Thumbnail Image

Agricultural policy incentives in sub-Saharan Africa in the last decade (2005–2016)

Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) synthesis study

Year of publication 2018

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 96

Author Pernechele, V., Balié, J. & Ghins, L.

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Book (series)

ISBN 978-92-5-130465-5

Series title FAO Agricultural Development Economics Technical Studies

Series number 3

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) The study summarizes the results emerging from the 2017 update of the Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) indicators for the 2005-2016 period for 14 sub-Saharan African countries. These indicators - comparable across commodities, countries and years - are commonly used to assess the extent of policy support in agriculture. They measure the effect of trade and market policies and inefficiencies on the degree of price incentives faced by farmers in key commodity value chains, as well as the level and composition of public expenditures in support of the agriculture sector. Despite results being very heterogeneous across countries and commodities, aggregate figures indicate that price incentives to agriculture are overall increasing across the period. Policies focused on supporting domestic production, through import tariffs and price support, are likely to be the main drivers of such a trend, following the food price crises period (2007–2011) when policy-makers were mainly concerned about consumer protection. Despite that, market inefficiencies still persist as a source of price disincentives to farmers and a major constraint on agricultural development. Consistently, public expenditure indicators confirm that direct budget transfers in support of producers, mainly in the form of input subsidies, continue to represent the largest part of agriculture expenditure in most countries. In general terms, only a few countries increased the share of agricultural expenditure within total public budgets in 2015. Expenditures on research and knowledge dissemination are overall stagnant or declining. Food crops continue to dominate public budgets while spending on cash crops or “innovative” products as well as on value chain integration and commercialization remains limited. Some efforts to convert resources that were previously allocated to input subsidies into investments in agricultural and rural infrastructures are seen.

Language English

Also available in:
No results found.

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Thumbnail Image
    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    Analysis of incentives and disincentives for rice in the United Republic of Tanzania 2012
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    This technical note aims to describe the market incentives and disincentives for rice producers in The United Republic of Tanzania. The note is a technical document and serves as input for the MAFAP Country Report. For this purpose, yearly averages of farm gate and wholesale prices are compared with reference prices calculated on the basis of the price of the commodity in the international market. The price gaps between the reference prices and the prices along the value chain indicate to which extent incentives (positive gaps) or disincentives (negative gaps) are present at the farm gate and wholesale level. In relative terms, the price gaps are expressed as Nominal Rates of Protection (NRP). These key indicators are used by MAFAP to highlight the effects of policy and market development gaps on prices. The note starts with a brief review of the commodity’s production and consumption as well as trade and policies affecting the commodity. It also provides a detailed description of how the key components of the price analysis have been obtained. Using this data, the MAFAP indicators are then calculated and interpreted in light of existing policies and market characteristics. The analysis is commodity and country specific and covers the period 2005- 2010. The indicators have been calculated using available data from different sources for this period and are described in Chapter 3. The outcomes of this analysis can be used by those stakeholders involved in policy-making for the food and agricultural sector. They can also serve as input for evidence-based policy dialogue at the country or regional level. This technical note is not to be interpreted as an analysis of the value chain or detailed description of production, consumption or trade patterns. All information related to these areas is presented merely to provide background on the commodity under review, help understand major trends and facilitate the interpretation of the indicators. Additionally, all information is preliminary and still subject to review and validation.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Booklet
    Analysis of incentives and disincentives for rice in Uganda for the time period 2005-2011 2012
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    This technical note is an attempt to describe the market incentives and disincentives for rice in Uganda. For this purpose, yearly averages of farm gate and wholesale prices are compared with reference prices calculated on the basis of the price of the commodity in the international market. The price gaps between the reference prices and the prices along the value chain indicate to which extent incentives (positive gaps) or disincentives (negative gaps) are present at farm gate and wholesale lev el. In relative terms, the price gaps are expressed as Nominal Rates of Protection. These key indicators are used by MAFAP to highlight the effects of policy and market development gaps on prices. The note starts with a brief review of the production, consumption, trade and policies affecting the commodity and then provides a detailed description of how the key components of the price analysis have been obtained. The MAFAP indicators are then calculated with these data and interpreted in the lig ht of existing policies and market characteristics. The analysis that has been carried out is commodity and country specific and covers the period 2005-2011. The indicators have been calculated using available data from different sources for this period and are described in Chapter 3. The outcomes of this analysis can be used by those stakeholders involved in policy-making for the food and agricultural sector. They can also serve as input for evidence-based policy dialogue at country or regional level. This technical note is not to be interpreted as an analysis of the value chain or detailed description of production, consumption or trade patterns. All information related to these areas is presented merely to provide background on the commodity under review, help understand major trends and facilitate the interpretation of the indicators. All information is preliminary and still subject to review and validation.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Booklet
    Returns to investments in fertilizers production in Kenya
    An analysis in support of the new “Agriculture Sector Growth and Transformation Strategy”
    2019
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    This report, jointly produced by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the FAO’s Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) programme, analyses alternative strategic interventions on the agricultural sector in Kenya to inform the drafting of the new Agriculture Sector Growth and Transformation Strategy (ASGTS) and a new National Agricultural Investment Plan (NAIP) of the country. The study reviews trends and composition of food and agricultural public expenditures for the 2006-2016 period based on the MAFAP methodology, and analyses, through a general equilibrium model framework, impacts of agricultural policies on economic and sectorial performances of the country, and on its food security situation. The results highlight that the share of public resources allocated to the sector has been declining over time. Moreover, the agriculture budget is dominated by extension services, inputs subsidies and agricultural research. Although invetments in extension should remain in place, as the potential positive effects on the Kenyan agriculture look significant, some rebalancing of the spending in favour of roads and marketing, together with a diversification of targeted commodities, could help maximize spending impacts. The CGE assessment confirms that while investing in fertilizer production is likely to have a positive effect on agricultural output and farmer livelihoods, such expenditures need to go hand in hand with improvements in the status of rural infrastructures and the quality of extension services. The adoption of an import tariff for fertilisers would have negative effects, through an expected increase in farmer production costs. Agricultural transformation can only be achieved by adopting coherent and well-balanced intervention packages.
Show more

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.