Suchergebnisse

Over the past ten years, there have been several initiatives in Malawi to strengthen the processes through which the design and content of policies, strategies, and programs in the agriculture sector that affect the nation's food security are established. In this report we present results of a study to assess the quality of these policy processes and the institutional framework through which they are conducted and how perceptions of the quality of those processes and institutions is changing over time. The study is based on a two-round survey of national stakeholders in Malawi on issues centered on agriculture or food security that was conducted in 2015 and 2017/18. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI2; Feed the Future Innovation Laboratory for Food Security Policy (FSP); CRP2 ; DSGD; PIM ; CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

With the recent discovery of crude oil reserves along the Albertine Rift, Uganda is set to establish itself as an oil producer in the coming decade. Total oil reserves are believed to be 2 billion barrels, with recoverable reserves estimated at 0.8-1.2 billion barrels. At peak production, likely to be reached by 2017, oil output will range from 120,000-210,000 barrels per day, with a production period spanning up to 30 years. Depending on the exact production levels, the extraction period, the future oil price, and revenue sharing agreements with oil producers, the Ugandan government is set to earn revenue equal to 10-15 percent of GDP at peak production. The discovery of crude oil therefore has the potential to provide significant stimulus to the Ugandan economy and address its development objectives. However, this is subject to careful management of oil revenues to avoid the potential pitfall of a sudden influx of foreign exchange. Dominating the concerns is the potential appreciation in the real exchange rate and subsequent loss of competitiveness in the non-resource tradable goods sectors such as agriculture or manufacturing ('Dutch Disease'). These sectors are often major employers in developing countries and the engines of growth. Several mitigation measures can be employed by government to counter Dutch Disease, including measures that directly counter the real exchange rate appreciation or measures that offer direct support to traditional export sectors in the form of subsidies. With the aid of a recursive-dynamic computable general equilibrium model this study evaluates the economic implications of the future oil boom in Uganda. We also consider various options open to the Ugandan government for saving, spending, or investing forecasted oil revenues with aim of promoting economic development and reducing poverty, but also countering possible Dutch Disease effects. We find that generally urban sectors and households will be better able to capture rents generated by the oil revenues leading to growing rural-urban and regional inequality. Yet, despite these potential risks, Uganda's oil economy presents an unparalleled opportunity for the agricultural sector and for poverty reduction in particular. On the one hand, domestic demand for food, such as cereals, root crops, pulses and matooke (cooking banana), but especially higher valued products, such as horticulture and livestock products, will increase as incomes rise. Moreover, higher urban income and urban consumer preferences will lead to increasing demand for processed foods and foods with greater domestic value-added, such as meat, fish, etc. Provided Uganda's tradable food sectors can remain competitive, this provides an opportunity for both farming and the food processing manufacturing sector. On the other hand, there is the immediate danger to lose market shares in agricultural export markets, which might be extremely hard to regain after the oil boom. As shown in this paper, the outcomes for agriculture, rural-urban income differentials and poverty reduction depend very much on whether government revenues for public investment in the agricultural sector will increase and help alleviate chronic under-investment in public goods that is constraining agricultural growth in Uganda.

With the recent discovery of crude oil reserves along the Albertine Rift, Uganda is set to establish itself as an oil producer in the coming decade. Total oil reserves are believed to be two billion barrels, with recoverable reserves estimated at 0.8–1.2 billion barrels. At peak production, likely to be reached by 2017, oil output will range from 120,000 to 210,000 barrels per day, with a production period spanning up to 30 years. Depending on the exact production levels, the extraction period, the future oil price, and revenue sharing agreements with oil producers, the Ugandan government is set to earn revenue equal to 10–15 percent of GDP at peak production. The discovery of crude oil therefore has the potential to provide significant stimulus to the Ugandan economy and address its development objectives. However, this is subject to careful management of oil revenues to avoid the potential pitfall of a sudden influx of foreign exchange. Dominating the concerns is the potential appreciation in the real exchange rate and subsequent loss of competitiveness in the nonresource tradable goods sectors such as agriculture or manufacturing (Dutch Disease). These sectors are often major employers in developing countries and the engines of growth. Several mitigation measures can be employed by government to counter Dutch Disease, including measures that directly counter the real exchange rate appreciation or measures that offer direct support to traditional export sectors in the form of subsidies. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1 ; DSGD

This report is a critical review of two of the principal agricultural laws in Malawi, the Special Crops Act and the Agriculture (General Purposes) Act. Both are frequently used to justify interventions by government in agricultural marketing and trade activities. The review is to assess whether this legislation is effective in promoting the goals of the country around agricultural commercialization, and if not, to provide recommendations for revisions to the laws. As a secondary task, the review considers whether either law could be used as an appropriate legal framework for contract farming regulation and oversight. The review was based on a thorough desk review of the legislation and interviews with over 230 key informants involved in agricultural production, marketing, and trade. The interviews focused on the laws and how their application by government has affected the commercial activities of the informants for better or for worse. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance ; DSGD

This report synthesises information from the literature and key informants on agricultural production and soil fertility in Malawi and proposes options for investment in this area. The main points, highlighted below, were presented to the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation's Soil Fertility Round Table in Lilongwe in June 1998. Malawi's situation is far from secure with its high population density and growth rate, land shortages, malnutrition, decreasing life expectancy and deteriorating infrastructure. The country has recently experienced some extreme shocks and changes - repeated droughts, democratisation, devaluation and liberalisation. These have impacted on the agricultural sector both positively and negatively. On the positive side, there is increasing crop diversification and production at national level. Negatively, increases in the price of fertiliser and declining access to credit have adversely affected many smallholders, particularly in the south. The population is increasing at a steady rate and maize production, while varying with rainfall, appears not to be increasing at the same rate. The situation at household level in many areas is worsening. The soils, on which the country is so dependent, are no longer able to provide sufficient nitrogen to achieve acceptable yields of maize.

Following poor harvests in the 2015/16 cropping season in Malawi, vulnerability assessments found that nearly 6.7 million people, primarily in the Southern and Central regions, were likely to suffer from food insecurity before the next harvest. The government of Malawi and its development partners designed the 2016/17 Food Insecurity Response Programme (FIRP) in Malawi to meet the food needs of many of the households affected, mobilizing approximately USD 265 million in resources to do so. In the wake of this intervention, a team led by the International Food Policy Research Institute was contracted to assess the quality of this humanitarian response along four primary dimension: Assess the quality of the national food security assessments which began the response; Investigate the accuracy of the geographical and beneficiary targeting within selected areas; conduct an operational assessment of the humanitarian response design and implementation; and Assess overall programme and draw technical, market, and methodological implications for the design of future humanitarian responses and their contribution to resilience building. This Discussion Paper provides considerable detail on which facets of the implementation of FIRP were successful and where implementation fell short in addressing the needs of the affected population, in ensuring that Malawi was better prepared for future food crises, and in laying a foundation for improved resilience in the face of such shocks for both the affected households and Malawi as a whole. The 2016/17 FIRP was largely successful in preventing disaster and saving lives and livelihoods. However, the assessment of the design and implementation of the FIRP highlighted the high level of dependency of the Malawi government on its development partners for resources to undertake such humanitarian responses and the significant deficiencies in the technical and institutional capacity of the institutions responsible for responding. Unless the cycle of food insecurity is broken and the resilience of Malawian food systems increased, the government of Malawi and its development partners will continue to depend on FIRP-type interventions to save people's lives and protect them from food insecurity and hunger. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1; CRP2 ; DSGD; DGO; PIM ; CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)