Response, by the Executive Committee, to the 2006 DFID  Third White Paper Consultation Document on Eliminating World  Poverty.
 
The Executive Committee of the Tropical Agricultural Association  (UK), acting on behalf of the membership of the Association, wrote a letter  to the Secretary of State for International Development the Rt Hon Hilary Benn  MP commenting on the 2006 DFID White  paper Consultation Document on Eliminating World  Poverty. The letter was acknowledged by Hilary Benn and printed in the  June edition of the TAA Newsletter.  
 
Subsequently, a meeting was held between TAA and DFID on 8 June  2006, and the record of the meeting is posted on the TAA Website and will be  published in the September edition of the Newsletter, thus enabling the  membership to be fully aware of the action taken on it's behalf by the Executive  Committee, and giving them an opportunity to put forward any further comments in  the future. Next meeting between TAA and DFID is planned in the autumn of this  year after the White Paper has been launched, and TAA members are invited to  make further comments which can be sent to the chairman (_chairman@taa.co.uk_ ) as a source of  ideas and issues for consideration at the next meeting.

Record of Meeting between TAA and DFID on 8 June 2006

Present:

DFID: Richard Moberly (Team Leader) and Dan Bradley (Renewable Natural Resources and Agriculture Team, Policy Division), and Jonathan Wadsworth (Central Research Department)

TAA (Ex-Co): Amir Kassam (Chairman), John Disney, Judy Mann, Roger Smith, Jim Turnbull (Agri-business Group), and Elizabeth Warham (General Secretary)

The key points and proposed actions from the meeting are presented below according to the three parts of the agenda covered.

Part 1: Opportunities and suggestions for consideration by the DFID White Paper Team

1. Achieving growth with equity – Ensuring sufficient condition (as opposed to necessary but inadequate condition) for a joined up rural- urban economy.

TAA supports the seven key areas elaborated in Hilary Benn’s first speech that will drive DFID’s growth and poverty reduction strategy and its emphasis on “growth with equity”. However, growth with equity cannot be delivered based on non-agricultural growth alone. Adequate and simultaneous attention must be paid to growth in agriculture and the rural space, linked to complementary growth and developments elsewhere which offer an effective demand and a market for surplus rural products at an acceptable price.

The challenge for the DFID policy team is to sell the message within DFID and the wider community. In DFID operations, there is more emphasis on policy dialogue than field-based projects/programmes etc. with local government taking responsibility. DFID’s emphasis is on influencing national governments to implement correct policies rather than supporting donor-funded projects, and on insuring that country officers are aware of and then assess the need for bringing relevant expertise. It is an iterative dialogue process with DFID in-country offices, other government donors, private sector and other organisations to appreciate the role of agriculture in their strategy papers (e.g. EC and DFID strategy paper for Sierra Leone) to ensure that agriculture has a higher profile. In-country offices access support from HQ, advisers and consultants etc. There is strong emergence of Africa led interest in agriculture. Progress will be seen as dialogue on the issues between Governments, and donors in-country.

2. Raising the profile of agriculture for poverty reduction – Agriculture and rural development as a separate section in the White Paper setting out DFID’s strategy and commitment in this area.

TAA welcomed DFID’s recent Policy Paper on Agriculture which recognises the reduced commitment to agriculture in recent years and expresses the need to reverse this trend. The profile of agriculture and rural development should be raised in DFID’s development strategy, bearing in mind the current mechanisms for allocating priorities and development funding.

The DFID policy team have been fighting for a good reference on the role of agriculture in the White Paper but the content is likely to be less than they or TAA would like. The Agriculture and Natural Resources Management Team are part of the Investment and Growth Group within Policy Division. Agriculture will provide a hook, and the challenge for the agriculture sector is for more flexible thinking than other sectors which can be more difficult for governments and donors etc. Lesson learning from the failure of the Washington consensus is that one size does not fit all. It is important not to forget the role of innovation, science and technology in growth as part of the jigsaw. Long-term support is needed not only for research, but also for markets, infrastructure, overall policy and enabling environment.

3. Promoting an enabling environment for agricultural growth with equity – Generating market-based agricultural growth for poverty reduction that promotes responsible stakeholder engagement along the politics-public sector-private sector – rural communities-civil society continuum, nationally and internationally.

TAA endorses DFID’s intentions to reduce transaction costs in supply and value chains, make markets work better and increase the benefits of international agricultural trade for the poor. However, for small-scale producers to integrate into the national and international economies profitably requires effective organizational support that can assist in: (a) capturing economies of scale and competitiveness in production and value-added post-production processing; (b) providing affordable and reliable financial and investment support; and (c) creating regulated agricultural and financial markets that can offer a fair and favourable return to investment along the supply and value chains. TAA believes there is an opportunity for DFID to strengthen pro-poor growth approaches to agricultural development through a blended mixture of regulated cooperative and competitive organizational arrangements that can promote responsible stakeholder engagement along the politics-private sector-public sector-rural communities-civil society continuum. This should include a provision for increased support for NGOs and informal community-based organizations to enable them to play a brokering role in agricultural and rural development.                     

TAA endorses the sixth guiding principle for agricultural development strategies in DFID’s policy paper – “ensuring use of the main productive resources such as land and water and minimize any adverse impact of increasing productivity on the environment”. However, TAA considers that the scope of this principle should be expanded and strengthened to ensure the application of integrated approaches to agriculture and land use development and environmental management, including the incorporation of agricultural biodiversity and nutrient management for productivity growth and sustainability. The White Paper consultation document poses the question “What can UK and other governments do to help developing countries to grow economies while also managing environmental dangers?” TAA believes for the agriculture sector, broadly defined, there are opportunities and a need to undertake fresh scientific thinking on this question to ensure that the social, economic, environmental and ecological dangers and negative externalities of chemically rich and polluting agricultural practices are minimized by integrating existing and new organically and biodiversity rich practice that are ecologically friendly yet economically productive, and socio-culturally sustainable.

Important to use a common sense approach, with fresh thinking and novel approaches, while capitalising and learning from traditional approaches. The scope of integrated natural resource management for agricultural growth with equity must also strengthen the ecosystem and socio-cultural foundations of productivity.   

5. Building scientific human resources and institutional capacity – Strengthening human resource and institutional capacity in the UK in support of its tropical agricultural development policies.

6. Valuing tropical agricultural science and technology for development – Which way forward?

TAA considers that DFID and the UK Government have now reached a defining moment in terms of the long-term opportunity and the need to ensure that UK’s agricultural scientific and technical capacity is able to fully contribute to poverty reduction interventions in the developing regions. TAA requests DFID to reconsider support to the TAAF Award Scheme and also address decline in development courses and young professionals available in the UK. TAA will provide a proposal on the TAAF Award Scheme.

The UK has the capacity for good research and good research for development. UK scientists have the capacity to apply their knowledge to address very difficult problems in developing countries, providing support to local scientists/teams in addressing local problems. It was acknowledged that there need to be effective mechanisms for harnessing the interest and potential of UK scientists, in the larger development picture.  A new responsive fund managed by BBSRC is being developed with two thirds of the funding from DFID. David King is involved in a working group on development science.

It was suggested by TAA that it is increasingly difficult to find team leaders from within the UK with the appropriate skills and management of projects overseas is a real challenge. In addition the Rothamsted International African Fellowship Programme has noted that candidates often seek placements with non-UK expertise as they are not so familiar with the UK. This is thought to reflect a decline in the presence of UK scientists in Africa. Strategic research partnerships are important to build capacity in-country. Issue of UK capacity to support development needs overseas is not an official concern. Contracts for various inputs are available, including consultancies, and contributions from UK organisations. However, there are many allies outside DFID also concerned about the situation. Opportunity and scope for TAA, as independent body, to put forward wider views of the stakeholders to DFID and to lobby.

7. Making agricultural development happen – Operationalising DFID’s policy

Some TAA members, based on their experiences, consider that support on the ground in the field, using Technical Co-operation Officers (TCOs), is the most effective way of problem solving, transfer of technology and using funds effectively. TAA believes that there is a significant opportunity for DFID to continue to fund specific projects and maintain a synergistic and complementary balance between that and general budgetary support.

DFID responded that TCO posts no longer exist as a result of EU employment legislation. There is a role for a variety of instruments to be used in development.  Slowing down on budgetary support to give a mix of support and policy measures, but varies with different countries. The approach is that if countries can do it themselves in the health and educations sectors, they can do it in agriculture too. There is increasing recognition that there is an advantage to having a variety of mechanisms for support in-country, where budgetary support plays a role, but specific projects may be needed also. Harmonisation of donor input is primary priority. It is neither efficient nor effective for all donors to attempt to provide support in all areas.  Effective donor dialogue to increase efficacy and development impact is essential.

Part 2: What can TAA do to help facilitate the White Paper process?

TAA has provided its proposals to the team for consideration in the consultation for the White Paper. It is anticipated that the White Paper process will be finalised late July, it will cover a broad spectrum of development issues and cannot be expected to address the finer details for all themes. The detail will be in the development and implementation of DFID policies and programmes. 

Part 3: How can TAA contribute to DFID’s efforts in operationalising the White Paper?

TAA is a society of more than 900 professionals with the aim of “bringing together those concerned with the role of agriculture and poverty alleviation in sustainable development”. Its membership is world-wide, with a large concentration in the UK, and there are a growing number of corporate members that are actively involved in overseas development. As DFID downsizes its technical input, there are opportunities for expertise from TAA to be mobilised as needed.

TAA can mobilize strategic discussion around agricultural themes, e.g. Conference on “Tropical landscape management for water and agriculture under rising population pressure in a changing climate” (planned for spring 2007). DFID would be interested in details of the Conference which TAA will provide soonest to seek support and DFID may attend if possible.

DFID welcomes expansion of TAA to international organisation with overseas groups. TAA India is a good model and can this be replicated more widely in other countries. Input to the White Paper has been welcomed. DFID research has remnants to networks but these are diminishing. It would be helpful to have a mechanism with which members of TAA could be contacted regarding different issues at short notice. Clearer and more accessible information on the sort of skill base TAA has to offer would be welcome. TAA to explore extent and availability of its expertise that could provide support to DFID and get back to DFID for the next meeting.