the state. We seem to be at an impasse. What

are the next steps? Reorms since the 1980s havemostly been premised on a ree-market narra-

tive o agricultural development; they have

sought to down-size, restructure and change

unctions radically. While this was resisted and

oten very incompletely implemented, the result

is oten a dysunctional organisation, ill-

equipped or new challenges.

What has not been tried and is still not part-

and-parcel o most reorm initiatives unded by

donors is trying to maintain strong state

capacity, but reocus attention on key roles

including investment in state-led reorms to

help create the structural conditions or a kick-

starting the agricultural economy. This requires

on-going investment in coordination and inter-

mediation unctions to ensure emergent agri-

cultural markets unction eectively, especially

or the poor and in more marginal areas. This is

not a small, downsized state unction as envis-

aged by the peddlers o much good governance

and public sector reorm interventions, but a

substantial state unction, requiring a proes-

sionalized, skilled, and well paid sta base situ-

ated within the state.

What is the likelihood o such a shit in

emphasis? Moving the locus back towards now

nancially, proessionally and politically weak-

ened sectoral ministries (even with a new look)

will not be easy.

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There are plenty who benet rom the new

status quo, and the actor networks that have

ormed around the new aid modalities are

strong and infuential. With weak, oten poorly

articulated, agrarian political constituencies, the

opportunities or advocates o agricultural

development to emerge within the state remainlimited too.

But a reinvigorated ministry o agriculture,

one capable and willing to synchronize dierent

interests, provide a sense o direction and ensure

that policy choices on the ground are actually

consistent with the collective rhetoric on poverty

and inequality reduction, is critical. With agri-

culture such a crucial sector in Arica, providing

the source o livelihoods or more than two

thirds o the poor and or the majority o the

chronically poor, reimagining a developmental

state with a strong Ministry o Agriculture is a

critical challenge or governments and donors

alike.

Photograph:PeterBarker

Agricultural smallholdings in Kenya.

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Acknowledgements

This Policy Brie was written by Ldia Cabral and Ian Scoones o the Future Agricultures Consortium. The series editor is

David Hughes. Further inormation about this series o Policy Bries at: www. future-agricultures.org

The Future Agricultures Consortium aims to encourage critical debate and policy dialogue on the uture o agriculture in

Arica. The Consortium is a partnership between research-based organisations across Arica and in the UK.

Future Agricultures Consortium Secretariat at the University o Sussex, Brighton BN1 9RE UK T +44 (0) 1273 915670

E ino@uture-agricultures.org

Readers are encouraged to quote or reproduce material rom Future Agricultures Briefngs in their own publications. In return, the

Future Agricultures Consortium requests due acknowledgement and a copy o the publication.

FAC appreciates the support o the

UK Department or International Development (DID)

P

hotographc

redit