Video & presentations: The Political Economy of Agricultural Policy Processes in Africa

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Video and slides from this event in London on 24 September are now available. The day presented new research from Future Agricultures on how agricultural policy in Sub-Saharan Africa is shaped, in the light of changing patterns of growth and investment agendas from within Africa and beyond.

Links to video and slides from the presentations can be found below.

Video and presentation slides

John Thompson: Overview – Political economy of agricultural policy processes in Africa

Steve Wiggins: Changing Patterns of Agricultural Growth Investment in Africa

Colin Poulton: Political economy of agricultural policy processes in Africa with a focus on CAADP

Ruth Hall: Large scale land acquisitions and responsible investment in Africa

Q&A video

Parallel sessions

Ian Scoones: Brazil and China in African Agriculture

Jeremy Lind: Pastoralism and livestock marketing at the margins

John Thompson and Hannington Odame: The politics of seed in Africa’s Green Revolution: towards Integrated Seed Sector Development

Naomi Oates: Pathways to improved irrigation performance in Africa

Andrew Dorward: Agricultural input subsidies: the recent Malawi experience

John Thompson: The African Farmer Game

Photos

Click on the image below to see pictures from the event.

Event details

24 September 2014
Overseas Development Institute, 203 Blackfriars Road, London, UK

About the event

Interest in African agriculture is high, with investment from the ‘Rising Powers’ and the US-led New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition competing and interacting with regional, national and local plans and priorities.

The Future Agricultures Consortium’s research and analysis, which has been supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) since 2005, focuses on the political economy of agricultural policy processes in Sub-Saharan Africa.  The Consortium’s work critically examines how and why agricultural policy decisions are made, the conditions for change and the practical and policy challenges of establishing and sustaining pro-poor agricultural growth. 

This type of analysis is particularly relevant at the present time, as the African Union’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) moves into its second decade and the G-8’s New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition (NA) unfolds across Africa, as it is often these political and institutional factors that influence what type of investments are prioritised, which initiatives take off and who benefits from them.

This event presented key findings and policy insights emerging from a range of Future Agricultures’ recent research activities on key themes of relevance to CAADP and the NA agendas, including:

  • The political economy of agricultural policy processes
  • Land acquisitions and principles of responsible investment
  • Changing patterns of agricultural growth and investment
  • Pathways to improved irrigation performance
  • China and Brazil in Africa and new paradigms of agricultural development
  • Strengthening and integrating Africa’s seed systems
  • Pastoralism, livestock marketing and dynamic change at the margins

Speakers included:

  • Colin Poulton – Research Fellow, SOAS, University of London
  • Hannington Odame – Interim Executive Director, Centre for Africa Bio-entrepreneurship (CABE)
  • Ian Scoones – Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
  • Andrew Dorward – Research Fellow, SOAS, University of London
  • Jeremy Lind – Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
  • John Thompson – Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
  • Naomi Oates – Research Officer, Overseas Development Institute
  • Ruth Hall – Associate Professor, Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS)
  • Steve Wiggins – Research Fellow, Overseas Development Institute.