Dit is de titel van de presentatie November 2005

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WDR 2008 Agriculture for development
implications for research
Wageningen, December 18, 2007 Frits van der Wal
(frits-vander.wal_at_minbuza.nl) Ministry of
Foreign Affairs/Development Cooperation Sustainabl
e Economic Development Department The Hague
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Content

• Agriculture Research in Our Common Concern
  investment in development in a changing world
• MoF policy memorandum Research in Development
• Propositions

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Our Common Concern (1)

• Greater emphasis is needed on growth and its
  distribution to help bridge the gap between rich
  and poor, both between and within countries.
  Developing countries must be encouraged and
  helped to take part in the world trade system.
  Sustainable growth must move up the agenda.
  Within countries, the focus must be on promoting
  pro-poor growth in the private sector and growth
  in the agricultural and informal sectors, which
  are particularly important to the poor

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Our Common Concern (2)

• Major investments are needed in agricultural
  research, infrastructure, health care, education
  and properly functioning public and private
  sectors to enable Africans to exploit market
  access
• Global economic growth and climate change are
  placing a heavy burden on fragile ecosystems.
  Several recent reports show that deforestation,
  desertification, flooding and exhaustion of
  agricultural land and natural resources are
  taking on alarming proportions. Poor countries
  are hit hardest by environmental degradation

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Our Common Concern (3)

• Partner countries need to be held more
  accountable for how they use aid. The Paris
  Declaration refers to government-to-government
  aid. Aid to productive sectors, particularly
  agriculture, is lagging behind, and support to
  local civil society organisations has declined

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Our Common Concern (4)

• Given the fact that a relatively large
  proportion of poor people live in rural areas,
  agriculture is an important productive sector for
  achieving MDG 1. The contribution of the
  agricultural sector to economic growth in
  sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, is often
  disappointing. Stronger growth and improved
  productivity are needed. At the same time, some
  poor people will have to find work in sectors
  other than agriculture

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Our Common Concern (5)

• Governments in partner countries must foster
  employment in rural areas, both in farming and in
  other sectors. They need to invest in knowledge
  (training) and in regional infrastructure (road
  networks, communication structures), and
  encourage small entrepreneurs to continually
  develop their knowledge and skills and ensure
  that their companies are well organised. This
  could also be achieved by improving market
  functioning
• The private sector is the most important player
  when it comes to opportunities and potential for
  commercial agriculture in production chains

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Our Common Concern (6)

• Governments in partner countries will have to
  take targeted measures to offer the poor,
  particularly women, equal access to information,
  credit, micro-credit and the means of production.
  In sub-Saharan Africa women do 85 of the work on
  the land, but own just 1 of it. Women worldwide
  are less educated than men and receive less pay.
  Good, relevant education (vocational and general)
  and legal protection for women are therefore also
  preconditions for general growth in a country, as
  are good health and HIV/AIDS prevention

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Our Common Concern (7)

• Structural poverty and hunger cannot be tackled
  without some consideration of transfer mechanisms
  to the most vulnerable groups, including
  progressive taxation and proactive social policy.
  This could include health, agricultural and loss
  of income insurance. Alternative forms of
  employment in the form of productive safety nets
  such as cash for work programmes will also be
  promoted

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Our Common Concern (8)

• The second generation of PRSPs are focusing more
  on economic growth and more of them include
  specific strategies for private sector
  development, agriculture or infrastructure. But
  many still fail to make the link between good
  sectoral strategies and macro-economic and budget
  policy. The Netherlands can do more, with other
  donors, to improve the coherence between macro
  policy and sectoral policy, with a focus on
  distribution, workers rights, corporate social
  responsibility and employment, as part of a broad
  socio-economic dialogue. It will therefore offer
  support for the establishment of socio-economic
  councils. The input of producers organisations,
  trade unions, knowledge institutions, civil
  society and media can also be stepped up

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Research in Development (1)

• All too frequently, research leads to insights
  that cannot be applied to development processes
• Knowledge does not merely consist of a supply
  of objective information gathered through
  research. It also includes intuition,
  interpretation and contextual insights. Knowledge
  is amassed not only by scientists and academics,
  but also by civil society organisations and
  businesses. In other words, the need for
  knowledge cannot be met by research alone

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Research in Development (2)

• Translation of knowledge and research into new
  practices, working methods and production methods
  does not proceed through linear processes, but
  through cooperation, exchange of experience and
  communication. Interaction between the parties
  involved, their diversity and their
  interdependence are the most important factors in
  a functioning system of innovation

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Research in Development (3)

• To encourage innovation, focus needs to be
  placed on the relationship between science,
  policy and practice, and its social context. This
  involves focusing, not on the individual parts of
  the system, but on their interaction. Research
  and education are viewed as parts of a larger
  system in which researchers, farmers, businesses,
  civil society, interest group organisations and
  policymakers exchange knowledge to bring about
  social and economic improvements

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Research in Development (4)

• The relevance of research is determined by
• (1) Its social embedding is it prompted by and
  does it strengthen the interaction between
  various social actors?
• (2) Its demand-drivenness does the research
  provide answers to questions directly put by
  those who have an interest in or are responsible
  for reducing poverty? What priority is attached
  to the research, who formulated the research
  question, to whom is it important, and what does
  the question entail, precisely?

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Research in Development (5)

• The relevance of research is determined by
• (3) The diversity of those involved in the
  research and the way in which they work together
• (4) The focus on applicability how are the
  research findings applied in practice? The
  research may for instance relate to improving
  policy, strengthening civil society in a
  particular country, or sectoral innovation
• (5) Its added value vis-à-vis other ways of
  acquiring knowledge
• (6) Its quality in terms of validity, reliability
  and innovation

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Propositions (1)

• I Agricultural research is principally a means
  and not a goal it is important to distinguish
  goals at various levels (local, national,
  regional, global) with various types of problem
  owners. Tailor-made RD is crucial both in
  evidence-based policy making as in maintenance
  adaptive research
• outputs --gt outcomes flexibility focus on
  ability to use/ absorbe /adopt/learn (capacity!)
  instead of supply of insights, technological
  options and expertise importance of local and
  tacit knowledge enabling environment (incl
  IPRs)

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Propositions (2)

• II Identifying and prioritising public research
  areas that need urgent action in order to
  contribute to the objectives of the WDR 2008 and
  the MDGs should not be conducted by actors
  outside the concerned local context
• mandates, stakeholders involved, accountability,
  sequencing, political economy, WURs MDG 1
  report

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Propositions (3)

• III Donors should increasingly concentrate their
  RD support in developing countries to creating
  conditions (infrastructure, organisation of
  knowledge flows, enabling policies for
  innovation) for demand- and problem-driven
  knowledge generation and research.
• accountability (who pays?), public/private
  research, competitiveness funds, checks
  balances

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