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REPORT OF THE 30TH RECA SEMINAR

ON

PUBLIC-PRIVATE COMMUNITY BASED INSTITUTIONS PARTNERSHIP : AN APPROACH TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
held on 06-19 July 2008, Tokyo, Japan

AFRO-ASIAN RURAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION (AARDO)

NEW DELHI

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Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

Published by : Afro-Asian Rural Development Organization 2, State Guest Houses Complex, Chanakyapuri New Delhi 110 021, India Phones : 91-11-26877783/24100475/26115936 Fax : 91-11-26115937/24672045 E-mail : aardohq@nde.vsnl.net.in Website: http://www.aardo.org No.03-09-300

The report has been prepared under the chairmanship of H E Mr Abdalla Yahia Adam, Secretary General, AARRDO by Mr A W Anwer, Executive Secretary and Dr Rajeshwar Dyal, Technical Officer. Designed and typeset by Mr Kamal Dhameja, Technical Officer II.

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Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

CONTENTS
P ag e Prefa ce 5 Acknowledgemen ts 1 Proceedings of the Seminar 1. 1 Inaugural Session 1. 2 Objectives 1. 3 Participation 1. 4 Technical Sessions 1. 5 Valedictory Session Groups Discussion and Recommendations A Note on the Field Visits Annexure s 4. 1 Inaugural Address 4.1 .1 Address of H E Mr Abdalla Yahia Adam, Secretary General, AARDO (Read by Mr A W Anwer) 4. 2 Expert and Country Papers 4.2 Public-Private Community-Based Institutions .1 Partnership : An Approach towards Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development by Elsayed A.A. Zaki 4.2 Public-Private Community-Based Institutions .2 Partnership : 7 8 8 8 9 9 2 9 3 1 3 7 3 9 4 1 4 3 4 7 4 9

2 3 4

5 3

4.2 .3 4.2 .4

An Approach towards Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development in Egypt by Raafat S. Zaki Roles and Performance of Farmers Associations in Rural Development in Taiwan by Te-Sen Wu Policy Guidelines for the Implementation of Public Private Partnership in Ghana by Issaac Adza Tettey

5 9 7 2 3

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4.2. 5

Public-Private Community-Based Institutions Partnership : An Approach towards Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development : Indian Experiences by B S Negi Agricultural Development in Iraq by Naser M. Feal Public-Private Community-Based Institutions Partnership in Agricultural Sector in Lebanon by Hala Debs Government Intiatives for Public-Private Partnership in Liberia by Hon. Yah S. Kalian Public-Private Community-Based Institutions Partnership in the Development of Rubber Smallholders in Malaysia by Mohd. Yusof Sulaiman and Hj. Khalid Awang Said Public-Private Community-Based Institutions Partnership : An Approach towards Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development in Malawi by Joseph Nelson Magwira Agricultural Development in Oman by Salim Mohammed Saif Al-Hamimi Public-Private Community-Based Institutions Partnership : An Approach towards Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development in Sudan : A Case Study by Inam Babiker Mohamed Ahmed Public-Private Community-Based Institutions Partnership : A Case Study of Tall Rmah Rangeland Rehabilitation

9 3

4.2. 6 4.2. 7 4.2. 8 4.2. 9

1 0 0 1 0 5 1 1 4 1 1 7

4.2. 10

1 2 2

4.2. 11 4.2. 12

1 2 7 1 3 3

4.2. 13

1 4 4

Project in Jordan by Rima A. A. Ras 4.2. 14 Public-Private Community-Based Institutions Partnership : An Approach towards Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development in Nigeria by Kafayat Olufunke Salami 1 5 7

Programme Schedule List of Delegates

1 6 3 1 6 7

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Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

PREFACE
as estab T h e Af ro A si a n R ur al D e v el o p m e nt O rg a ni za ti o n (A A R D O ) w lishe d by the farsight ed socia l and politi cal leade rs of Asia and Afric a in 1962 takin g into consi derat ion the need for coop erati on amo ng the coun tries in the AfroAsian regio n to fight illitera cy, hunge r, disea se and thirst which had been the comm on chara cteris tics of most of what is know n the third world count ries. AARD O is functi oning as an auton omou as

s, RDO in is te one r- of g the o earlie v st er exam n ples m of e Sout nt hal Sout or h g coop a erati ni on in za rural ti devel o opm n ent wi in th the it Afros Asia h n e regio a n. d q The u main ar obje te ctive rs of in the N Orga e nizat w ion D is to el act hi as a , catal In yst di and a. provi In de a fa foru ct m for , the A mem A ber

count ries to jointl y discu ss their probl ems, exch ange views , ideas , exper ience s and pool their resou rces and make conc erted effort s, wher ever possi ble, to impro ve the qualit y of life of their rural peopl es. To achie ve these mand ates, AAR DOs focus

e gram s mes, o work n shop th s re and e semi brnars o addr a essi d ng a ar wide e rang a e of s them n es a perti m nent el to y, rural h and u agric m ultur a al n deve re lopm s ent; o diss uremin c ation e of d relev e ant v infor el mati o on p thro m ugh e its nt publi th catio rons; u and g the h finan tr cing ai of ni deve n lopm g ent prpilot o proje

cts in the mem ber count ries.


Organ ising Resea rch and Educ ation of AARD O (REC A) semin ars in collab oratio n with Centr al Union of Agric ultura l Coop erativ es (JAZench u), Tokyo and Instit ute for the Devel opme nt of Agric ultura l Coop eratio

n ctiviti in es of A the si Orga a nizati (I on D since A 1967. C So A) far , thirty T (30) o semi k nars y inclu o, ding at the ID curre A nt C one A have h been a succ s essfu b lly e orga e nised n for o n e of th e m o st i m p or ta nt a n d re g ul ar a

the benef it of the mem ber count ries. Thes e semi nars prima rily aim at devel opme nt of agric ultura l coop erativ es in Japa n, wom en empo werm ent, WTO and agric ulture relate d issue s. Simil arly, the 30th RECA Semi nar on Publ

ic nabl - e P Agri ri cultu v ral at and e Rura Cl o Deve m lopm m ent u was ni held ty at - IDAC b A a durin s g 06e 19 d July In 2008. st The it main ut obje io ctive n s of s the P Semi ar nar tn were er : i) to s revie hi w p: the A initia n tives A take p n in prthe o Afroa Asia c n h coun to tries w on ar publi d c s priva S te u partn st ershi ai p for

susta inabl e agric ultura l and rural devel opme nt; ii) to discu ss the chall enge s and oppo rtunit ies of publi cprivat e partn ershi p in the era of globa lizati on; iii) to provi de a foru m to share the exper ience s and exch ange views ; and iv) to explo re the possi bilitie s of

i st of m the pl proje e cts m deali e ng nt with at agric io ultur n al of and th rural e devel c opm o ent n in c the e past pt were of finan p ced u by bl the ic gove - rnme prnts iv and at dono e r p agen ar cies tn witho er ut s the hi invol p veme in nt of vi targe e t w grou of ps gl and o priva b te al secto iz r. In at fact, io the n.
com ty M o muni

was treate d as benefi ciary rather than partn ers in the proce ss of econo mic devel opme nt. As a result , many of such proje cts used to show signs of collap se as soon as gover nmen ts or donor agenc ies withd rew their suppo rt. Such a scena rio obliga ted

th d e that p only ol gove ic rnme y nt m effort a s will k not er be s suffi a cient n to d prod i uce m the pl desir e ed m resul e ts in nt impr er ovin s g the to life re of th rural in peop k le. a After n a d serie re s of dr deba a tes in w the th late ei 1960 r s st abou ra t te com g muni y. ty T parti h cipati e on, it y beca re me al form iz alize e d in a

numb er d Natio ns Repor ts includ ing Popul ar Partic ipatio n in Devel opme nt in 1971. Durin g the same perio d, privat e secto r was explo ring the busin ess oppor tuniti es the rural areas of many devel oping count ries becau se of their large popul ation. in of Unite

Si e n secto c r e want pr ed to iv diver at sify

its busin ess activit ies in new fields

Ror t

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of th th RECA e Semin 30 ar

like banking, insurance, marketing of agricultural inputs and produce, extension services, etc., it found a good opportunity in taking up some projects in partnership with government and community. Public-private partnership as an approach can focus on agricultural\rural development through participation in areas such as rural infrastructure, agricultural inputs, research, extension, processing, financial services such as credit, crop and cattle insurance, etc. Thus, the potential benefits of public-private partnership may include cost effectiveness of the programme, higher productivity, efficient and effective delivery of services, enhanced social services, etc. It is worth mentioning here that the success of the partnership will depend on policy framework, drafting and monitoring of rules and regulations by the governments participation. through and To the ensure creation effective effective about etc. community community the various the

Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development provided a forum to the policy makers, planners and implementers of AARDO member countries to deliberate on the issues and formulate an action plan. During the seminar, two expert papers were presented by resource persons from Japan and Republic of the Sudan In addition, 13 country status papers from the AARDO member countries were presented. The presentation of expert and country status papers followed by group discussion made the sessions fruitful and helped the participants in further enhancing their knowledge on the issues. Finally, the participants were exposed to the local conditions through a field visit to Hyogo JA Prefecture Union which provided them an insight into the Public-Private Community-based Institutions Partnership.

participation, the community has to be empowered awareness of provisions partnership, Likewise,

community-based organizations skills to negotiate, mobilize resources and their utilization, monitoring are to be upgraded for successful and sustainable partnership.

All the information including the proceedings of the Seminar has been documented in this Report. In addition, the full text of the expert papers and country reports have also been included with some editorial trimming wherever felt necessary. I hope that the Report would be a useful addition to the existing literature on the subject.

With this backgroun d in view, the 30th RECA Seminar on PublicPrivate Communit y-based Institution s Partnershi p: An Approach towards

New Delhi 6 March 2009


Report of the 30th RECA

Abdalla Yahia Adam Secretary General


Seminar

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
the result of unstinted support and The cooperation successful extended by organisati the Central on of the Union of 30th RECA Agricultural Seminar Cooperative on Publics (JAPrivate Zenchu), Communit Tokyo, and y-based IDACA. Institution s First and Partnershi foremost, p: An Afro-Asian Approach Rural towards Developmen Sustainabl t e Organizatio Agricultura n (AARDO) l and Rural feels deeply Developme honoured in nt at the expressing Institute its profound for the thanks to Developme Mr. Tsukada nt of Kazuo, the Agricultura Executive l Director, Cooperatio IDACA for n in Asia his able (IDACA), guidance, Tokyo, support and Japan wholehearte during 06d 19 July cooperation 2008 was in the organisation of the Seminar. AARDO sincerely thanks the officials of IDACA for their unsparing efforts and for making impeccable arrangements for the successful organisation of the Seminar. The Organization places on record its deep gratefulness to all the governments of the participating member countries, namely, Arab Republic of Egypt, Republic of China, Republic of Ghana,

Republic of India, Republic Lebanon, of Iraq,Republic of Liberia, Hashemite Malaysia, Kingdom Republic of Jordan, of Malawi, Republic Federal of

recommenda tions. AARDO wishes to convey its grateful thanks to the distinguishe d participants for the presentation of their country status papers, for actively participating in group discussions, and for making very significant suggestions in arriving at the recommenda tions as well as extending full cooperation throughout their stay in Japan.
The Organization also itself of avails this its

Republic of Nigeria, Sultanate of Oman and Republic of the Sudan.


AARDO extends its gratitude to the distinguish ed resource persons from Japan and the Republic of the Sudan for their analytical and enlightenin g presentatio ns to make the deliberatio ns fruitful and productive. In fact they played a vital role in guiding the proceeding s and immensely helping in arriving at the appropriate

opportunity to express thankfulness to the Hyogo Prefecture for sparing their senior officers to spend their precious time with during the the participants

field visits. its profound

thanks to all Last but those who not the worked least, the tirelessly Organizati behind the on scene and expresses

contributed immensely towards the success of the 30th RECA Seminar.

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Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

1. PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEMINAR


Cooperatives (JAZenchu), IDACA 1.1 Inaugural and AARDO in Session promoting rural and agricultural The proceedings of thedevelopment in 30th RECA Seminar onAfro-Asian Public-Private countries by Community-based regularly holding Institutions Partnership:RECA Seminar. An Approach towardsThe address also Sustainable Agriculturalhighlighted the and Rural Developmentrelevance of the began with the welcomethemes of the address of HisSeminar. The Excellency Mr Abdallaaddress dwelt on Yahia Adam, Secretarythe agricultural General, Afro-Asianand rural Rural Developmentdevelopment in Organization (AARDO) inthe context of the morning of 7th July public-private 2008 in the Conferencepartnership. It Hall of the Institute forhighlighted the the Development ofrole of Agricultural Cooperationcommunity based in Asia (IDACA). Theorganisations welcome address of H Eand the private the Secretary General,sector in AARDO was delivered byfostering the Mr Abdul Waheed Anwer,development Executive Secretary,process. AARDO on behalf of the Secretary General. TheFurther, the address address gave a brieffocused on publicintroduction of theprivate partnership Organization and itsas an approach to activities; the historicfocus on relations betweenagricultural Central Union ofdevelopment Agricultural through
participation in the areas such as rural infrastructure, agricultural inputs, research, extension, agro-processing, financial etc. success on services, the this policy of However,

partnership depends framework, rules

participants

from

delegates fruitful Japan.

a stay

very and in

countries, and regulations,109 supervision by themainly from Africa government andand Asia. IDACA effective communityorganised more participation. Concludingannually than 10 training the address, the on Secretary Generalcourses thanked IDACA and JA-agricultural Zenchu for theircooperatives and cooperation fordevelopment. Mr also organising this seminar. Kazuo Mr Tsukada highlighted Kazuo,relationship the

comfortable

1.2 Objectives The seminar was organised with the following objective :
To review the initiatives taken in the Afro-

Executive Director, IDACAbetween IDACA presented his inauguraland AARDO and address. In his openingmentioned that the remarks, Mr Kazuo1st RECA seminar welcomed all thewas held participants on behalf of1967 nine millions members ofreiterated during and

that the Japanese agriculturalIDACA would do cooperatives. He alsoits level best for mentioned that IDACA wasthe successful established in the yearimplementation of 1963 and the funds werethis 30th historic contributed agricultural by allseminar. his he the cooperativesConcluding in Japan. During the lastaddress, 45 years, IDACA haswished all received more than 5,000

Asian countries on public private partnership for sustainable agricultural and rural development;

To discuss the challenges and opportunities of publicprivate partnership in the era of globalization;

Report of the 30th RECA

Seminar

To provide a forum to share the experiences and exchange views; and To explore the possibilities of implementation of the concept of publicprivate partnership in view of globalization. 1. 3

Agricultural and Rural Development by Dr El Sayed Ali Ahmed Zaki, Sudan The presentation started with some basic conception and debate on sustainability, government role in development partnership, impact on rural economy, how to escape from poverty trap and under development, donors role, future challenges and how to face challenges? The paper stressed on the need for debate to redefine the public sector and private sector goods in the light of changing economic scenarios and role of stakeholders in the process of economic development. The paper discussed the scope of the community based organisations (CBOs), entry and exit point and creation of resource based organisations. It also discussed the sustainability of CBOs in term of environment, technical, institutional/organisational and financial. The paper highlighted that the government role in providing the enabling through environment policy framework, liberalization, growth with equity and political stability are crucial for the sustainable partnership. On strategies to escape from poverty and underdevelopment, it reiterated on the need for the development for the people by the

Participation

The Seminar was attended by sixteen (16) participants from thirteen (13) AARDO member countries, besides two experts and three AARDO officials. The experts were from the Republic of the Sudan and Japan and the participating countries included Arab Republic of Egypt, Republic of China, Republic of Ghana, Republic of India, Republic of Iraq, Hashmite Kingdom of Jordan, Republic of Lebanon, Republic of Liberia, Malaysia, Republic of Malawi, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Sultanate of Oman and Republic of the Sudan. 1. 4 Technical Sessions

The technical sessions of the seminar were held

from 7 to 11 July 2008 in which two expert and thirteen country papers were presented. Presentation of the papers were followed by questions/observations/clarifications from the participants. Following is the summary of expert and country papers :

people, participation of people in planning and implementation of developmentoriented interventions and involvement of NGOs, mapping of community resources, etc. The presentation highlighted on the other roles of the donor agencies beside the funding such as sharing of cross countries and communities experiences, techni transformatio cal n, management assistance, etc. technic al a n d

1.4.1Presentation of Expert Papers In the seminar, two expert papers were presented by resource persons from Sudan and Japan. Expert Paper 1 : Public-Private Communitybased Institutions Partnership: An Approach towards Sustainable

The paper also introduced the pentagon partnership project which includes CBOs, NGOs, Government, private entities and donors. After sharing of the experiences of many countries, the

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paper

concluded

by

highlighting

the

future

challenges such as what can organizations such as AARDO do to become a reliable partner, how to induce partners to join and how can organizations such as AARDO be funded through partnership initiative. The presentation invited valuable comments and suggestions from resource person of Japan as well as the participants of Ghana, Egypt, R O China, Malaysia and AARDO. The participants from India, Egypt and Ghana also shared the experiences of their countries. Full text of the paper is given at Annexure 4.2.1.

Summing up the session, the Chairperson emphasized that the political stability and governments regulatory and supervisory policy framework are important for the promotion of sustainable partnership. The Chairperson also thanked the resource person for the knowledgeable and useful presentation. Thereafter, Dr. Y. Abe from IDACA thanked the speaker and the chairperson for successfully conducting the session.

Interventions :
Question : Whether the cost recovery is possible in areas where public goods are provided to endeavour pro-poor communities? (by Mr. Isaac Tettey, Ghana)
Answer : Some goods are partly public and partly private. For example, when the farmers take water from the river for irrigation, they have to pay whereas the urban people who use river water passing through the city do not pay. It is difficult to recover the full cost of infrastructure but on the other hand, beneficiaries at least could pay the maintenance cost. For each project, a different approach is required.

Question : What are the good examples of public-private partnership in agricultural sector? (by Prof. Kada, Japan)
Answer : Since 1992, most of the state owned companies got privatised. Similarly, development of rain-fed agriculture, vegetable, poultry also got privatised. This is a on-going process.

Question : What do you mean by dualism and why is it intensifying? (by Prof. Kada, Japan) Answer : Dualism here refer to the widening gap between the modern sector with capital intensive technology with no trickling down effect versus traditional sector. The gap between the two is widening. Historically, in many least developed countries, colonizers imported different raw materials for their industries. As a result, other sectors suffered. This also affected the tax collection.

Question : What are the main issues arising from market failure? Why the market failure in case of Sudan? (by Prof. Kada, Japan)
Answer : Market failure are situations where transportation and communication storage are the major causes. In many countries, traders disappeared. This situation was faced by many African countries during the 1975 drought.

Eng. Zaki from Egypt also supplemented that market failure also happened in Egypt. He suggested to identify the various partners to avoid the market failure.
Question : Thanking for the valuable presentation, he stated that in Asia there are many examples for partnership. He requested the speaker to cite some examples from Africa (by Mr A W Anwer, AARDO).
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

Answer : The speaker mentioned that there are few examples in countries like in Ghana. The participant from Ghana added that Cocoa Board failed to provide the market support to the farmers. As a result, the private sector entered into the marketing of cocoa in collaboration with the Board. The partnership successfully helped the farmers in achieving the higher prices. They are providing some technical support to increase the production. Responding to the query, the Ghanaian participant told that during the last twenty years, the Government remained stable and this provided enabling environment for partnership. This attracted a lot of investment by the private sector. Dr. Y. Abe also quoted the example of partnership between the Government of Malawi and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Malawi. The participant from Malaysia explained that private sector is providing assistance to the farmers in the production of crop through contract farming. In case of rubber smallholders, private companies and cooperatives are playing important role in their consolidation to increase their productivity. Eng. Zaki from Egypt

what could be the example of this partnership? (by Mr. Te-Sen Wu, Taiwan) Answer : In Egypt, there was a campaign to collect money for funding small projects in rural areas. This funds were collected from private companies against taxation reduction, with each project was for ten thousands dollars in many fields of agriculture. Expert Paper 2 : Sustainable Agriculture and Emerging Issues in Resource Conservation in Asia and Japan by Prof. Ryohei Kada, Japan The presentation was divided into three parts viz. i) Sustainable Agriculture and Emerging Issues in Resource Conservation in Asia and Japan; ii) Emerging Ecological Risks and Food Security in Asia; and iii) Globalizing Economics and African Agriculture : Experience from JICA Project in Ghana and Senegal, 2003-2005. Prof. Kada discussed the perception and significance of agriculture in rural areas of Japan and briefly touched upon the future policies for

also added that in Egypt there was a campaign to collect money from private companies for funding small projects in rural areas. Companies who contributed were given concessions in taxes. Question : Mentioned in the paper that development for people by people but CBOs resource from private sector. How to maintain their independency from the donors? (by Mr. TeSen Wu, Taiwan) Answer : CBOs may keep their independency as they are the peoples organisations. Further, there should a synergy between CBOs and donors. Question : Private partnership projects as examples which help rural areas for agriculture development,
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

reforming agricultural administration in line with the new basic plan for food, agriculture and rural areas. He discussed the diversity of natural climate, topography and mentioned about the drastic physical and social changes that took place since the 1960s which brought out the pressures on lank resources. Explaining the tragedy attached to common land elsewhere, he explained that Japans experience was different because of farming activities and daily life of rural people supplemented with conservation rules. Here the rural resources and landscape are maintained for centuries through communal works. Against this backdrop, he discussed the multi-functionality of agriculture and explained various components of multi-functionality, namely, physical/ecological/ environmental functions, social/economic 11

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functions and cultural/spiritual functions. In the course of discussions, he emphasized on various functions of agriculture such as retention and purification of water, soil conservation, preservation of diversity, food security, mitigation of urban congestion, viability of rural communities, transmission of cultural heritage, identity, rural values, traditions and awareness of environmental values, educating children in green environment, participation in helping farmers, etc. voluntary

On the second part of the presentation, he mentioned that emerging ecological risks had threatened food security in Asia. The degradation of natural resources, unsustainable use of ecosystem and natural disasters are affecting food security in the region. Increased use of chemical fertilizer and shift towards monoculture due to soil degradation, water pollution, intensified use of chemicals and rural-to-urban migration are the major causes for the ecological imbalances. Further, the decline in food self-sufficiency rate in Taiwan, Korea and China are adding to the food security concerns. On the other hand, demand for food is increasing, putting a pressure on demand supply equilibrium. On the African experiences, the speaker told that transformation of rural communities is in the process of modernization but lack of infrastructure, market facilities as well as storage are hindering the growth. There is a strong case for the greater investment in the agriculture sector. Part of this can be met by the government and the remaining by the private sector.

Concluding the presentation, he told that the environmental and ecological issues are to be given priority in the development programme.

Interventions
Observation : I never thought that agriculture sector in Japan is also facing some problems. In order to maintain the landscape, interest is to be created among the youths. The Executive Director, IDACA also added that the ageing farming community in Japan and lack of interest among youth in taking up agriculture are the two major challenges (by Dr. Zaki, Resource Person). Question : Prof. Kada enquired what are the measures taken in Malaysia to overcome/sustain ecological risk? (by Dr. Zaki, Resource Person)

Answer : Malaysia had practiced zeroburning in agriculture practices especially in the replanting of old rubber trees, in the planting of oil palm and rice cultivation through out the country. Violators are fined. Question : What about the climatic changes that affects the agri-sector in the world and how Japan is facing them? (by Ms Inaam Babiker Mohammed Ahmed, Sudan)

Answer : The government had taken action to overcome this issue by introducing new varieties of seeds.
Question : With terraced paddy field in the hilly areas, water in the downstream bodies is likely to get polluted. How does the purification is done? (by Mr Isaac Tettey, Ghana)

Answer : Government advises farmers not to use harmful chemicals and the government agencies take care of any pollution. There are laboratory check-ups at regular interval by the government agencies.
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important to AARDO as many member countries

Question : Maintaining of the landscape is very important to maintain the environment. Who pay for the cost? (by Dr Zaki, Resource Person)
Answer : It is cheapest way to preserve

shared their experiences. Other member countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan are also facing similar problem due to regular flooding. Environmental degradation and ecological issues are on the agenda during the group discussion and hoped that group will come up with concrete recommendations.

environment through landscape. Farmers are doing landscaping and government is subsidizing the cost. Due to the public demand, consumers are also helping. In the case of European Union, government pays for landscaping.

1.4.2

Presentation of Country Papers

Question : Prof. Kada, Resource Person from Japan enquired from the Indian participant about the environmental and ecological issued faced by the country.
Answer : Mr Negi, the participant from India informed that the country is facing these two issues. He cited the example of practice of shifting cultivation by some tribes in the northeastern part of the country. Under this practice, the tribal people move to the new areas after 2-3 years and the existing land is put on fire. Government of India is aware about the issues and trying its best to address them.
The participants from Ghana, Egypt and resource person from Sudan also shared their experiences on these issues. Dr Zaki mentioned that in Sudan, desert is shifting about 15 kilometers every year. This problem had been compounded by exploitation of forest. There are also flooding in many parts of the country and as a result, agricultural production declined by 40-50 percent.

The business session on 8th July 2008 started with the presentation of country reports. In all, thirteen country papers were presented by the participating countries.

EGYPT
Eng. Zaki, participant sector in from the Egypt, in his

presentation highlighted : i) the importance of agriculture Egyptian economy, comparative advantage and competitiveness of agriculture production; ii) agricultural development in Egypt : challenges and achievements; iii) constraints to agricultural development; and iv) national agricultural MEGA Projects. Agriculture sector continues to be the backbone of Egyptian economy, accounting for about 20 per cent of GDP and 34 per cent of total employment. Egypt has great potential for producing and exporting a variety of primary and processed agricultural products and gains for the country from further multilateral trade liberalization are expected to be substantial. Egypt enjoys significant comparative advantage in the production of seven, out of nine analysed crops. However, a wide range of cross-cutting actions are needed to strengthen trade-related includes supply-side improvement capacities, in which infrastructure,

Prof. Kada enquired from Mr Anwer whether the environmental issues will be addressed in the recommendations of the seminar?
Mr Anwer from AARDO informed that environmental and ecological issues are very

strengthening institutional capabilities, improving technology, promoting

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effective participation of the private sector in production, marketing and trade activities. The increasing importance of trade requirements such as sanitary and phytosanitary standards (SPS) and other technical requirements are also major challenges for the agricultural development in Egypt.
In order to overcome these challenges, the

Government of Egypt introduced strategies for agricultural development up to 2017. Under these strategies, the state agencies and business community are working together to establish Egypts negotiating skills with the donor agencies as well as exporting countries. The private sector is encouraged to play greater role in production, marketing, processing and exports. Transaction costs have been greatly reduced and investmentfriendly climate is being created through more stable economic and legislative policies. Egypt will be reclaiming more than 150 thousand feddan lands annually in Delta, Southern Valley, East Owaynat and East West of Suez Canal by the year 2017. This will create new job opportunities within the agricultural sector.

Livestock, poultry and fish resources will be developed to increase availability of animal proteins from 18 gms/day to 24 gms/day. Information, communication and technology (ICT) which is very essential for the development is being used in agricultural sector in Egypt through KariaNet. This will enable farmers to have access to knowledge and information on extension services, market prices, etc. Full text of the paper is given at Annexure 4.2.2.

Interventions
Observation : Egypt has long term partnership strategy with FAO. Currently, Egypt had two

problems, namely, food security and unemployment which need the Government urgent attention. Strategies for Agricultural Development up to 2017 will address these problems. Policy will also focus on selfreliance in food production.
Question : The concept of KariaNet is good. Would you elaborate it? (by Miss Hala Debs, Lebanon)

Answer : This is a new concept to promote ICT in Egypt. Detailed information is available in the handout already circulated.

Question : What is the school feeding programme? (by Mr. Isaac Tettry, Ghana)
Answer : Project is being implemented in rural areas to provide education to students in the field of agriculture. This will discourage the practice of drop-out. The programme is funded by the government. The participant from Ghana added that similar progarmme was launched in Ghana which created demand for the locally produced goods.
Question : How does the Egyptian Government manage to increase the rice production through national campaign for rice improvement? (by Mr Khalid B. Awang Said, Malaysia)
Answer : National campaign for rice improvement is a major programme done by the government of Egypt in order to increase rice production in the country. The Egyptian government is increasing the price of rice procured by government agencies to encourage the rice farmers. With this intervention, Egypt achieved self-sufficiency in rice.

R O CHINA
In his presentation, Mr Te-Sen Wu explained that servicing farmers need is not only the core value
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

of farmers associations but also the core value of government. According to this, the same mission makes the Farmers Associations and also become the best partner of the government in helping agri-policy into practice on Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development in Taiwan. He discussed the experience and performance of partnership between farmers associations and government on sustainable agricultural and rural development in Taiwan. He also discussed about the farmers associations in Taiwan which have been established over one hundred years, since Japanese colonial period. These associations have contributed significantly in the agricultural and rural development in Taiwan. He explained that farmers associations in Taiwan are embedded in the special environment that interlaced by the governmental institutional environment and compete in the market. He explained that on one hand, the farmers associations have to obey the institutional rules for getting the resources of legality and on other, they have to earn their own resources for living and development and therefore, the best strategy of farmers association is to become the best partner of the agricultural government (COA). He informed that the present government policy focused on the health, traceable, agriculture. trustable, efficiency sustainable, and productivity for the development of high grade

and Pacific countries. Full text of the paper is given at Annexure 4.2.3. Interventions
Observation : Taiwan had the excellent example of partnership between farmers and the government. This is a very good example of integrated services like extension, credit etc., which resulted in agricultural advancement. All indicators show that advancement in agriculture is supported by other sectors.

Question : What is the role of Farmers Organizations in manufacturing and processing of food? (by Prof. Kada, Japan)
Answer : There are many Farmers Organizations managing manufacturing and processing factories and selling their products at profit. In Taiwan, these companies are competing with the private sector. Products produced by members of Farmers Association get more consumer as their products are traceable and consumer can have information about the product, production processes, etc.

Question : Whether organic produce is sold at premium prices in Taiwan? (by Dr. Zaki, Resource Person)
Associations namely, are three tier province farmers

The

Farmers

organizations,

Answer : Yes, organic produce is sold at premium. They attract a premium of 30-40 percent. Dr Abe added that in Japan the demand for organic produce did not pick up due to high prices. Majority of consumers do not want to buy organic food. Promotion of organic produce through leveling by government agencies and reduction in prices may boost the demand.

associations, county farmers associations and primary farmers organisations. Presently, there are 302 farmers associations in the country. They provide a wide range of services such as extension, credit, financial service, insurance services and international agricultural cooperation. He concluded his presentation by making suggestions for applying Taiwanese experiences to other Asia

15 Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

16

GHANA
Mr Isaac Tettry, participant from Ghana in his presentation partnership provide and mentioned (PPP) enable services that the and In public-private government to infrastructure with of this the

improved

through the use of private sector financial, human technical resources. as a line expectation Business, and the component for Private

governments declaration of the Golden Age of Ministry Sector Development & PSI (MPSD) recognized that there was a need to develop a policy framework that would guide the public and private sectors in the initiation and implementation of PPPs in Ghana. This policy framework originally developed by the MPSD and subsequently adopted by the Cabinet is the governments guide for all PPP arrangements in Ghana. All stakeholders both public and private are enjoined to adhere to the policy.

The objective for this PPP is to have access to a wider range of financing options, cost savings in terms of capital outlay by government, risk sharing, innovation, technology, skills transfer, improved levels of public services delivery, faster implementation of project, enhanced economic development and equitable distribution of wealth, etc.

As regards to the agricultural sector to the promotion of public-private partnership in agricultural sector, the PPP had the following provisions :

Establishment of a new agricultural extension policy within the framework of Ghanas Food and Agricultural Sector Development Programme [FASDEP]

The policy seeks effective services delivery.

to

ensure

Plurality in services delivery through PPP.

To achieve this objective, a special fund was set up known as Agricultural Extension Development and Farmer Based Organisation Fund to facilitate private sector participation introduced service some delivery. laws for Government also

acquiring the land to be used by the private sector companies to set up their establishments. Explaining the constraints/weaknesses in the

existing system, he mentioned that there is plurality in extension services delivery in agricultural sector through the activities of MOFA, NGOs and the private sector. Further, services have been found to be less coordinated resulting into competition among services providers and duplication. The country is also facing the shortage of technical competence due to difficulty in attracting qualified personnel. Some projects also were delayed due to inadequate funding. Full text of the paper is given at Annexure 4.2.4.

Interventions
Observation : It is important to note that the PPP in Ghana had a political commitment and started with land tenure system, the most controversial issue in Africa. Ghana also started contract farming at block level. Challenges discussed including cost recovery are really very important

Question : What triggered cocoa production development in Ghana after the failure of marketing board? (by Dr. Yukio Abe, IDACA)

Answer : There was a strong political will and policy direction.


Question : In the Private-Public partnership, what are the incentives for private companies to invest in agriculture sector? (by Prof. Kada, Japan)
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

Answer : Private sector received subsidy from government which is a big pull factor for investment in agriculture sector. In fact, government had created a special development fund.

Question : How the multi-national companies are compared with domestic private sector? (by Prof. Kada, Japan)

Answer : There is no conflict between MNCs and domestic companies. In fact, there is a healthy competition between them. Multinational companies got strong incentives for the investment and export the products back to the US, EU, etc. Question : In Ghana, part of the land belongs to government and part to tribal or clan chief. Farmers settled down on government land. I would like to know more. (by Dr. Abe, IDACA) Answer : Government with donor support is initiating land reform. Government purchased land from tribal chief for specific purposes. Conflict arises when the land use is changed either by

improvements in quality of life, preserve and promote natural resources and the environment and provide services and infrastructure to build prosperous rural society in a territorial perspective. The focus naturally is on the components of rural peoples livelihood related to food security, land u a s n natu resour manageme e d ral ce nt, employment generation, etc. In India, about 70 per cent of the population is living in rural areas and dependent on agriculture. Majority of the people below poverty line are living in rural areas.

The Ministry of Rural Development had initiated many programmes for the overall development of villages through employment generation, creation of rural infrastructure, women empowerment, provision of basic facilities such as health, education and access to other resources like credit and technology. Recently, the Government of India introduced Indira Vikas Yojna under which houses are being constructed for the poor rural dwellers. Similarly, Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojna was launched

the company or allottee. Government started process of land inventory to solve such problems. INDIA

Mr B S Negi, the participant from India presented the paper. According to Mr Negi, in India, various ministries are involved in the poverty reduction in rural areas. For example, the Ministry Rur of al Development is responsible for poverty alleviation, employment generation and creation of infrastructure in rural areas and the Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for the agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, Rur etc. al development policies, programmes and actions are simply the means for the promotion and development of rural livelihoods, bringing
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

to provide all weather roads to the villages in order to improve infrastructure. All the land records are being computerized through e-Boomi for easy access to information. All the district headquarters are now connected through internet for sharing information and transferring the funds. All these programmes are being undertaken by the Government of India and are fully supported by public funds. However, there are some programmes which are being implemented in collaboration with the private sector such as VELGU, a community based programme in Andh Prade Participatory ra sh, Irrigation Management Programme in Madhya Pradesh, ITC e-Choupal. Through e-Choupal, farmers have access through internet to market to sell or purchase 17

18

the agricultural produce, agricultural inputs and other household items. This scheme successfully sidelined the middle man and introduced more transparent marketing system. He further mentioned that women constituted about 48 per cent of population and women empowerment is a priority area. The Government of India has introduced several programmes for empowerment of women such as provision of reservation in local bodies, promotion of selfhelp group, etc. In the year 2005, the Government of India again introduced a very innovative project called National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme under which poorest of poor are provided minimum hundred days employment in a year. In the event of nonavailability of work, they are paid compensation in lieu of the wages. In order to bring more transparency and accountability, the Government of India also introduced the Right to Information Act in 2005. Under this act, any citizen can ask for information from any government agency. These measures helped rural people through better delivery mechanism. Full text of the paper is given at Annexure 4.2.5.

Interventions
Observation : From the presentation, a number of issues such as coordination, access to land, partnership to empower the poor, enabling environment are very clear.
Question : How you encourage people in India to be involved in getting loans. In Jordan, people are reluctant to get loans? (by Ms. Rime Ras, Jordan)

Answer : Rural banks are also in India. There is a bank, name, NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) which is in

the field of agriculture and rural development. Government of India has a policy to provide easy term loan to farmers on less interest rates. The system of getting loan made easy and civil society and other stake holders are interest in getting loans without any problem.

Question : What impact the bio-fuel production had on food production in India? (by Prof. Kada, Japan)
Answer : Increase in oil prices has impacted many sectors. India started Jatropha production recently, and may have both positive and negative impacts.

Question : How is the land re-distribution have done in rural areas? (by Mr. Isaac Tettry, Ghana)
Answer : Land distribution is based on law. Surplus land is collected and distributed to poor people. Question : How the rural banks are supporting the agricultural sector? (by Mr. Isaac Tettry, Ghana)

Answer : India had rural bank. Land development bank provides credit to farmers.

IRAQ
The business session on 9th July 2008 started with the continuation of the presentation of the country papers. Mr Naser Mnati Feal, participant from Iraq in his presentation informed that Iraq lies within the moderate northern region system similar to that of Mediterranean where rainfall occurs almost in winter, autumn, spring and no rain in summer. Mayssan province in the southern governorate has very large agricultural lands and marshes. In the agriculture production sector, comes 97 per from cent of the the total sector. private

Governments role is to provide market support


Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

to the agriculture sector. In spite of the governments support and intervention, the yield in Iraq is still very low as compared to other countries. The present government is providing incentive to the private sector and farmers to increase production to ensure food security as well as creation of employment opportunities. Some of the incentives provided by the government are increase in the support prices, provision of input at subsidized rate, expansion of research and development activities and subsidy on the adoption of green house technology. Government is also encouraging extension of vegetable cultivation through import of good quality seeds. Government also established a marketing centre in the province for all the crops that the Ministry of Commerce does not received like white corn, yellow corn, sun flour, etc. Maintenance and expansion of orchards is being accorded priority. Licensing procedure for forming orchards has been simplified. Similarly, policy on promotion of livestock had been introduced. On the human resources, he mentioned that the

provided 80 percent grant and remaining 20 percent is to be re-paid by beneficiaries over a period of twenty years. Question : Iraq is importing a lot of food grains and vegetables to meet its food requirement. What is the countrys vision to tackle this situation (by Dr Zaki, Resource Person) Answer : There are many strategies in operation to increase food grains and vegetables production. Recently, government took many initiatives to increase the yield and increase the farm areas which I had explained in my presentation.

LEBANON In Lebanon, agriculture sector contributes to only 12 per cent of the total GDP but only receive 1 per cent of total government budget. Again, agriculture sector is benefiting from less than 2 per cent of total bank credits. Only 10 per cent of the population lives in rural areas and majority of them are poor. This scenario explains the

farmers need capacity building to upgrade their skills to understand the new technologies. Recently, the Government started the provision for training. The Government has created special fund to attract graduates to take up training in agriculture. Full text of the paper is given at Annexure 4.2.6.

Interventions Question : Please explain more about the graduate programme under operation in Najaf and Karbala (by Ms Hala from Lebanon) Answer : This is a public-private sector partnership programme. Under this programme, microfinance is provided to the graduate beneficiaries to take income generating activities. Government
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status of agriculture in Lebanon. Common features that shape the rural areas in Lebanon are: absence of well-developed infrastructure and public services, limited employment and economic opportunities, low income levels and high migration among the youth. Many public sector projects or programmes implemented on a single basis to develop rural areas yield little benefit because the public sector do not have the ability to implement successful programmes on its own due to lack of flexibility on the administrative level. More responsibilities are laid on the part of private sector and community based institutions which cannot perform all the work by themselves because of their limited resources in most of the cases. It is important that a partnership is used to mobilise complimentary and scarce resources in the private 19

20

public sectors and communitybased institutions involving the development of infrastructure and rural areas. Successful example of the publicprivate partnership in Lebanon is KAFALAT Corporation where agents entered the partnership with clear mutual objectives and clear picture of the potential benefits.

The participant mentioned that absence of welldeveloped infrastructure and public services, fragile production base, limited employment and economic opportunities, low income levels (agriculture being the main profession) as well as high migration among youth are the major challenges for Lebanese agriculture. In the present scenario, agricultural activities cannot ensure a substantial and stable income.
Suggesting measures for the improvement of agriculture, she mentioned that cooperatives can play a potential role in bringing about positive changes among impoverished rural communities. General Directorate of Cooperatives can play an important role in strengthening cooperative system in the country. Full text of the paper is given at Annexure 4.2.7.

Interventions
Question : Whether the Lebanon Government is importing food items including rice? (by Mr Mohd. Khalid, Malaysia)

Answer : Lebanon imports lots of food items including rice as the local production is very small to meet the demand. In fact, Lebanon is a net food importing country. Question : More details about the KAFALAT programme. (by Eng. Zaki, Egypt)

Answer

KAFALAT

programme

is

for

the

graduates. It gives guarantee to the bank for the loan taken by the beneficiaries. It also pays major part of the interest on behalf of the borrowers.

Question : Your presentation mentioned that cooperatives in Lebanon were formed for political aims. In this situation, cooperatives may not sustain as the people have the tendency not to repay their loan, etc. Answer : One of the principles of cooperatives is its independence. It should be free from political interference .Unfortunately, cooperative movement in Lebanon is not very strong and is thus misused for political gains.
Supplementing further, Dr Zaki, the Resource Person said that in Sudan cooperatives had about 50 years history but are not in a good health. In fact, some people stop mentioning cooperatives in their discussion. Mis-use by the politician is one of the reasons for the present status.

Question: Annual income of farmers is US$ 3,200 which is very high compared to other countries. From that standard, these people are not poor (by Mr B S Negi, India)
Answer: You are right when you make comparison with other countries. But in Lebanon, they are considered poor because the cost of living is very high as country is importing most of the goods.

LIBERIA
Liberia is located on the west coast of Africa. It has a tropical climate, indeed suitable for agriculture. Liberia has rich fertile land but most of its farming is done on a subsistence basis. In Liberia, about 70 per cent of rural dwellers are engaged in agricultural
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

activities but the production is insufficient to meet local demands. The gap is filled by importation of rice and other food items. Due to the 14 years civil war that affected every facet of life, people have become poorer and even subsistence farming is at its lowest. With peace, the government of Liberia is now in the process of reconstruction and working hard to restore the lives of all its people and communities, including rural communities which were completely broken down. People are returning to their communities and just beginning to rebuild their lives and their communities. Thus, rampant poverty, poor water supply, no credit, lack of basic infrastructure, health and sanitation, schools, roads and high level of food insecurity are the major challenges for the community as well as the government. The Liberian Government is taking several initiatives to begin and promote agriculture on a sustainable basis, ensuring the involvement of government and private partnership. With the increase in the food prices, the government is encouraging the people to take up farming under the programme Back to the Soil Campaign to provide food

on all agro-related communities. Concluding her presentation, she recommended for Triple P Approach to rural development. Full text of the paper is given at Annexure 4.2.8.

Interventions Observation : Infrastructure was damaged during the 14 years of brutal war. Many refugees from Liberia had settled down in Ghana. I think that the policy initiative on transparency and accountability will help in the speedy recovery of economy. Dr Abe from IDACA mentioned that the presentation touched his heart. International community knew about the Liberia and hoped that they will support in the reconstruction. Japan started reconstruction from scratch and Liberia can benefit from Japanese experiences. The able leadership will provide some direction to the country. Dr Zaki, Resource Person added that the political commitment is very important and Liberia had

security to the nation as well as create employment opportunities. Highlighting the governments initiative for the reconstruction of economy, the participant mentioned that Country Development Fund was established in 2007 to support development priorities. Massive road rehabilitation across the country and compulsory free primary education are the other notable programmes undertaken by the government. On the public-private partnership, she mentioned that government is aware within a well defined partnership. Financial resources can be mobilised to rehabilitate the damaged rural infrastructure. To encourage investment, government cancelled taxes
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

the privilege to have a very dynamic President. The reconstruction of economy especially the roads will help in accelerating the recovery process. Reacting to the above comments, the participant mentioned that her country is lucky to have a dynamic President. However, the issue of transparency is to be addressed on priority. Further, there are cases where the directives of the President could not be implemented due to resource crunch. Basic infrastructure like school, roads, feeder roads and hospitals are required immediately.

MALAYSIA The country paper on Malaysia was presented by Mr. Mohd. Yusof Sulaiman. In his presentation, 21

22

Mr. Sulaiman focused on rubber cultivation which still remains as an important component in Malaysian economy in spite of structural changes as the countrys economic focus shifted from primary industries to the broad-based exportoriented manufacturing activities. He further discussed about the natural rubber and rubber wood based products which contribute RM 25.6 billion to the export earnings of Malaysia. He described the smallholder sector as the backbone of the Malaysian rubber industry which contributes 1.25 million MT or 95.1 per cent of the total rubber produced in the country. He mentioned that the Rubber Industry of Smallholders smallholder Develop-ment He also Authority (RISDA) is responsible for the total development sector. discussed on the replanting which is the main activity in the development of the smallholders economy as well as being the thrust of other development activities. He mentioned that replanting through group development approach has been emphasized to enable land to be consolidated, adopted the developed concept policy of and and managed in more land this effectively. He also mentioned that RISDA had estatization to consolidation undertake

responsibility, RISDA has formed a subsidiary, RISDA Smallholders Plantation Sdn. Bhd. (RPSB) and 74,190 hectares of smallholders land involving 40,126 smallholders is managed by the company. He discussed on the cooperative movement, one of the strategies in developing the rubber smallholder sector through which economic and social activities for their common good are carrying out. While discussing the activities of smallholders cooperative, such as marketing of smallholders produce, supply of agricultural inputs, land development and services, he mentioned that there are altogether 60 smallholder cooperatives in the country with a total membership of 184,694 smallholders and the total

shares accumulated amounted to RM 27,385,470. He also mentioned that another important aspect of smallholder development is the enhancement of human capital to equip smallholder with knowledge, skills and positive values which is crucial for effective implementation of RISDAs programmes. Enhancement of human development will be further emphasized as a catalyst of growth in the smallholder sector. He concluded his presentation by stating that, to meet the future challenges, there is a need to accelerate the use of high technology to optimise output through organised management of smallholdings. Looking forward, the future generates a scenario where all smallholdings will be managed economically by progressive smallholders or smallholder cooperatives through land consolidation. This vision includes smallholders operating bigger and more economically viable holdings. Full text of the paper is given at Annexure 4.2.9.

Interventions
Observation : The presentation is very informative and valuable. It shows the governments commitment to promote the partnership. The Malaysian experiences in rubber cultivation may be useful to other countries.

Question : You explained very well about the rubber crop but what is the status of the other crops? (by Eng. Zaki, Egypt)
Answer : About 70 per cent of the countrys land is covered by forests. Palm oil and rice are the other crops. There are also orchards for fruit production. Labour shortages did not allow to diversify into other crops.
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

MALAWI
Question : Malaysian experiences are mentioned in many countries. The average size of small holder is 2.3 hectare. I would like to know how they are making their living? (by Dr Zaki, Resource Person) Answer : In term of the income of the smallholders, it was considered insufficient when the rubber prices were very low. Their income was supplemented by government through incentives and integrated farming support. Now with the increase in the price, the income of small holder increased multifolds. Group planting is being encouraged to increase productivity as well as cut the cost by eliminating middlemen. Question : Value added chain concept is gaining popularity in the Far East countries. Whether RISDA had taken some initiatives to promote value added chain concept? (by Dr Y. Abe, IDACA) Malawi had population of about 12,341,171 in 2005. About 86 per cent of the population lives in rural areas and most of the people depend on subsistence agriculture for their livelihood and 52.4 per cent live below poverty line of less than 1 US dollar a day (HDR, 2006). About 69.5 per cent and 46.5 per cent of the rural and urban population respectively are economically active. Rural-urban migration has also been on the rise in Malawi. The countrys economy is predominantly agricultural based and contributes about 40 per cent to GDP. The agriculture sector provides 80 per cent of the total productive employment and also 85 per cent of export earnings.

The Government of Malawi has prepared the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) which identified areas that need particular attention to ensure that the country grows socially and economically. One of the components of MGDS is the partnership building. This initiative is directed towards a common goal without duplicating efforts thereby ensuring efficient and effective use of resources. Some of the examples of the partnership of One Village One Product project financed by JICA, Poverty Reduction Programme A Micro Finance funded by the African Development Bank and Public Work Programme for the construction of roads, irrigation and promotion of forestry funded the European Union.
The partnerships would involve different government development

Question : Government had provided many subsidies to Malay population over a period of time. Money collected from tax payers is being channelized for the welfare of Malay population at the cost of others. This is one of the reasons that agriculture sector could not diversify (by Dr Y. Abe, IDACA)
Answer : Dr Abe travelled to Malaysia many times and knew socio-economic profile very well. About 90 per cent of Malays are farmers living in rural areas and engaged in agriculture and plantation whereas Chinese are engaged in business and living in cities. In order to sustain the plantation and agriculture, the government provided subsidies and incentives and the Malay population was the natural beneficiaries. However, situation is changing due to diminishing subsidies. I must say that this issue is related to our political stability.

agencies

implementing

initiatives as a public stakeholder on the one hand and community based organisations and local nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) as private community based institutions on the other.

Report of RECA Seminar

23 the 30th

24

Implementation of development initiative in both agriculture and rural development in Malawi tend to leave out local capacities that are available at grass root in the form of Community Based Organization (CBOs) and local NGOs that have enormous knowledge and experience. Community based institutions also have local understanding of the areas and communities they work thus, honing a lot of community knowledge and context.
He highlighted some of the opportunities available to the private sector in Malawi. Decentralisation of the government community policing and involvement of locals in preservation of natural resources are some of the areas that provide more profitable partnership. He also stated that high literacy rate and absence of deep rooted culture for private organisations are some of the potential trade to derive the process of partnership. Public and private community be a based viable institutions approach to partnership would

sustainable agriculture and rural development. He concluded that the concept of public-private partnership is a good and viable idea especially for developing countries because of its vast potential in ensuring that even rural communities can participate in the development of a nation. It is a win-win situation for both the public and private sector as each benefits from the other. Full text of the paper is given at Annexure 4.2.10.

Interventions
Observation : Malawi had a good plan for public-private partnership. Under this partnership, rural community will benefit. This will give a good sense of belongingness. Question : One Village One Product Project supported by JICA was mentioned in the

presentation. How far this project succeeded and what will happen if donor withdraws from the project? (by Dr. Abe, IDACA)

Question : Does Malawi promote southsouth cooperation? (by Dr. Abe, IDACA)
Answer : JICA project is going very well. It helps in value addition. Encouraged by the success, the Malawi hosted an international seminar to share the projects success.
Malawi promotes SouthSouth cooperation in different ways. For example, Uganda is receiving the services of extension department from Kenya. Malawi also collaborated with African Development Bank.

Eng. Zaki from Egypt added that few years ago, Government of Egypt offered to transfer technical know-how to Malawi. The offer is still in the process. OMAN
The participant from Oman stated that Oman has vast central desert plain and rugged mountains in north and south. The natural resources are oil, natural gas, agriculture and fisheries. 67 per cent of Oman population is holding the agricultural land. Omani agriculture represents one of the non-oil components of Omani economy. It accounts for about 2.3 per cent of GDP in 2007 and it employs approximately 25 per cent of the labour force. The agriculture sector has been assigned a major role and challenging goal of achieving the long term aim of food security and better living standards for rural population. Accordingly, the Ministry of Agriculture adopted policies such to as improve technical agricultural assistance, productivity
Report of the 30th

extension programme subsidy,


RECA Seminar

promotion of agri-business, market development, etc. However, the success of these programmes will depend on how the government addresses some of the challenges such as absence of specialized agriculture training institutes in the rural area, unclear of agriculture marketing policy, scarcity of water

Answer : Oman does not have self-sufficiency in food production except dates, coconut and banana. Oman is exporting banana. The country is heavily dependent on food imports from Egypt, India, Jordan, etc.
Question : Oman is a rich country and has financial resources for investment in agriculture sector to expand and modernize it (by Dr. Abe, IDACA)

resources, crops disease and pests.

The public-private community based partnership is one of approaches to achieve sustainable agriculture development in Oman. Under this partnership, private sector is encourage to increase investment, promotion of agriculture cooperatives, etc.
In order to empower rural women, Ministry of Agriculture introduced several programmes and activities. The Ministry prepared a field study titled Horizons of Rural Woman Role in Agricultural Development in the Sultanate of Oman with the objective to acquaint with the living conditions of woman in the rural community and her role in the farm.

Answer : There is an acute water shortage in Oman. The agriculture could not be developed into a big way due to poor soil conditions and water scarcity. Further, government is using fund for the development of other sectors of the economy.

SUDAN
The presentation started with an explanation on the geographic conditions in Sudan. The presenter stated that Sudan is the largest country in Africa having an area of 2.5 million square kilometers, making it the 9th largest country in the world. The government has adopted free-trade policies meant to remove the economic ills, raising the efficiency of the economic performance and advancing the contribution of the private sector in economic activities and provided for additional resources for development and improved services. These policies were, however, accompanied by some policies adverse to the agricultural sector including exchange rate, credit, in addition to other effects of market economy and removal of subsidies to production. These adverse policies resulted in the failure of the produce to compete with international subsidized commodities.
In order to achieve sustainable agricultural and rural development, Government of the Sudan formu-lated a plan, namely, Agricultural Revival Prog-ramme (20082011) which has well sound strategic

The paper also discussed the conceptual issues involved in the public-private partnership and clearly defined the growth of different stake holders. Full text of the paper is given at Annexure 4.2.11.

Interventions
Observation : Since Omans economy is based on oil, the contribution from agriculture sector is small. Still I am excited about the partnership policy for the promotion of agriculture. This will help in reducing dependence on import.

Question : What is food self-sufficiency rate in Oman? (by Eng. Zaki, Egypt)

25 Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

objectives, policies and developmental pro-grammes. Some of the strategic objectives are as follows :
Promotion of export of crops and livestock

Question : Sudan had many programmes for the intensification and expansion of agriculture. Some of these programmes were in collaboration with donor agencies. I would like to know about their status (by Eng. Zaki, Egypt)

with a view to safeguarding against the risks of collapse of whole economy as a result of the distortions emanating from over-dependence on oil revenues.
Increasing productivity and efficiency at

the production and processing stages.

Answer : There was an agreement between FAO and the Government of Sudan for special programme. There are some projects funded by IFAD. Basically, these programmes were mitigating programmes as the resources were diverted to the booming oil sector.

Reduc ing povert y to 50 per cent by 2015, gener ation of job oppor tunitie s and increa sing per capita incom e.

Achie veme nt of a balan ced growt h in all region s of

Realisation of food JORDAN security. suggested dations develo the for count some pment, ry recommen develo presen with adations forpment t view improving of status, to agricultural livestoc etc. It encou would developme k raging have nt throughsector. settle been better Full ment irrigation text of better in if the rural network, the paper areas. improving paper the semi-is given had focuss mechanise at Develop d rain-fedAnnexu ed on partne ment sub-sector, re rship. and traditional 4.2.12. protecti rain-fed on of sub-sector, Interv ention natural easy resourc access tos credit, es to Obser ensure better vation techniques their : The renewal for paper production and focuss and sustain ed on forecasting ability. stages . She also of suggested She agricul recommen also

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both the Bedu people and the land resourc es their liveliho ods depend. She mention ed the success ful establis hment of forage shrub reserve, with commu nity inputs has provide d l a and practica visible example of the creation of a new how a that on which

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Report of the

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30th RECA Seminar

forage source can supplement conventional grazing on Badia rangelands. She also shared some of the lessons learnt with the implementation of the project such as careful planning at each project stage. Level of farmers participation should be determined by their interest and capacity. Scientists contribute new technical information that may provide options for improvement and methodology for testing various options, demonstrations of successful rehabilitation of rangeland areas may convince local herders, the use of native land species, dissemination of information to all interested parties, including local communities along with provincial and national governing bodies, etc. Full text of the paper is given at Annexure 4.2.13.

project was designed with the help of local community. They also actively participated in the implementation of this project. I must admit that the success of the project was due to the communitys active involvement. Question : Whether there is any change in the living conditions of the Bedu community? What is the possibility of its replication? (by Mr B.S. Negi, India) Answer : Rangeland is very important for the survival of Bedu and it had to be maintained at all cost to avoid social conflict. This project solved these problems very well. This project helped in increasing the vegetation cover as well as milk production and its quality. The project can be replicated in other parts having similar socio-economic problems. However, for the success, the communitys commitment and involvement is very important.

Interventions Observation : This case study is very interesting to learn and demonstrate that how the indigenous community can be involved in the development process. This is also a very good example

NIGERIA

of partnership between community and government. Question : We have listened to your detailed presentation but for the purpose of better understanding, please explain in brief. (by Dr. Abe, IDACA) Answer : Badia rangeland have an especially significant culture and heritage value for the Bedu people. It is very difficult to work with this target group. Badia Research and Development Centre (BRDC) designed a project to help the Bedu community as their economy depends on livestock. Due to traditional grazing practices, the vegetation was badly damaged. The main purpose of the project was to conserve vegetation in the area so that livestock activity could be sustained. This
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

Describing her countrys profile, Ms Kafayat Olufunke Salami, the participant from Nigeria mentioned that Nigeria is blessed with abundant natural endowments and fertile land suitable for agricultural production. Agriculture has continued and will continue to play a key role in the Nigerian economy. She stated that growth rate increased steadily from about 2.9 per cent in 1998 to about 10 per cent in 2007, due to aggressive drive by the Government leading to increased public and private investments and level of commercialization. She also mentioned that in the year 2002, the Federal Government had approved a New Agricultural Policy which, inter alia, aims at achieving self-sufficiency in basic food commodities, increased production of agricultural raw materials to meet the growth of the countrys 27

28

expanding industrial sector as well as create employment opportunities and increasing income of farmers. It also aims at encouraging active participation of private investors in all facets of agricultural development, while the Government is to provide conducive investment climate on a continuous basis for private entrepreneurs. In her presentation, she also highlighted on the activities and programmes on which the Federal Government as a private sector driven economy concentrates which could stimulate private sector participation in the agricultural sector. She mentioned about few programmes which include: a) National Fadama Development Project (NFDP) I, II, III - the main objective of which is to suitably increase the income of Fadama users viz. farmers, pastoralist, fisher folks, hunters, gatherers and services providers, to take through of empowering their own communities charge

development agenda and reduce conflicts among users; b) National Special Programme for food security - a programme which is aimed at assisting farmers to achieve their potentials for increased output productivity and income on a sustainable basis; c) Commodity Based Agricultural and Rural Development livelihoods Programme and living for improving of the rural conditions

communities with emphasis on women and other vulnerable groups; d) Development of cooperative sub-sector under which the tremendous achievement recorded towards development of viable cooperative sub-sector and to bring Farmers Association in the country under an umbrella organisation known as Apex Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) for greater and tidier Farmer Government interaction. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources also pursued programmes of poverty alleviation, employment and income generation

through development and promotion of cooperative enterprises; e) Women in Agriculture, in an attempt to fight poverty and hunger, improving women capacities in boosting food production nationwide, the Network for Women in Agriculture and Environment, a nongovernmental organisation in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources is mobilizing women to exploit numerous investment opportunities under the presidential initiative of increased cassava and rice production, processing and export programmes in the country; f) Establishment of three Multi-commodity Development and Marketing Companies. The Federal Government of Nigeria has assisted in jump-starting three multi-commodity development and marketing companies which are to be owned and managed by private Nigerian farmers. The companies are to address the marketing problems of Nigerian farmers; and g) South-South cooperation programme. The SouthSouth agreement is to allow member countries to take advantage of each others areas of excellence in agriculture to achieve food security objective and improve farmers productivity and income.
On the part of the Federal Government of Nigeria, incentives and conducive environment have been put in place for the private sector to operate and viable institutions have been established to provide service that will accelerate the tempo of private investment in Nigerian agriculture. Full text of the paper is given at Annexure 4.2.14.

Interventions
The chairman thanked the speaker for the presentation and mentioned that Nigeria is a very rich country in agricultural land but the progress in the utilisation of land is slow. He also
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

commended that the participation of private sector will stimulate the growth in the agricultural sector. Question : For the agricultural development, the issue of land reform is very important. Some countries in Asia like Taiwan and Thailand made tremendous progress in the agricultural development due to land consolidation. He requested to brief about the land reform policies being adopted in Nigeria, if any? (by Mr A W Anwer, AARDO) Answer : In Nigeria, most of the land belongs to the government and tribal communities. Government provides land on lease basis to the private sector as well as individual farmers. The land reform is very sensitive issue in Nigeria and government is trying to introduce some changes gradually. The individual farmers prefer to take the land on lease from the community land due to easy terms and conditions. Dr. Zaki, the Resource Person commented that in most the African countries, land reform of is a very sensitive issue and the governments tread them very cautiously. One of the reasons for the low productivity is the absence of land reform in

attended by the Executive Director, IDACA, faculty members of IDACA and AARDO Officials. On behalf of the Secretary General, AARDO, Mr A W Anwer, Executive Secretary delivered the speech. Mr Anwer mentioned that during the five days stay in IDACA, we have experiences of fourteen countries from Asia and Africa. We also got the opportunity to listen two resource persons. We all had very useful discussions during the group discussion and came out with good recommendations. On behalf of AARDO and on behalf of the Secretary General, AARDO, Mr Anwer took the opportunity to extend his sincere thanks to IDACA for making excellent arrangements. He also thanked the JA Zenchu for their kind support for this seminar. He also placed on record a special thanks to Dr Zaki and Prof. Kada, the resource persons for their presentation and valuable intervention. Mr Anwer also thanked the chefs for taking care of the participants to serve the best food and thanked all other IDACA staff for their cooperation and support. He highly appreciated the cooperation and contribution of all the

the African countries. After completion of the presentation of the country paper by the participant from Nigeria, Dr. Yukio Abe, Training Manager, IDACA, Japan showed some video pictures about the stages of agricultural development in Japan, functioning of agricultural cooperatives, etc. He also explained the current challenges being faced by Japanese agriculture.

participants during the presentation and deliberation. Concluding the address, he hoped that participants will enjoy the study visit in Japan. Mr Kazuo Tsukada, Executive Director, IDACA in his address, stressed on the collaboration between AARDO and IDACA and emphasized on the need for more activities. He said that RECA seminar is a special event for IDACA as it brings participants from far-off countries such as Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria. He thanked AARDO and the member countries for attending the RECA Seminar. He concluded his remark by wishing a successful field visit to Hyogo Prefecture. He invited the participants to visit IDACA again. 29

1.5

Valedictory Session

The valedictory session of the seminar was held on 11 July 2008 in the afternoon. The session was
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

30

On behalf of the participants, Mr Isaac Adza Tettey, the participant from Ghana conveyed the vote of thanks. He mentioned that during their stay in IDACA, we have learnt many new things through exchange of experiences. He thanked IDACA for making excellent arrangements for their stay. He also thanked AARDO for providing them with the opportunity to attend the RECA

Seminar in Japan.
Closing the session Dr Abe, IDACA thanked all the resource persons and the participants for their cooperation and contribution.

Dr Zaki, Resource Person gave away the certificates to the participants.


Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

2. GROUPS DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS


In order to arrive at appropriate recommendations of the seminar, the participants were divided into two groups and each group was given a specific topic to deliberate upon. The groups discussed in details the topics keeping in view of the objectives of the seminar and presented their recommendations in a plenary session held on 10 July 2008. The session was chaired by Dr. Zaki, the Resource Person from Sudan. The groups composition, issues for a discussio futu challenge n ns, re s d recommendations of the groups are as follow : GROUP 2

Chairperso n: Member s:

Mr Te-Sen Wu, R O China Ms Kafayat O. Salami, Nigeria Mr Mohammad Rashwan, Egypt Mr Bahadur Singh Negi, India Ms Rima A.A. Ras, Jordan H E Ms Yah S. Kalian, Liberia Mr Mohammad Sulaiman, Malaysia Mr Salim Mohammed Saif AlHamimi, Oman

Issues for Discussions Private sector involvement is guided 1 by profit making motives. What other complimentary measures are required to attract private participation? What are the necessary regulatory 2 and supervisory framework to facilitate

Groups Composition GROUP 1 Chairperso Mr Isaac A. Tettey,

n: Member s:

Ghana Mr Raafat Salah Eldin Zaki, Egypt Mr An-Sheng Huang, RO China Mr Naser Mnati Feal, Iraq Miss Hala Debs, Lebanon Mr Joseph N. Magwira, Malawi Hj Khaled Bin Awang Said, Malays ia Mrs Inaam Babiker Mohamed Ahmad, Sudan

sustainable partnership with private sector? Outline necessary actions to strengthen 3 the community based organisations as partners? What kind of policy 4 measures, motivations are required to enhance conservation of environment and eco-system? Why would you select environment as an issue for partnership? Future Challenges Identify partners and what factors 1 induce them to join? 31

Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

32

2 How can organisations such as AARDO be funded by partnership initiative to assist in resolving the socio-economic agenda?

3 Networking for sharing information on successful project. Mention case studies.

Recommendations SESSION 1 : Group 1


Private sector involvement is guided by profit making motives. What other complimentary measures are required to attract private participation?

1 2 3 4 5
from

Grant of tax exemptions


Removing bureaucracies and bottlenecks

Security of investments

Create an enabling environment (infrastructure and agricultural inputs)


Create a fund for the private sector to tap

6 7 8

Socio-economic macro-stability Availability of data base Availability of legal framework

What are the necessary regulatory and supervisory framework to facilitate sustainable partnership with private sector?

1 2

Set a body for Public Private partnership by the government


Settling Memorandum of Understanding

(MOU)

1 2 3 4 5 6

Defining goals and objectives for Public Private partnership


Monitoring and evaluating partnership

Implementing an information mechanism

effective

Protection of intellectual property right

Creating linkages between the private and public sectors Identification (SWOT Analysis) of problems

Outline necessary actions to strengthen the community based organisations as partners

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Accountability and transparency Efficiency Equal profit sharing


Involvement of partners in decision-

making Networking and recognition


Collaboration and carry out joint activity

Public interest

What kind of policy measures, motivations are required to enhance conservation of environment and eco-system? Why would you select environment as an issue for partnership?

1 2

Environment impact assessment


Set up measures, legislations and by-laws
RECA Seminar

Report of the 30th

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Awareness creation Traceability Integrated pest management

1 2 3 4

Resource dependency HRD training Technological convergence Working culture

Re-afforestation measures and practices should be put in place Cover crops and pastures
Promoting sustainable development

Standardisation Approach

5 6

create standards, certificates for agricultural products


involving private sector in discussing regulations related to the partnership before approving from the government

Multi-functionality of agriculture

SESSION 1 : Group 2 Industrial Development Approach

7 1

professional team building in lit c I y


m pr o ve in fr as tr u ct ur e/ b a n ki n g fa cil iti es

scheme policy/W TO

e nt iv Political e Policy s Approac a h n d st in 1 s able ur political a policy n and c effective e export

n s p ar e n c y

Pr o vi d e ta x

S ef o 2 fective ci laws, al respect regovernm s ent p regulatio o ns n tr si 3 a bi

e n h a n c e d tr a n s p ar e n c y c o r p o ra te g o v er n a n c

e Institutio nal Approac h

k e y re fo r m s in k e y fi 5 n a n ci al s e ct o r
b a n ki n

g/ in s ur a n c e s c h e m e re fo r m s
ef fe ct iv e p ol ici es /la w s/ tr a d e p ol ici es

in

WTO

Market Economy Approach Employment Financial stability mar ket

Support

pr ot ec t lo ca l pr od uc er s pr od uc ts by la w s

Modernis security

Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

S o ci al re s p o n si bi lit y

34

Educational Approach

1 2

awareness and capacity building through

training community empowerment strength-ening public institutions Cooperative Approach development and promotion of cooperative enterprises for

1 2
rules

more cooperation with CBOs


facilitation of the formation of CBO/

3 4

budgetary support for activities through government/donor agencies


Community/rural infrastructure development including ICT development

Environmental Approach

1 2 3 4 5

preservation of eco-systems and bio-diversity including flora and fauna Use of renewable energy the crops,

To stop burning straw/forest in rural areas

Reduce level of deforestation of

Reduce over-consumption water, pesticides and fertilisers, etc Esteem Approach Preservation of eco-system and biodiversity including flora and fauna

Agreement with all countries on environment issues and eco-systems Education Approach

1 2

Awareness and sensitisation regarding

impact of green house gases (GHGs) Quality of life, safety and sustainability

Policy Approach

3 4

Socio-economic policy as well as water and food policy It balances the eco-system as 50 per cent of the cause of global warming is due to emission of CO2 Conclusion

There are many measures required to attract private sector participation in the present globalisation scenario

There needs to be greater flexibility on

account of decentralisation. However, in order to ensure it is necessity for regulatory and supervisor framework to be in place to facilitate sustainable partnership with private sector

Also it needs to enhance conservation of environment and ecosystem to see that there is no holocaust SESSION 2 : Group 1
Identify partners and what factors induce them to join?

Partners
Civil Society
RECA Seminar Report of the 30th

1 2 3 4 5 6

NGOs CBOs FCOs, Farmers Unions FBOs Individual farmers Private cooperative organisations

SESSION 2 : Group 2
Identify partners and what factors induce them to join?

1 2 3

GO-NGO-Private SectorCommunity participation model Donor/NGO-GO-Private sector Community participation model


Exclusive GO-Private Sector Coalition

Factors

1 2 3 4 5 6

Community development Cost sharing Common interest and profit Welfare development Common geographical location
Mitigating crisis, prices or natural disaster

Model

4 5 6

Industrial companies/ MNCsGovernment-Community Participation Model

Exclusive Government - Peoples organisations direct participation model International organisations (World Bank, IFAD, UNDP, etc) Government Participation Model

How can organisations such as AARDO be funded by partnership initiative to assist in resolving the socio-economic agenda?

1 2 3 4 5

Provision of technical consultant services

7 8 9 10 11

Awareness Profit making Government support


Sharing of business skills and experience

Provision of increased skill capacity


Set up data bank consisting of patent right

Play a vital role in coordination with government for PPPs Collaboration with international organisations and donor communities to induce PPP concept and activity
Networking for sharing information on successful project. Mention case studies.

High productivity monitoring and efficient delivery of services

12

Improvement of economic backwardness

social

and

Websites Documentary Films Journals Seminars

Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

36

Good leadership and good governance

How can organisations such as AARDO be funded by partnership initiative to assist in resolving the socio-economic agenda?

Funding by donor agencies like WB, JICA, DFID, IFAD, FAO, UNDP, KOICA, EU, etc

Collaboration and joint activities with the private sectors by providing skills/professional services by AARDO

Additional budgetary support by AARDO member countries for upgrading of existing infrastructure and financial health of AARDO

Up-scaling of the projects and providing

resource persons in non-AARDO member countries


Networking for sharing information on successful project. Mention case studies.

The Karianet in Egypt is a good example. It

improves communication and facilitates sharing information, knowledge, exchange of experiences, enhance dialogue among villagers and learn from other experiences

Jara market in Jordan: This market is

open for all NGOs every Friday to present their products in this market where they can sell their product for city people and make profits. At the same time, NGOs exchange information and experiences with each other regarding different issues i.e., packaging, planting, etc.
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

3. A NOTE ON THE FIELD VISITS


The Policy participantsDepartment, Hyogo Prefecture at

Visit to Hyogo Life Center


2

had the opportunity to visit the Hyogo Prefecture in

Kobe. The central part of participants Japan to study and discussed at observe the length the agricultural current practices, use of agricultural high-tech in policies, role of agriculture, role of extension officesextension new and the partnershipservices, between public andchallenges such agricultural as ageing of the cooperatives duringfarming 14-17 July 2008. Acommunity, etc. theThey field visit is givenobserve summary below.
1

the

of

also the for quality

laboratory facilities food

Introduction of Hyogo Prefecture


Seto Hyogo Inland Prefecture, Sea the often known the assouth. The

control, labeling system, etc.

the in

winter

dented in other prefecture s. area the prefecture is 840,000ha , of which 67 cent per is Land of

prefecture snowfall, with a richdryness topograph and mild ical and natural climate. ait has condition As such, variety ofdiverse natural condition condition s such ass, severe unprece

miniature ofChugoku mountain Japan, extends the toranges Japanlie in the

Sea in thecentral of north to thepart

forest

andhouseho

The Hyogo Life Center was

Hyogo Life Center provides various

10 per centlds.

Hyogo farmers mostly Diverse agriculture depend on non is practised agricultu in differentral income. regions depending Dairy on climaticfarming conditons. is also The mainvery popular crops this grown inin this regionregion. are, rice wine, On 14th July, the grapes, highland participa vegetables, nts paid a black courtesy beans, yam, andvisit on the onions. Cultivated Director area perGeneral of farm household Agricult is 0.74 ha,ure
farmland.

establishe facilities d in 2007and by Hyogo nt-run n. of farming life new style being is theuseful program where They gain farming ces with apleasure lifeand also learn the importan of can

support develop ment of new agricult ure; and

o promote developm ent regional communit y in which relevant organs such , as NPO, enterprise regional communit y, ation in manner. local are an administr involved integrated of

Governme mes corporatio everybod concept

enjoying experien

offered byce the Hyogobetter

prefectura farming. l nt people lead more humans life a The main tothe are: Governme goals of enable itsCentre

which is smaller than the national average (1.6ha). On the whole, manageme nt scale is small and farmland tends to be concentrat ed in the hands of big farm

is spread in an promoting quality area of farming of life of 14 ha. people work of experienc through which es andinteracti 6.8 ha. exchange on with is or of farming farmlan exposur d. The among e to main mountain farming; activitie ous and s of the fishing 2 T Center villages. are: o
o
byimprove The

T Centre

The

Repor 37 t of

the ation Intern al

Works hop

38

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Processing of jam, bread, soyabean, etc.

Direct sale of farm products Restaurant business Promotion of green houses

Experimentation and cultivation of mushroom Exhibition of farm implements (both old and new) Promotion of farming through training, demonstration, etc.

13

Visit to South Awaji Agricultural Extension Office

Awaji Island is famous for vegetable production, paddy and multiple crops. The area is also famous for onion, cabbage. Currently, onion is planted in February and it become part of three crop rotation patterns, such as nappa cabbageonion. Currently rice paddy utilization is at 240 per cent. The area is also famous for horticulture. The bulk of flower production due to favorable climatic conditions is in the form of illumination-cultivated chrysanthemums in the Nada district of Nandan town, as well as winter greenhouse cultivation of flowers like carnations and stock in the Yasuhira district of Sumoto city.

Traditionally, livestock and dairy farming has been

Report of the

International Workshop

a supplement to vegetable growing in Awaji. In recent years, however a large number of farmers switched to dairy farming alone. Most beef cattle production is breeding and Hyogo is a major supplier of feeder cattle to high-grade beef producer throughout Japan. In order to support a sustained dairy industry, Extension Office encourages helper businesses, cost reduction and handle environmental issues. It is also promoting integrated production from breeding to fattening and is working to the Awaji brand the image of high-grade beef. The Extension Office is also encouraging the young generation to take farming through business education, family management agreement, young farmer education and direct contact with the consumer. The participants observed the farming practices and interacted with the farm families.
The participants also observed the other activities of the Extension Office including live demonstration of remote controlled helicopter spraying insecticides and pesticides in paddy fields. Before concluding the study visit, the participants had the opportunity to visit Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institute to learn about the precautions and strategies to minimize the loss of life and property due to natural calamities such as earth-quake. The staff members explained in detail through video-film & modules about the new technologies available and being used in the construction work in Japan. These measures are helping in a big way in minimizing the colossal loss of life and property.

4. ANNEXURES

39
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

40
R he e 30 p th o R r E t C A o Se f mi na t r

4.1 INAUGURAL ADDRESS

41

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42
R he e 30 p th o R r E t C A o Se f mi na t r

Annexure 4.1.1

ADDRESS OF H E MR ABDALLA YAHIA ADAM SECRETARY GENERAL, AFRO-ASIAN RURAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION (AARDO)

NEW DELHI, INDIA


(As read by Mr A W Anwer)
and great on my own to the RECA being organised Asian Development Organization : An (AARDO), Cooperatives being the of IDACA. indeed AARDO Central (JAis towards Union of Agricultural Zenchu), Tokyo and by long-distance Seminar is AfroRural behalf, it gives me pleasure travelling. This 30th jointly

Mr. Tsukada Kazuo, Executive Director Institute for the Development of Agricultural Cooperation in Asia (IDACA)

welcome you all to the 30th RECA Seminar on Public-private Community-based Institutions

Mr Miyazaki, GeneralPartnership Manager, Institute for theApproach Development of Agricultural Cooperation in Asia (IDACA) Sustainable Dr El Sayed Ali Ahmed Zaki, Resource Person and the Participants Dr Yukio Abe and IDACA Officials Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of Afro-Asian Rural Development Organization (AARDO)

Agricultural and Rural Development, Institute Agricultural Cooperation in Asia (IDACA). I am grateful to all of you for sparing invaluable for organised here at the Development

time and for enduring

located Republic

in of

Seoul, Korea;

Jordan; grateful to the JA-Zenchu and IDACA Amman, Accra, Ghana; Cairo, for their appreciated efforts in Egypt; and Lusaka, organising this Seminar. Zambia.

Ladies and Gentlemen,


Japan is one of the founder members of the brief introduction of the Afro-Asian Organization, the Rural Develop-ment Organization (AARDO), which is one of the earliestothers being Egypt, Libya and examples of South-South cooperationIndia, Malaysia. AARDOs and Afro-Asian solidarity. Established in 1962, AARDO is an international, membership stands 30 member inter-governmental institution in the as countries, 15 from field of rural development whose Africa and 14 from headquarters are located in New Delhi, India. AARDO has five regional offices Asia as full members
I wish to take this opportunity to give a five

and one associate member from Africa. AARDO enjoys Observer status with various UN and other international and regional organizations like FAO, IFAD, UNCTAD, UNESCO, CIRDAP, etc. AARDO acts as a catalyst and provides a forum for the member countries in the continents of

43 Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

a project-based approach, lack of adequate political

Africa and Asia to jointly discuss their problems, exchange vies, ideas, experiences and information in the field of rural and agricultural development, pool their resources, and to make concerted efforts, wherever possible, to improve the quality of life of their rural people. AARDOs strategies for rural development are focused on three broad areas i.e. human resource development, financing of development pilot projects and dissemination of information. Since its establishment, IDACA has been playing a pioneering role in the field of training, dissemination of knowledge and information on various aspects of agricultural cooperatives with special reference to the Japanese experience. Since 1967, RECA (Research and Education Centre of AARDO) seminars on different themes of agricultural development have become a regular feature and international seminars are being organised under the auspices of RECA in collaboration with JA-Zenchu and IDACA, Tokyo at IDACA. So far, 29 RECA seminars have been successfully organised at IDACA.

commitment and lack of effective implementation mechanism have made overall rural development efforts rather fragmented and uncoordinated. As a result, the problems of rural poverty, unemployment, insufficient basic amenities, and rural-urban migration continue to persist. Further, new challenges such as decline in land productivity, deterioration in natural resources, limited employment opportunities and recently emerging issues of digital divide, diminishing Government support under WTO agreements, climatic change, etc., complicated the problems.
Accelerated rural development is essential for

reducing poverty and promoting better standards of life for much of the worlds population. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) cannot be achieved unless rural poverty is urgently reduced. National and international businesses can have a powerful influence towards helping to achieve these improvements. Pro poor policies and practices by business houses and other stakeholders can help to promote economic and social well being and at the same time generate profit on investment.

Ladies and Gentlemen,


Agricultural and rural development programmes in its varied forms and dimensions are in operation in both Africa and Asia since early 1970s. However, there is an increasing realization among the key rural development actors that the achievements being made are not up to the expectations in most developing countries. Thus, rural development and poverty alleviation despite being a priority agenda in the national development strategies and a major destination of donor support in the past decades, continues to remain major challenges in most of the developing countries. A complex of factors such as lack of community participation, dependence on government for financial support,

Thus, a clear rethinking and refocusing of the rural development process is required to bring it at the centre stage of the national development strategies to turn into an effective mechanism for ensuring sustained growth of the rural economy and alleviation of endemic poverty in the developing countries.

Ladies and Gentlemen,


In the past, most of the projects dealing with agricultural and rural development were financed by the Governments and donor agencies. These projects were designed and implemented by the Government departments/agencies without the

44

Report of the 30th

RECA Seminar

involvement of target groups and private sector. In fact, the community was treated as beneficiaries rather than partners in the process of economic development. As a result, many of such projects could not be sustained. They used to show the sign of collapse as soon as Governments or donor agencies withdraw their support from the project. Such scenario compelled the policy makers and implementers to rethink their strategy. They realised that only government efforts will not be sufficient to produce desired results in improving the life of rural people.

Undong Movement in Republic of Korea, Farmers Associations in the Republic of China, Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and Anand Milk Union Limited (AMUL) in India. As the concept of the partnership between the public, private and community based organization gained the momentum, many country governments introduced new laws or amended their laws to ensure the success.
Some of the notable examples of partnership are between Government of India and private bank, namely, ICICI Bank designed a scheme for providing the insurance cover to the members of

In the late 1960s, there were a series of debates about community participation and it became formalized in a number of United Nations Reports including Popular Participation in Development in 1971. The bottom to top approach was applied in project design, implementation as well as in monitoring. During the same period in many developing countries, private sector was exploring the business opportunities in the rural areas because of large population. Private sector also wants to diversify its business activities in new areas like banking, insurance, marketing of agricultural inputs and produce, extension services, etc. Private sector discovers good opportunity for taking up some projects in partnership with Government and community.
Donor agencies were encouraged and impressed with the success like of partnership between farmers government, private sector and community based organizations cooperatives, associations, self help groups (SHGs), informal groups, village level bodies, etc. Some of the earliest successful examples of the partnerships between the governments and the farmers are the

Self Help Groups, who belong to the poorest of the poor section of the society. This insurance scheme provided some social security to the poor rural people. In Bangladesh, the Grameen Bank collaborated with the telephone service providers and successfully provided the access to telephone to the poor in the rural areas under the Grameen Phone. This scheme empowered the rural people, small producers, artisans through better and quick exchange of information. In Pakistan, Decentralised Social Services Programme helped in better access to educational institution. Private sector effective and extensive outreash, community involvement and client responsiveness and accountability are the main factors for the success of the partnership programmes.

Ladies and Gentlemen,


Public-private partnership as an approach can focus on agricultural/rural development through participation in the areas such as rural infrastructure, agricultural inputs, research, extension, processing, financial services such as credit, crop and cattle insurance, etc. Thus, the potential benefits of public private partnership may include cost effectiveness of the programme, higher productivity, efficient

Agricultural Cooperatives in Japan, Saemaul

45 Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

and effective delivery of services, enhanced social services, greater flexibility on account of decentralization and so on. Terms and conditions of partnership may vary according to the nature and scale of business. However, the success of this partnership will depend on policy framework, rules and regulations to be drafted and monitored by governments participation. and In the order effective to ensure community effective

Zenchu), Tokyo and the Institute for the Development of Agricultural Cooperation in Asia (IDACA).
I am sure that this seminar will provide an opportunity to discuss varied experience on the subject. The presentations by the experts and country report and deliberations will enrich the existing knowledge on important issues of public private partnership.
Before concluding, I would like to again express my sincere thanks to JA-Zenchu and IDACA for their continuous support in successfully organising the RECA Seminars. I would like to thank the member countries for sparing the services of their senior officers to attend this seminar. I am sure that the Seminar, followed by field visit, will give a deep insight not only into the Japanese culture, but also into the Japanese experiences on partnership.

community participation, it has to be empowered through awareness creation about the various provisions of partnership, and increase in their risk taking capacity. Similarly, the community based organizations skills on negotiation, resource mobilization & its utilisation, monitoring are to be upgraded for useful and sustainable partnership. Against this backdrop, AARDO has decided to organise the 30th RECA Seminar on Public-Private Community-based Institutions Partnership: An Approach towards Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development in collaboration with the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA-

Thank you for your kind attention.

46

Report of the 30th

RECA Seminar

4.2 EXPERT AND COUNTRY PAPERS

47
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BLANK

48
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Annexure 4.2.1

PUBLIC-PRIVATE COMMUNITY-BASED INSTITUTIONS PARTNERSHIP : AN APPROACH TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Elsayed A.A.Zaki
government is

Some Basic Concepts & Debates


1

necessarily a public good (or bad)

repressive governments failed states)

and

Political Public versus Private:5 and interest Public is related to the State both groups lobby to in terms of authority (power of public decision-making and governance)redefine goods to access and public expenditure public resources; in 2 Further conceptualised inGovernment the political arena into publicquest for support cave to these choice demands 3 Exemplified in the supply of public goods (or public bads)6 Rational where not all costs and benefitsgovernment motive: are captured in the price (positiveprosperity of its and negative externalities) people or objects

(subjects
Not every good produced by the

for

FU, Women Emphasises theAssociations, Marketing importance of communityVFC, participation, sense ofCooperative ownership of investments and b) Resourceactivities based 2 Entry point is crucial toOrganisations; galvanise communities: water points,WUAs, DWC, Rangeland users education, health Associations

Sustainabil ity and exit:


Efficient use

1)
of

resource realises

(community

availability, access and need for durability)

Motivation is effective in supply of services a) people of the community;to community and village population including VDC,resource users

Community Organisations (CBOs)

Based

can be:

2) 3)

Cost recovery O&M

Communi Bas Organisatio ty ed ns (CBOs) is a relatively new terminology


Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

Failure would mean rehabilitation or collapse of activity 49

50

1 2 3 4 5 6

Sustainability is complex - a typology :

Environmental Technical Institutional/organisational Financial

Private is independent/autonomous actor or agent capable of producing goods and services for sale in the market

Alternatively

produces

goods

and

services as a service provider to fellow private producers (out sourcing) or to government (public, private and or hybrid, goods)

8 9

Main motive of private is profit

Role of government in regulation and supervision

10

Note

the

difference

in

the

meanings of: a) Agricultural development


b)
Rural development (integrated)

Note the definitions of participating institutions: from beneficiaries to stakeholders

12

Governments Role Development Partnership a n d sustain ed

in

Poli framewor cy k commitment to declared policy Enabling environment

Early paradigms emphasised growth (efficiency) without (equity) and without participation of all stakeholders

All liberalisation policies (market forces,

exchange rate adjustments or devaluations, price liberalisation and free trade) led to at best:

3 4

Growth without equity

Intensifying dualism of the economy linking the lead high growth sector with the international economy leaving the traditional sector behind

5 6 7
3

Lack of pro-poor perspective in policy

designs Ignoring of social services, especially education and health Sometimes role as regulator and supervisor neglected or compromised
Impacts on Rural Economy

1 2 3 4

Major issues of agriculture remained unresolved, without solutions including:

Equitable access to natural and financial resources


Highly de-monetized rural economies Microfinance initiatives are yet to take

hold

5 6

Numerous market especially during calamities

failures

Land use planning and land reform issues and problems persist

Report of the 30th

RECA Seminar

1
LDCs

Low agricultural productivity in most

15 1

CBO Concept: Is it old Community Development Re-invented?

2 3 4 5 6 7

Environmental degradation

CBOs approach supported by private partnerships mainly with NGOs (international, national and local NGOs)

Market failures for both factors and products


Disruption of trade and social services

Experiences

of

Bangladesh

(in

Shrinking base of the rural economy


Increased dependence on the Center
Rural-urban migration and swelling urban

emergency support and microfinance; Ghana in rural banks; Philippines and Pakistan in WUAs; India in social services and rural infrastructure; Sudan in land access or reform and community capacity building) represent successful endeavors in rural development with private, CBOs, donors and government partnership.

centres

3 4 5

CD mainly by government structure: highly centralised


CBOs links well with local government: A support to decentralisation CD developed into a top-down approach, inconsistent with its up-bringing as cradled in Comilla, Bangladesh

14 1
people

How to escape Poverty and Under-development?


Development for the people by the

Participation of people and communities in planning and implementation of development oriented interventions including policies and investments

3 4

The rise of NGOs (international, national and local)


Mapping of community resources (PRA,

RRA, etc) and tapping opinions for aspirations and expectations (socio-economic surveys)

5 6

Community-based (and resourcebased) organisations (institutions)


CBOs commissioned as delivery and recipient structures of aid and assistance

Donors Roles

Donors have different mandates :

1) 2) 3)

International Finance Institutions (IFIs) led by WB and IMF Regional finance institutions: ADB, AfDB, IsDB, AFESD, AMF
Bilateral development institutions

For primary objective, all converge with respect to (rural) poverty reduction as exemplified in MDGs

51 Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

Achievements are modest, allocation are far below threshold of per cent GDP for most DCs

NGOs, Government (especially local), private entities and donors

Besides funding:

Need to define and redefine objectives to minimise contradictions among partners with divergent goals and motives

i) Cross countries and communities experiences, especially of successful experiences

At extreme, there are profit motives and various political expediencies 8 enhance 2) T positive Future echnical returns

transfor mation and new technolo gies

52

Challenge s

Pentagon Partnersh ip

3)

Te c h ni ca l a n d m a n a g e m e nt as si st a n ce

Pentagon partnershi p involves: CBOs or


the primary stakeholde r or targeted beneficiari es,

W here do we go from here to assist the rural poor?

W hat can organisa tions such as ours do to become a reliable partner?

iv Opening markets, to reduce perils of globalisa tion, but

H o w to in d u c e p ar tn er

s to jo in ?

as AARDO be funded 4 H by ow can partnershi organisati p initiative ons such to assist

in resolving the socioeconomic agenda.

Report of

the 30th

RECA

Seminar

Annexure 4.2.2

PUBLIC-PRIVATE COMMUNITY BASED INSTITUTIONS PARTNERSHIP : AN APPROACH TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN EGYPT
Raafat S. Zaki
1 . 2 Comparative Advantage and Competi-

Introduction Importance of the Agricultural Sector

1.1

The Egyptian economy has traditionally relied heavily on the agricultural sector for food, fibre and other products. The agricultural sector provides the livelihood for about 55 per cent of the inhabitants and employment for about 34 per cent of the total employment and labour force. In addition, agriculture contributes about 20 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and about 20 per cent of the total exports and foreign exchange earnings. The demand for agricultural products is increasing

tiveness of Egyptian Agriculture Egypt enjoys significant comparative advantage in the production of seven of the nine analysed crops (except sorghum and sugarcane), the expansion of these crops should be encouraged with the aim of significantly increasing value addition in the agricultural sector subject to market and demand constraints. It is recommended to assess the comparative advantage not only for production state, but also for different stages of the commodity-chain system: transport, marketing and processing. A commodity may have a comparative advantage in the production stage and may not enjoy it for another stage, as inefficiencies in transport, and processing may generate negative value added, i.e., the value

due to population growth and the need for more export earnings. The country plan is to bring to cultivation a total of 3.4 million acres from the desert area by the year 2017. This requires more emphasis on agricultural research to identify agricultural sector constraints and to develop solutions through appropriate technologies especially in the newly cultivated and reclaimed are as.

added at the production stage will be reduced by the activity downstream. The agricultural sector continues to be the backbone o the Egyptian economy, accounting for f about 20 per cent of GDP and 34 per cent of total employment. Egypt has great potential for producing and exporting a variety of primary and processed agricultural products and gains for the country

53
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

from further multilateral trade liberalisation are expected to be substantial. However, gains would not be automatic. To maximise its benefits from multilateral trade liberalisation, Egypt would need to defend its interest by participating actively and effectively in the WTO negotiations on agriculture to ensure, among others, actual improvement in the market access conditions for its agricultural products and at the same time adopt the necessary domestic reforms and supply capacity building to take advantage of the resulting trading opportunities.
It was generally felt that Egypt urgently needs to promote, diversify and add value to its production chains and export products. This requires, in addition to the further removal of trade barriers in importing countries, increasing productivity, raising quality standards and certification requirements, improving infrastructure, communi-cation, transport and port facilities.

which includes improvement in infrastructure, strengthening institutional capabilities, improving technology, promoting effective participation of the private sector in production, marketing and trade activities. However, the starting point would be to identify products in which Egypt can compete favourably in world markets for promoting exports.
2

Achievements Production

in

Agricultural

The following achievements can be traced within agricultural sector :


The cropped area has increased from 11.2 million feddans in 1982 to 14.4 million feddans in 2000 as a result of agricultural intensification. The value of the agricultural output has increased from LE (Egyptian Pound) 6.5 billion in 1982 to LE 71 billion in 2000. Likewise, the agricultural income increased from LE 52.5 billion in 2000. The value of plant production has increased from LE 4.1 billion in 1982 to LE 45.3 billion in 2000. The value of animal and fish production has increased from LE 2.3 billion in 1982 to about LE 25.7 billion in 2000.
The annual growth rate in the agricultural

Trade capacity building needs to address these challenges which broadly can be categorised into three major areas as follows :
Taking advantage of existing and potential trade opportunities to produce competitively and to export the resulting goods and services requires strengthening supply-side capacities including promoting knowledge, skills and access to finance. It is generally acknowledged that supply-side problems have historically played a dominant role in limiting export diversification into non-traditional commodities and processed products. The increasing importance of trade requirements such as sanitary and phytosanitary standards (SPS) other technical requirements represent a major challenge for the developing countries. A wide range of cross-cutting actions are needed to strengthen trade-related supply-side capacities,

production shifted from 2.6 per cent in the 1980s to 3.4 per cent in the 1990s. Total grain production has increased from 8.5 million tons in 1982 to 20 million tons in 2000. Wheat production increased from 2 million tons in 1982 to 6.6 million tons in 2000 as a result of introduction of high-yielding long-spike varieties within the National Campaign for Wheat Improvement and the price incentives offered by the State to wheat growers. Maize production increased from 3.35 million tons in 1982 to 6.3 million tons in 2000 due to the production of maize hybrids that now cover almost 70 per cent of the area grown to maize.

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Report of the 30th

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eggs in 2000. Dairy production reached 3.6 million Rice production increased from 2.4 million tons in 1982 to 6 million tons in 2000 as a result of producing short-duration, high-yielding varieties, which have been generalised on almost 60 per cent of the area grown to rice, within the National Campaign for Rice Improvement. Egypt now ranks first, by international standards, in productivity of rice (3.8 tons), sugarcane (50 tons) and sorghum (1.9 tons) per feddan. tons in 1999. Egypt achieved self-sufficiency in white meat, table eggs and fresh dairy. Fish production has increased from 200 thousand tons in 1982 to about 724 thousand tons in 2000.

In 1993, cotton has achieved the highest productivity ever since it was first cultivated in Egypt, namely, 8 kentars per feddan. As such, volume of seed-cotton production from 840000 feddans equated that produced from 2 million feddans in the 1950s. Cotton acreage in 1997 was 859000 feddans. Seed cotton production was estimated at 5.8 million seed cotton kentars or 6.8 million in kentars. The decrease in cotton acreage, which is accompanied by an increase in yield per feeddan, has led to an increase in wheat acreage from 1.5 million feddans in 1951 to 2.4 million feddans at present.

Food gap has been narrowed despite population pressure. In 1982, a US Presidential Mission, led by Prof. E T York estimated the gap at about 26 million tons by the year 2000. A follow-on study by the same author in 1994 concluded that the food gap is getting narrower and would reach only 17 per cent, i.e., 4.5 million tons of the 1982 estimates for the year 2000.
Egypt is now self-sufficient in rice, vegetables, and fruits. It produces exportable volumes of those crops. Self-sufficiency ratio for wheat has reached 55 per cent in 2000, compared to 25 per cent in 1982. As a result, wheat imports are taking a downward trend despite the upward trend in consumption levels. In 1994, Egypt was elected, for the first time from a developing country, to chair the International Wheat Council. The mixture of whole maize flour (20 per cent) and wheat flour in the production of baladi bread is expected to raise selfsufficiency in wheat up to 75 per cent.

Vegetable production increased from 8 million tons in 1982 to about 15.5 million tons in 2000. Likewise, fruit production increased from 2.6 million tons in 1982 to about 7 million tons in 2000.
Sugar production increased from 649,000 tons in 1982 to 1.4 million tons in 2000. Sugarcane and sugar beet yield per feddan reached 50 tons and 19 tons, respectively in 2000.
Red meat production has increased from 345 thousand tons in 1982 to about 663 thousand tons in 2000, thus achieving a ration of 73 per cent of self-sufficiency in red meat, compared to 65 per cent in 1982. Likewise, poultry meat production increased from 369 thousand tons in 1982 to 600 thousand tons in 2000. Table egg production

The average per capita intake calories in 1997 was estimated at 3228 calories per day, which is higher than the world average or the average set by the FAO (2549 calories per day).
Agricultural output prices retained a state of equilibrium, despite reduction in subsides. Market mechanisms now set commodity prices, which in turn, affect the farmers decision to expand or reduce acreage of a crop. Subsequent to those new price policies, investments allocated to the agricultural sector have increased to L E 9.9 billion, compared to L E 393 million in 1982-83.

increased from 3.8 billion eggs in 1982 to 6.3 billion

55 Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

international trade will affect, with varying degrees,

Private investment in agriculture increased from 31.6 per cent in 1992-93 to 64.5 per cent in 1996-97 in response to the investment facilities initiated with the economic reforms.

the economies of many countries, including Egypt. The year 1995 marked the beginning of the Egyptian-EU-Partnership talks, aiming at formulating a new framework to replace the 1977

The volume of credit made available for agricultural production increased from L E 1.2 billion in 1982 to L E 11 billion in 2000.
The landlord-tenant law (96 of 1992) has been peacefully enforced in more than 98 per cent of the cases. The remaining 2 per cent have been compensated by incorporating time into an ownership programme in the newly reclaimed lands, in accordance with rules especially tailored for this purpose. In the field of land reclamation, Egypts total agricultural land was estimated at about 8.0 million feddans in 2000, compared to 6.2 million feddans in 1982. Almost 1.8 million feddans have been reclaimed over the past 18 years, an unprecedented achievement in the history of land reclamation in Egypt.

Cooperation Agreement. The states agencies and the business community are working together to establish Egypts negotiating position, with all the national interests in perspective. In its negotiations with the EU, Egypt builds on its comparative and competitive advantages and seeks to maximise the existing privileges within the ongoing Egyptian European negotiations. For example, Egypt seeks tariff exemption for its processed food products in return for tariff reduction on the European products in the Egyptian market, which would eventually be the case within the framework of free international trade.

13

Strategy for Agricultural Develop-ment up to 2017

The world has lately witnessed overwhelming changes in its political and economic set-up. In the beginning of the 1990s, the Federal Soviet Union (FSU) collapsed and the Eastern Bloc countries have opted for free market economy. New economic blocks emerged, including the EU, ASEAN and NAFTA. This trend synchronised with the creation of the WTO, to be the third side of the triangle of the world economic order, with the IMF and World Bank as the other two sides of the Briton Woods Agreement. WTO, rules and regulations will certainly have their positive or negative impact on the developing and the least developed countries alike. A free

In order for Egypt to integrate into the world economy, the government has been restructuring the economy towards more economic and technical efficiency. The private sector is encouraged to play greater role in production, marketing processing and export and import activities. Transaction costs have been greatly reduced and investment-friendly environment is being created through more stable economic and legislative policies.
The 1980s have witnessed the early steps towards liberalisation of the Egyptian agriculture, using a gradual approach to avoid miscalculated distortions that would affect vulnerable groups of the agricultural producers and consumers alike. The agricultural economy has moved from central to indicative planning where input/output markets should care of themselves and the State assumes more legitimate regulatory and facilitator roles. The state is re-formulating the philosophy of resource allocation and management in the agricultural

56

Report of the 30th

RECA Seminar

economy; and enlarging the role played by the private, cooperative and informal sector in the attainment of development goals. Reform policies have been introduced, including elimination of input subsidies and of government intervention in output pricing, abrogation of the crop quota delivery system and removal of all constraints on private participation in agricultural marketing and processing.

Agriculture sector has always been a pioneering sector of the Egyptian national economy. It has always functioned within the framework of comprehensive strategies, coping with the nature of each phase and with the socio-economic and political change at the national, regional and international levels.
3.1 Objectives of the Strategy
The strategy for agricultural development up

3.1.1

to 2017 aims at increasing the annual rate growth in the agricultural production from 3.4 per cent to 3.8 per cent during the remaining period of the fourth 5-Year Plan and to 4.1 per cent annually up to 2017. This goal is attainable only through vertical and horizontal expansion of plant and animal production, which will have a positive bearing on job creation, income to producers and the overall standard of living of the rural population.

3.1.2

Reclaiming not less than 150 thousand feddans annually, within the master plan of Egypts Land and Water resources which assesses the reclaimable and cultivable lands in the Delta, Southern Valley, East Owaynat and East West of Suez Canal by the year 2017 at about 3.4 million feddans.

3.1.3

Increasing the agricultural production

horizontally and vertically through the efficient allocation and use of soil and water resources.

Maintenance and development of the natural resource base is an integral part of Egypts sustainable agricultural development programme.

3.1.4

Forming a national strategic stock of the basic food commodities by focusing on the efficient use of the available resources and redirecting investments to such areas that help fulfill the increasing food needs of the population. This shall be accompanied with rationalisation of food consumption levels, reduction of post-harvest losses.

3.1.5

Maximising the benefits from the principle of comparative advantage in export promotion so as to achieve food security in the full sense of the world.

3.1.6

Expanding the use of bio-technology for

development of high yielding, early maturing varieties so as to better serve production targets and nationalise irrigation water use in the following major crops : wheat (3-4.5 tons per feddan), rice (4.5-5 tons per feddan), maize (4.25.6 tons per feddan), cotton (4.25-4.6 tons per feddan) and sugarcane (61 tons per feddan).

3.1.7

Developing livestock, poultry and fish

resources to increase per capita share in animal protein from 18 grams to 24 grams per day.

3.1.8

Creating new job opportunities within

the agricultural sector, thus leading eventually to increase income to products and improved living standard for the rural population.

3.1.9

Increasing the value of agricultural

exports from a current level of LE 2.0 billion annually to LE 5.0 billion annually, based on quality assurance and product safety, which are keys to competitiveness under WTO policies and

of RECA Seminar 57 Report the 30th

partnership agreements with the EU and the USA.

3.1.10 Encouraging domestic Arab and


foreign direct investment in agriculture.

3.1.11

Enhancing

the

agricultural

research

institutes especially genetic engineering and biotechnology, agricultural extension, credit, marketing, cooperatives and farmers NGOs including those working in the field of enhancing the role of women in agricultural and rural development.

The policy framework under which the agricultural sector operated upto the end of the 1970s was characterised by heavy government interventions in production, trade and prices. Also the agricultural sector was highly taxed in favour of other sectors of the economy. This has several negative impacts on agricultural development and food security.
In the 1980s and since the first term of President Mubaraks Administration which started with a national economic conference shared by all political parties, drastic reforms of the past agricultural policies were introduced within the framework of an agricultural sector strategy in Egypt for the 1980s outlined by H E Dr Yussuf Wally. Since then the agricultural sector has clearly been at the forefront of other sectors of the national economy in initiating liberalisation and

3.1.12

Provisioning raw materials for the existing

major industrial activities such as food processing and spinning and weaving industries.

3.1.13

Realising comprehensive agricultural development in the new lands through efficient resource use, creation of new jobs to absorb new entrants into the agricultural labour market. Small and micro projects in the old and new lands will be encouraged as means of employment and income generation.

privatisation reforms.

To formulate a realistic strategy for Egypts agricultural development upto 2017, it is crucial to identify the current determinants of this continual process. Visioning the future reveals the following constraints :

14

Challenges for Agricultural Develop-ment in Egypt

1 2 3 4 5

Economic Resources Water Resources Land Resources Human Resources


Agricultural technology transfer and

The Government of Egypt places great impor-tance to the agricultural sector recognising its significant role in the national economy. It accounts for about 20 per cent of both GDP and total exports, and about 34 per cent of total employment. The agricultural sector contributes to the overall food needs of the country and provides the domestic industry with agricultural raw materials. It promotes industrial development through expanding the market for industrial goods such as pesticides, chemical fertilisers, equipment and machines. Also agriculture helps in financing economic and social development through the net capital outflow from agriculture to other sectors of the economy.

adaptation such as dependence on imported technology, selection of appropriate technologies, utilisation of imported technologies

6 7

Social Constraints Institutional Constraints

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Annexure 4.2.3

ROLES AND PERFORMANCE OF FARMERS ASSOCIATIONS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN TAIWAN


Te Sen Wu
1 Brief History of Taiwan Farmers Associations Farmers Associations in Taiwan have been established over one hundred years, since Japanese colonial period. The Farmers Association in Taiwan applies the three-level district system, namely, province (of Taiwan), county/city and township/city or region, which follows the Taiwan governmental district system. Currently, there are 302 Farmers Associations in Taiwan, which include 3 provincial level Farmers Association, 21 county/city level Farmers Associations and 267 Farmers Associations in the township/city or region (Fig. 1). According to the Farmers Association byelaws and the executive regulations of the Farmers Association law, once a local farmers organisation Two types of membership of farmers association can be accepted, individual member and institutional member. Both can be further divided into regular member and associate member. By the way, only one person from each farm family can enroll as Farmers Association member. Up to the end of 2007, 992,804 regular members and 819,974 associate members in total have enrolled to become members of Farmers Associations in Taiw an. The primary Farmers Association is a vital link in the whole scheme of the Farmers Association system. It directly contacts farmers and assists them in their various activities. The major functions of the county or city Farmers Associations are to conduct supervision and to provide technical assistance to the primary

has more than fifty members, it can legally set register as local farmers association. The Farmers Association can legally set up small agricultural units to carry out basic operation and services. Once there are three or more than three local level Farmers Associations, the upper-level farmers association of these local level Farmers Associations can be established. The upper level Farmers Association carries the responsibility of supervising the operation and good governance of the lower-level Farmers Associations.

associations. The provincial level association primarily supervises, audits, trains, coordinates and assists in the lower levels of Farmers Associations.

Organisational Structure

Farmers Associations at all levels carry out a system of division of rights and powers. Here, this system is explained by using basic-level of farmers association as an example (Fig. 2):

59
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

2.1

Representative Assembly

of laws or regulations that results in damage to the farmers association, he will be responsible for making compensation.
organise the

Members of the farmers affairs committee elect member representatives and

2.5
The

Business Units
farmers association organisation. is In a multipurpose basic-level

representative assembly as the highest powerwielding body to make decisions concerning association affairs, business planning, preliminary and final budgets, rules and regulations and other important matters relating to members rights. The assembly also elects directors, supervisors and member representatives to participate in the higher-level farmers association. consolidated the

association, various business units are set up under the chief executive officer. Units that may be established in accordance with the associations need include offices, credit branches and vegetable, animal and meat markets or processing plants. Higher-level Farmers Associations do not offer member financing services, and so do not have credit departments, but they have set up additional guidance and other business units.

2.2

Board of Directors

This body selects (and dismisses) the chief executive officer, sends proposals to the representative assembly for deliberation and, after those proposals are decided upon, carries out planning accordingly and oversees the chief executive officer in carrying them out, and finally reports on them to the representative assembly and board of supervisors (Directors and supervisors serve without compensation and are not allowed to be hired as employees). 2.3 Board of Supervisors

2.6

Farmers Affairs Team

Under basic-level, Farmers Associations set up farmers affairs team based on the village or on several villages combined. These teams are the basic-level business promotion units. Team leader and deputy leader are elected by association members and serve without pay.
Farmers affairs, 4-H, home economics and specialised production and marketing groups that are organised under the basic-level farmers association, all report directly to the association.

This body oversees the board of directors in its implementation of resolutions passed by the representative assembly. It can suggest improvements and submit reports and proposals to the representative assembly.
2.4

13

Distribution of Association Profits

Farmers

Chief Executive Officer

Forty per cent of various businesses profits is used as reserve funds of business concerned, the rest of them are used as follows:

The person holding this position is responsible to the board of directors for carrying out the associations business. In accordance with the needs of this business, he may hire (and dismiss) workers; in the execution of his tasks, there is any violation

i) No less than 62 per cent must be used for agricultural extension and training and for culture and welfare work.

60

Report of the 30th

RECA Seminar

ii) Eight per cent is reserved to cover expenses for mutual extension and training work among different levels of Farmers Associations.

Association in Taiwan provides an integrated services and activities, namely, Economic, Credit, Agricultural extension and Insurance.

iii) fun ds.

Five per cent is used as public welfare

environment. On the one hand, Farmers Association have to obey the institutional rules for getting resources of legality; on the other hand, they have to earn their own resources for living and development. So the best strategy of Farmers Associations is to become the best partner of the agricultural government. There are four sections of Taiwan Farmers associations : Economical, Education, Social and Political. Which is said to be a nonprofitable Farmers Organisation of public welfare and they are federated system of multi-purpose Farmers cooperative organisation in Taiwan. Farmers
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

Fifteen per cent is used as reserve funds. No more than 10 per cent is paid vi) as compensation to members of board of directors iv) and supervisors and to employees. Organisational Character of Taiwan Farmers Association By reviewing history of Farmers Association in Taiwan, we may find out that there has been very interesting and important characters of farmers associations. Farmers Associations in Taiwan have been established over one hundred years since Japanese colonial period. Although these associations have significant functions for agricultural and rural developments in Taiwan but Farmers Associations are embedded in the special environment that is interlaced by the governmental institutional environment and competitive market

5. 1. Promote 3 electroni marketing and tra agricultural products and im Enhance international mark products and upgrade intern recognition of Taiwanese p 5. Develop S 2 Protect Interest

5. 2. Improve 1 of agricultural produ residue monitoring and ins sanitation

inspection of slaughter houses and upgrade credibility of quality certification to safeguard interests of consumers.
5.2.2 Improve animal and plant health inspection and quarantine systems, reinforce quarantine of agricultural imports and verification of place of production, extend quarantine perimeters, prevent animal and plant diseases from overseas and enhance disease outbreak control, notification and prevention to maintain safety for the people, animals and plants in Taiwan.

and environment beatification, and accelerate post-disaster rehabilitation and reforestation to safeguard national land. Reconstruct botanical gardens to maximise their multiple functions for research, education and leisure.
5.5

Improve General Development of Agriculture and Upgrade Life of

Farmers and Fishermen


5.5.1 Promote life-long learning for farmers and build quality agricultural manpower resources. Improve rural life quality and set up production ur re and 5.3 D e support ev A systems to el gr mobilise rural o ic communities. p ul Upgrade Le tu is

Rural Life
no-

agricul

ranche

rage fishing days with incenti ves to protect offshor e fishery resour ces. Improv e irrigati on nd se agricul tural water use efficie on to farmla maximi

5.3.1
Give rural region s new look, diversi fy fishery manag ement, promo te leisure agricul ture and fishery , build electro nic syste ms for leisure a

Devel s and op forestrypromo fishery tourism andte inrecycli operati bring private ng to ons, investment raise develo and polluti p management origina to upgradeon preven l localtourism.
ture and special ties and create rural emplo yment opport unities to encour age rural popula tion to stay. tion

5.3.2

5.4

Develo ncy. p EcoPromo agricul te ture correct and fertilis Promo ation te and Sustai elevate nabilit farmla y of nd Resour effecti ces veness

efficie

. Reduce Encou numbers of

5.4.1

ncy.

5.4.2
Enhan ce affores tation and sustai nabilit y and mainta in biodiversi ty. Promo te fullscale mount ain manag ement, hazard preven tion of forests

maintain Taiwa agricultural n is Guide financing order. requir fisher ed by men group 5.5.3 Promo the te internationallaw to s protec towar agricultural t the cooperation d right and crosssustai and nable Strait intere managagricultural tosts of ement exchange farmer expand and s, enhan agricultural development. upgra ced de servic es. 5.5.4 Conduc farmer Impro t agricultural ands gener ve fishery welfare agricu and aid andal and ltural enhance public-farmin g financiguided knowl ng administrative edge syste services to and m, upgrade techni install agricultural ques, agricu policies. promo ltural te the bankin 6 Target of moder g Taiwan nisatio outlet Farmers of Association n s the nation Farmersagricu wide The and Association inlture, increa

5.5.2

se profits of farmin g activiti es, impro ve farmer s livelih ood and develo p rural econo my. Accor ding to clause 4 of the law of Farme rs Assoc iation and its conce rned regula tions, the

62
Report of the 30th RECA Semina r

duties of the farmers association can be listed as follow :

To protect the right and interests of farmers to disseminate agricultural laws and regulations to farmers and to mediate farming disputes among farmers.

To provide assistance to improve agricultural irrigation, conservation of water and soil as well as cultivation of the forest.

3 4

To extend and supply high quality seeds and fertilisers to Taiwanese farmers.
To guide and demonstrate farming activities, excellent species and encourage the

propagate

establishment of specialised farming region.

5 6 7

To

grant

the

agricultural

extension

activities, trainings and agricultural productions.

To mechanise farming activities in order to increase farming efficiency.


To supervise and promote cooperative

management, entrusted management, family farm development and entrusted farming.

To offer services of marketing, storage,

processing, manufacturing, agricultural exportation and importation as well as whole sales and the retail market management.

To import, export, process, manufacture and distribute agricultural farming materials as well as supply daily necessities for farmers association members.

10

To provide facilities of agricultural warehouse and cooperative utilisation for the members of farmers association.

63 Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

1 2

To provide financial service for the members of farmers association.


To provide entrusted agricultural insurance

service.

To provide farmers insurance service and

the assistance for farmers house construction.

4 5 6 7

To provide service of the rural cooperation and the social assistance. To advocate the rural sideline business and rural industries.
To provide service for rural culture, medical care, welfare and the relief.
To improve the utilisation of the farming

land.

8 9

To prevent agricultural disasters and provide the relief. To provide service entrusted by public treasury agencies, government or private organisations.

10 11
7

To promote agricultural tourism and the rural recreation business.


To fulfill business mission authorised or granted by the public authority. Business of Taiwan Farmers Association

The businesses provided by Farmers Association are divided as agricultural extension, economic service, financial service, insurance service and international agricultural cooperation.

1)

The agricultural extension service includes four types of educational activities as farming education for adult farmers, 4-H club education programmes for rural youth, home economic education for rural women and the rural cultural welfare education.

agricultural extension, training, cultural activities and welfare projects and programmes.

7.1.1

Farm Extension Education

The farming extension education is organised to provide adult farmers farming knowledge, technical skills and introduce them new farming concept (Fig. 3). The contents of education programmes emphasise know-how transfer of new farming techniques, management and marketing skills. The education programme also provides follow-up assistance to the trainees. The programme, by firstly building a production and marketing group among the trainees, consists of training courses of production and marketing techniques, livelihood improvement from and ecological extension protection. committees The of farmers association also collaborates with experts agricultural universities or colleges, agricultural improvement stations or agricultural experimentation institutes to provide consultation services on farming for farmers. Due to the limited farming lands in Taiwan, farmers association, follows the governmental policy, assists and supervises the members and farmers to set up cooperative groups of agricultural production and marketing. By pooling farming lands, labours, capital, farming materials and information among the members of group, farmers of such group is able to increase their collective productivity, enhance the marketing competitiveness and efficiency of their production. There are in total 8,169 groups and 151,59 farmers as group members up to now. Besides, farmers association implements programmes to assist farmers to adapt their farming activities to the new leisure-oriented farming style by transforming their traditional farms into educational farms, tourism farms or recreational agriculture. Moreover, farmers association provides off-farm training

2)

The economic service covers the business by the government, services of

entrusted

cooperative utilisation, service of supply and marketing, service of market operation and others.

3)

The financial service includes deposit, loan and other services entrusted by public treasury agencies or private financial bodies.

4)

The insurances service includes livestock farmers insurance, Farmers

insurance,

Association Employees Mutual Assistance Fund Insurance as well as the national public insurance.

5)

The international agricultural cooperation services consist of international agricultural cooperation and exchange, international agricultural trade and international agricultural recreational tourism.
7.1 Agricultural Extension Services

Agricultural extension education is implemented in three areas: farming improvement (production), rural development (livelihood) and farmers well being (ecology). The main extension educational activities are the farming education for adult farmers, 4-H club education programmes for rural youth, home economic education for rural women and the rural cultural welfare education. According to clause 40 of the law of Farmers Associations, farmers association, besides the amount to make up the deficit, has to allocate at least 62 per cent of the annual net profit on the expenditure of

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programmes to help farmers to learn second professional skills for other job opportunities. By doing so, farmers association on the one hand, promotes the multi-functional development of agriculture and on the other hand, adjusts the agricultural manpower resources in the rural areas. 7.1 .2

7.1. 3

Home Economic Education

The 4-H Club Education

The fundamental meaning of 4-H club is to encourage rural youth to improve rural youth livelihood and create better future of agriculture by applying the principle of learn by doing through the harmonious exercise of using our head, hands, heart and health. The 4-H club organises two kinds of educational programmes mainly for members of 4-H Clubs, and new successors to the farm and agricultural activities. The rural youth aged between 9 to 24 year is eligible to become the 4-H Club member. Various types of projects are organised in the rural communities or in schools by the 4-H Club unit of

The home economic education organised by farmers association is to help rural women to reinforce the function of family and to improve their livelihood situation by learning and applying new knowledge, new skills, new concept and new attitude. Up to now, total amount of 5,293 home economic improvement groups which consist of 130,867 members organised by the local Farmers Associations works for the above objectives. The projects initiated by the home economic improvement groups create opportunities of lifelong education for rural women. Moreover, farmers association applies government policy to organise key projects to reinforce the function of the home economic improvement group to create more education opportunities, upgrade the education level for rural women, promote the heath and nutrition knowledge and develop the rural aging population care system. Farmers association also assists rural women to create sidebusiness activities to increase their income. The rural community welfare centres set up by Farmers

farmers association. Until now, the 4-H Club carries 2,829 4-H projects with 59,532 rural youth members. As to the training services for the new successors to farm and agricultural activities, the 4-H Club provides tailor-made farming management, farming technical know-how or entrepreneurship training programmes for the new successors to guarantee the quality and the efficiency of trainees future farming activities. Besides, farmers association offers long term and low interest loan to help young graduated students of agricultural schools or the trainees who finish their specialised training programmes to start their farm and keeps assisting them to improve their farming management.
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Association provide well being information and training programme for rural women to become voluntary day-care social assistants for rural aging population. The purpose of such projects is to create well-being condition and enjoyment in a stable and comfortable rural life. 7.1. 4 Rural Culture and Welfare 7.1. 4.1 Agricultural Publications

In order to attract Taiwanese farmers attention to the agriculture affairs and to provide agricultural information to farmers, Taiwan Provincial Farmers Association started publishing the Farmers Bi-weekly Magazine (current Farmers Friends Monthly) from 1951 and issued Taiwan 65

agricultural relevant information over the last five decades. The magazine covers the dissemination of agricultural polices and regulations, up-to-date scientific farming techniques, results of agricultural economic studies, agricultural extension affairs, Farmers Associations activities, outstanding farmers awards, promotion of existing and new agricultural products and the newly recreational agriculture and so on.

governmental entrusted service, cooperativeutilisation service, supply service, marketing service, market operation and others.

7.1.5.1 Supply Services


The supply service covers providing agricultural farming materials for FA members through the network of FA, A-coop, supermarkets, agricultural production handling and distributing centres and farmers shopping centres.

7.1.4.2 Farmers Clinic and Rural Kindergarten


In order to improve the medical care system in the remote rural areas where the medical clinic resources are inadequate, farmers association sets up farmers clinic to provide medical care services in such areas. Currently, 26 farmers clinics have been established. Besides, 592 kindergartens operated by local township farmers associations and offer daytime care for rural children.

7.1.5.2 Marketing and Distribution Services


The marketing and distribution service consists of i) cooperative products marketing and distribution and ii) brown rice marketing and distribution. The items are covered by the cooperative marketing and distribution include hog, fruits, vegetables as well as side food supplying to the military and school nutritious lunch.

7.1.4.3 Scholarship
Farmers association provides scholarship to the children of members to encourage higher education among farmers children.

7.1.5.3 Market Operation Services


The market operation services provided by FA cover the services among the fruits and vegetables, the flowers and plants and the livestocks market operations.

7.1.4.4 Rural Cultural Activities


Following the governmental agricultural policy, Farmers Association endeavours to boost the rural cultural industries by identifying local agriculture, traditional and cultural attraction element in order to develop various kinds of rural cultural activities. The newly promoted rural cultural programme is considered as the great move to conserve traditional rural culture and to modernise the rural culture.

7.1.5.4 Others
Other services offered by FA include those related to agricultural products, medical treatment services as well as recreational farms. FA maintains agricultural product related business and factories such as food factories, feed factories, fresh milk processing, agricultural chemical and fertiliser factories.

7.1.5

Economic Business

7.1.6

Financial Services

In the economic business operated by Farmers Association, Taiwan mainly consists of

The agricultural financial support system in Taiwan

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plays key role in national agricultural and economic development. Through the widespread local financial service points of FA in the rural areas, the agricultural financial support system mobilises and provides financial means for farming activities and rural development operations. In the last decade, FA successfully provided these services in the fields of finance mechanism in the rural areas, governmental agricultural loan and the FA internal finance management. Moreover, local FA credit service which relies on local human relation network and financial liability, contributes significant financial support for the stability of Taiwanese agricultural and economic development. The two main activities of the FA credit section are banking service and special governmental agricultural loan. Two kinds of loans often applied by FA members are consumptive loan and mortgage loan, which are both provided by the FA credit section. And most of these loans, applied by FA members are for the farming purpose, the others are applied for the living or other purposes. FA in Taiwan gets financial support as the

FA credit section of all levels encouraged to join the Central Deposit Insurance Corp. to prevent loss or bankrupt. Until the end of 2007, 287 credit sections and 1145 local service points are operating in the country. Their main services include deposit, loan and other entrusted service. The total amount of the value of the capital assets is NT $ 14,855 billion and the total amount of the net value is NT$ 1,256 billi on. 7.1. 7

Insurance Services

According to article 7 in clause 5 of the Farmers Association law, which is entrusted by government, Farmers Association can establish the insurance section to provide services such as agricultural insurance and other relevant farmers health insurances. The first FA insurance section started in 1963. The FA insurance service provides its main services on livestock insurance, farmers health insurance and national public insurance. In 1977, the FA insurance service enlarges its service

interest free capital from the government, the lowinterest capital from agricultural banks which allows FA credit services grants long term and lowinterest basis loan to the members for their farming. FA establishes IT banking service connected with other banks, disposes widely ATM in the rural areas to serve FA members and modernise the agriculture finance in Taiwan. The FA credit section also set up an island-wide remittance service network for FA members via it three regional computer centers located in the north, the central and the south regions. Additionally, the FA credit section entrusted by public treasury transaction services and local inhabitants for their taxes payment. As to further protect the right and the benefit of the FA members and depositors, the
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

field by adding FA Employees Mutual Fund insurance. 7.1. 7.1

Livestock Insurance

The business/service of livestock insurance covers the transportation mortality, hog and dairy cattle mortality. The kinds of insured animals include hog, dairy cattle and sheep. The village/small town level FA carries a fully responsibility for the insurance service as the insurer and shares 60 per cent responsible rate of the insurance. The county/ city level FA provides the service to reinsure and share 40 per cent of responsible rate of insurance. 7.1. 7.2

Farmers Health Insurance

The FA implements and operates the farmers 67

health insurance (FHI) entrusted by the Taiwanese government. The FHI covers maternity injury, disability. The FHI provides payment, subsidy or allowance to pay farmers in each case as maternity, disability or funeral cost subsidy. Until the end of 2004, 289 Farmers Association and 1,676,550 farmers in total was involved in this service.

7.1.8.1 International

Agricultural Cooperation and Personnel Exchange

7.1.7.3 FA Employees Mutual Assistance


Fund (EMAF) Insurance
The primary purpose of the FA Employees Mutual Assistance Fund Insurance is to protect FA employees to prevent the loss or bankrupt cases due to the fraud case by the personnel. The EMAF insurance guarantees that, in case of loss or bankrupt, the FA employees will be compensated by the mutual assistance fund shared by the FA member who joins EMAF insurance. In 2004, 241 FA joined the EMAF Insurance.

In order to increase international agricultural cooperation and personnel exchange, TPFA endeavours to attend frequently international agricultural/farmers affairs activities and participate in international or regional farmers organisations to enlarge its network. Nevertheless, TPFA, with the accordance of government, provides as well observational tour/visit facilities for Mainland China agricultural experts to visit Taiwan as part of the TPFA international cooperation service.

7.1.8.2 International Agricultural Trade


After Taiwans entrance into World Trade

Organisation (WTO), the government gradually reduces the agricultural importation tax and lifts ban on agricultural importation, which already affects the Taiwanese agriculture. To deal with this challenge, International Agricultural Cooperation Department of TPFA intends to be the platform for the FA members by providing updating international agricultural information, consulting assistance and coordination on the importation and exportation facilities for the production material and daily necessities of the FA members. The International Agricultural Cooperation Department of TPFA cooperates with government as well promotes agricultural or processed products

To deal with the impact of international trade liberalisation, the Farmers Association plans to enlarge its insurance services areas by establishing a strategic alliance among farmers association of all levels.
7.1.8 International Agricultural Cooperation Services

Taiwan Provincial Farmers Association (TPFA) establishes its International Agricultural Cooperation Department on 5th March 2000. The objective of the new establishment was to enhance international are specified agricultural on three cooperation areas, between Taiwan and other countries. Therefore, the efforts international agricultural cooperation and personnel exchange, international trade of agricultural products and international agricultural recreational tourism.

importation and exportation.

7.1.8.3 International Agricultural Recreational

Tourism
The TPFA intends to promote the international agricultural recreational tourism business through the international agricultural cooperation and personnel exchange programme. Therefore, TPFA

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opportunity to exert increased power through

organises large-scale promotion activities and abroad or domestically to increase the additive value for the agriculture. The TPFA also provides information and consulting service to the public, which is interested in local agricultural recreational tourism.
8

further merges and consolidation. The possibility of more bargaining power being authorised by permissive direct government centre legislation may through provide

marketing boards or marketing agreements or selling legislation cooperatives or Farmers Associations with an opportunity. Also, forward contracting combined with further combination of various stages of production or marketing seems to be fruitful.

Summary and Outlook

Servicing farmers need is not only the core value of Farmers Associations but also the core value of government, according this same mission makes the Farmers Associations become the best partner of Government in helping agri-policy into practice on Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development in Taiwan. The structure of agriculture in Taiwan will continue to change just as it has changed in the past decades. There will be fewer farms, there will be increased substitution of capital for labour, there will be more advanced contract sales, there may be more vertical integration among the cooperatives and Farmers Associations and there may even be more production and marketing contracts. But none of these need to alter the basic performance of the economic system in Taiwan so long as we maintain freedom of entry, adequate cross elasticity of demand of products, and alternative use of resources.

We know that no grand design for cooperative or farmers organisations is suited to all times and circumstances. We can, indeed, seek to achieve such goals as rising farmers welfare, a socially acceptable distribution of income, opportunity for all, etc., but we must expect that farmers organisations suited to these goals will not be static in a dynamic world.
The establishment and function of Farmers

Association in Taiwan echo to the development of Taiwanese agriculture and certainly to the need of FA members. The Farmers Association in Taiwan remains organisation of the farmers, by the farmers and for the farmers and will make efforts to its internal structural reform and to innovate its managerial style in order to deal with the challenge from rapid change of agricultural environment. The Farmers Association in Taiwan will also enhance

Cooperatives and Farmers Associations could play many roles in vertically integrating agricultural

sustainable agriculture and rural development in Taiwan.

production and market functions. They have the

69
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National Level Farmers Association

Taiwan Province FA

t
Kaohsiung City FA County FA (21)

Kingmen FA Lienkang FA

t
HsiuKang District FA

t
Primary FA (2006)

Total =302 FAs

FA = Farmers Association

NTIFO

Taipei City FA

t
Primary FA (9) s Associations

Fi g. 1: Le vel s of Fa rm er
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70
REC A Seminar

Representative Assembly

Memb ers

Board of Supervisors (Oversight) Chief Executive Officer (General Manager) Accounting Dept. Extension Dept. Credit Dept .

Board of Directors
(Planning)

Marketing Dept.

Insurance Dept.

Home Economics

Farmers Affairs Team

Specialized Production and Marketing Groups

4H Club

Fig. 2 : Organisational Structure of Farmers Associations in Taiwan

Council of Agriculture,

County and city government

Townshi p public office

Village public office

4-H club

Executive Yuan
t

t
Taiwan province farmers

County, city farmers association

Township farmers associatio n


t

Farmer s group
t

Farmin g study class

Farm househ old


t

association
t

Extension divisio n

Extension division Extension division

Housekeeping improvement class Ministry of Education ocean college Other associations and systems statio n
t

Agricultural and

District agricultural research & extension

Fig. 3 : Agricultural Extension System

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Annexure 4.2.4

POLICY GUIDELINES FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PUBLICPRIVATE PARTNERSHIP IN GHANA


Isaac Adza Tettey
the Golden Age of Business,
1

arrangements Ghana. stakeholders

in All both

the

Introduction

Ministry for Private Sector Development & PSI (MPSD)

public and private are enjoined to adhere to the policy.

A Public-Private Partnershiprecognized that there (PPP) is an arrangement was the need to between the public and private develop a policy sectors under which private framework that sector resources are used to would guide the provide infrastructure and public private services traditionally provided sectors in the by the public sector.
initiation and Principally, services PPPs and enable the implementation policy of PPPs in Ghana. This framework originally developed by the MPSD and subsequently adopted by Cabinet is the governments guide for all PPP

government to provide improved infrastructure through the use of private sector financial, human and technical resources. In line with this expectation and as a component of the governments declaration of

(DPSP), particularly the economic of risks and responsibilitiesobjectives of the between the public and private1992 Republican sectors. It is ultimately the desireConstitution.
of government to harness the strengths of both the public and

private sectors to provide theAgenda and citizenry with the much needed Objectives of PPP infrastructure and services.

1.2

The

Government
This policy framework is anrecognises that acknowledgment of the need toPPPs are central facilitate private sectorto Ghanas participation in nationaldevelopment development as recognizedagenda because of under Chapter 6 of the Directivethe development Principles of State Policypotential it has at 1.1

all levels of government and the wide range of infrastructure and services that can be procured. The purpose of involving the private sector in the provision of public infrastructure and services is primarily to achieve the following at all levels of national development:

The
which involve the sharing

Policy
range of PPP arrangements structure s and

Statement Access a wider on PPP a) range of financing options

embrace a wide concepts,

b) Cost saving s in terms of

capital outlay by govern ment

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3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9)

Risk mitigation/sharing
Innovation, technology and skills transfer Improved levels of public service delivery

Independence of public sector service operations Enhanced management maintenance of public facilities and

Faster implementation of projects

Availability of public sector resources for core public sector activity

10) 11) 12)


1.3

Enhanced economic development and equitable distribution of wealth


Enhance use of under-utilized assets
True costing of public projects/services Challenges

Notwithstanding the immense potential of PPPs, the policy recognizes and accordingly draws the attention of stakeholders to the challenges generally associated with the management of public assets by private enterprise which include the following:

The general view that public services

should be performed by public institutions since those institutions belong to all of us and should not have private sector involvement.

2 1) 2)

Real and perceived risks which include, but are not limited to: Loss of control by the public sector/ government Increased user fees as a result of the private partners profit motive

3) 4)

Lack of accountability Loss of jobs

Mis-conceptions about PPP which include the following:

1) 2)

The prime benefit of PPPs is debt avoidance


PPPs are used primarily for infrastructure

projects

3)
PPP

Existing employees always lose jobs under

4)

Service quality will decline under a PPP because of the profit motive of the private sector partner

5) 6)

PPP is the same as privatization

There is immediate improvement in service delivery


In order to meet these challenges, all PPP arrangements should be governed by this policy framework. Stakeholders should adhere to the policy framework particularly the Guiding Principles in Chapter 2.
2

Guiding Principles

The key concerns of government and stakeholders have been addressed in the guiding principles as given below :
2.1

Determining the Objectives

All PPP arrangements should be structured to attain the following major objectives:

73 Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Financial propriety Protection of the public interest Efficiency


Facilitation of public sector service

delivery Long term sustainability

Protection of both public and private investment Value for money

The attainment of the objectives shall also be guided by the following principles at all stages of the PPP process:
2.2

The Constitution

The policies and principles enshrined in the Constitution of Ghana and in particular the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP) shall guide all entities and stakeholders.
2.3

Accountability
Every stage of the PPP arrangement shall

1)

follow laid-down procedures and regulations

2)

Decisions

must

be

objective

and

in

consonance with the law and government policies

3)

Public sector entities undertaking PPPs must follow prescribed processes for decision making within their organizations.
2.4

Transparency

a) There must be a well-defined procure-ment process for the PPP. Particularly instructions

74

to bidder(s) must be clear and unambiguous to prevent manipulation or abuse of the process. The bid conditions and evaluation criteria must lead to the attainment of value for money, economy and efficiency and must be made available to all interested private sector parties.

2)

Where a decision is taken to consider

an unsolicited bid, there must be a clear and objective reason supporting the decision which must be in conformity with this framework.

3)

The process should be accessible to the public to the extent allowed by law except where national security would be prejudiced.

4)

Equal

opportunity

and

access

to

information must be given to all interested bidders except where sole sourcing is approved as the method by the appropriate authority. 2.5

Efficiency

PPP arrangements shall at all times comply with Article 36(1) of the Constitution in particular and state officials must ensure that the state derives maximum benefit from the arrangement. 2.6

Public Interest

It must be ensured that the PPP arrangement would inccure to the benefit of a specific Ghanaian target community or Ghanaians generally and that the interest of the state is protected. In pursuit of public interest, the government may, in specific cases, enter into cost sharing-arrangements in fulfillment of its public sector obligations. Where, however, the government agrees to enter into cost sharing arrangements, the implementing agency shall have the responsibility of ensuring that adequate measures are instituted to avoid abuse.

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2.6 .1

Anti-corruption

Corrupt practices must be eschewed at all stages of the PPP arrangement. 2.6 .2 International Treaties The public sector entity must ensure that the protection of Ghanas public interest also takes account of international treaties to which Ghana is a signatory. 2.6 .3 Promotion of Ghanaian Private Sector

The private sector partner c) can demonstrate that it meets the criteria set out by the entity for the enjoyment of the domestic preference. 2.6. Protection of Intellectual Property 6 Rights It shall be imperative in any PPP arrangement that all patents, copyright, trademarks, industrial designs and other intellectual property rights are registered in accordance with Ghanaian law. 2.6. 7 Collective Responsibility

The PPP arrangement should facilitate the promotion of local industries and the private sector in Ghana and in particular foreign private sector partners should be required to demonstrate that they have Ghanaian involvement. 2.6 .4

All decisions in respect of PPP shall be made in a corporate manner and shall be subject to the rules governing approvals in the implementing agency. 2.6. 8

Capacity to Enter into Contract

Technology Transfer

The transfer of technology and skills shall be a major criterion in determining the preferred private sector partner. 2.6 .5

It shall be the responsibility of the public sector institution to ensure that private sector partners who intend to enter into a PPP arrangement have the capacity to do so in the manner prescribed in section 4.4.1 under this framework. 2.6. 9 No Monopoly Status

Domestic Preference

Where there is a competition for a PPP project, the public institution should give preference to domestic bidders, in accordance with applicable laws or policies where the public institution verifies tha t: The rules of an international treaty a) to which Ghana is a signatory allow the same. It shall not or is not likely to result b) in sanctions against Ghana or Ghanaian domestic business entities which also operate in foreign countries

No monopoly status shall be granted to any private sector partner as a result of a PPP except under the express approval of Parliament or a body authorized by law to grant such approval. 2.6. 10 Environmental Protection The PPP arrangement shall at all times provide for protection of the environment. 2.6. 11 Grant of Tax Exemptions No tax concessions or exemptions shall be granted to any private sector partner unless the public 7 5

Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

institution can demonstrate that it has obtained the approval of Parliament. 2.6.12 Discrimination
No public institution should discriminate against any bidder or stakeholder or exclude a bidder or stakeholder from participation in a PPP process on the basis of religion, nationality, ethnicity, tribe, race or any other criteria which contravene the provisions of the 1992 Republican Constitution.

2.6.14 Key Arrangements To Be In Writing

All pertinent matters relating to the PPP arrangement shall be made in writing. In particular the following documents shall at all times be in writing:

1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)

Notice of investment opportunity


Request for expression of interest

The request for proposals The instruction to bidders The evaluation results The contract awards

2.6.13 Prohibited Criteria in Evaluation


The criteria used by a public sector entity to select a partner shall not include any of the following:

1)

A condition that cannot be reasonably interpreted as a condition meant to elicit the attainment of any of the principles set out in Chapter 6 of the Constitution and this policy.

2.6.15 Standard Forms


Entities shall, wherever applicable, be guided by standard forms approved by the appropriate authority for PPPs in particular and/or public procurement in general.
2.6.16 General Notice of PPP/Investment Opportunity

2)

A condition or criteria that is non-commercial in character and which will not lead to the attainment of the objectives of the PPP arrangement.

3)

Ambiguous criteria whose interpretation can be subjective.


Sole Source/Direct Procurement/Negotiated

Once a PPP project is identified, a general notice of investment opportunity should be issued and published in the public gazette and newspapers of national circulation at least sixty (60) clear days or in accordance with the applicable law before the invitations for bids are issued.

Tender
Except in the case of an acceptable unsolicited bid as prescribed under this framework or the provisions of an applicable law, no institution should undertake any PPP by use of the methods known as Direct Procurement, Sole Source, Negotiated Bids or any such similar non-competitive methods.

2.6.17 The Procurement Process


In addition to this framework the PPP procurement process shall be guided by the applicable procurement law for the time being in force.

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Scope and Forms of PPPs in 3 Ghana Generally, PPPs involve myriad arrangements including the development of infrastructure, partial privatization, management of contract etc. The type of PPP structures employed usually depends on the needs of the community at the local or national level as the case may be. It may cover diverse projects such as roads, railways, airports, bus terminals,, public utilities and the management of public facilities. partners to the PPP The may adopt or adapt one the following forms of of PPP : 3.1 Partial Privatization

incentive system. The carrying out of this purely public function by the private agent may be on the basis of a license granted by the public agency that retains responsibility for the acts of the private sector agent. 3. 5

Leasing

Partial disposal of government interest to private person(s) e.g., disposal of part of its shares in a company. It must be noted that complete privatization does not qualify as PPP since it has no government participation at the end of the proce ss. Joint 3.2 Ventures Undertaking of defined project(s) characterized by a common purpose, shared investment, profits, losses and shared control of the

The public authority grants the use and operation of a public asset to the private partner for a specified period after which period the asset reverts automatically to the public authority. In this case, the private sector partner is granted possession and use of a public asset and is required to pay an agreed sum for the use of the asset in the form of fees or royalties or such other similar financial index. The lesse is usually obliged to maintain and improve the asset but ownership never passes to the private entity. 3. 6

Build-Operate Transfer (BOT)

The private partner finances the development of infrastructure and operates it for a specified

operations. 3.3 Concessio n

period after which it hands it over to the government/ public authority free of liens and at no cost to the government or public authority. 3. 7

The public asset is contracted out to private person(s) for a period which is normally long during which the private party pays a concession fee/royalty for the use of the asset. At the end of the contract period the asset reverts to the public authority. Ownership the asset remains at of all times in the public entity. Management Contract/Agentization/ Service Contract A private party is contracted to perform a public function for a fee, often based on performance
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Build-Transfer-Operate (BTO)

3.4

The government contracts with a private partner to build a facility. Once completed the private partner transfer the ownership of the facility to the government/public authority. The government then leases the facility back to the private entity under a long-term lease during which the private partner has the opportunity to recover its investment and a reasonable rate of return. 77

3.8

3.14
Build-Rent-Operate-Transfer (BROT)/ Build Lease Operate Transfer (BLOT)

Modernize-Own-Operate (MOO)

Another variant of ROO

These are variations in BOT projects where in addition to the obligations and other terms usual to BOT projects, the concessionaire rents/leases the physical assets on which the facility is located for the duration of the project. 3.9

3.15

Maintain, Operate and Transfer (MOT)

Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT)

Entities in adopting or adapting any of the above variants should be mindful of the specific objectives and needs of the project and should seek appropriate advice.
4

Undertaking a PPP Project

The private developer obtains the exclusive franchise to build, operate maintain and manage and collect user fees (where applicable) for a fixed period in order to amortize investment at the end of which title reverts to the public authority and government.

Entities seeking to undertake PPPs must be mindful of the provisions of this section.

4.1

The Decision to Undertake a PPP Project

3.10

Build-Own Operate (BOO)

The adoption of a PPP policy is not meant to provide public sector entities with an avenue to divest themselves of all public functions to the private sector. This is because PPPs do not in themselves guarantee improved infrastructure and services, unless they are undertaken properly.
The onus is, therefore, placed on the public sector institutions seeking to enter into a PPP arrangement to ensure compliance with the guidelines below.

The government or public authority either transfers ownership and responsibility for an existing facility or contracts with private partner(s) to build, own and operate a new facility. Unlike a privatization, the public authority can, in this type of PPP, lay down terms and conditions for the operation of the facility.

3.11

Refurbish-Operate-Transfer (ROT)

This the same concept as BOT except that it is used where the infrastructure already exists but is in a deplorable state and needs to be redeveloped.

3.12

Modernize-Operate-Transfer (MOT)

It is noted that there are services which would normally be provided by government but which are being provided by the private sector, for example in education and health. It is important that the relevant Ministry, Department or Agency be empowered to put in place appropriate regulations to ensure effective partnership with the private sector.

Another variant of ROT

4.1.1

Qualification of the PPP project

3.13

Refurbish-Own-Operate (ROO)

It is mandatory for the public entity to ensure that the project in question qualifies to be undertaken

Another variant of BOO 78

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by a PPP arrangement as prescribed under this framework and any regulation for the time being in force. Government reiterates that the desire to promote PPP should not be interpreted as a fiat to bypass laid down procedures.

entity must take steps to seek a change in the existing regulations before entering into the PPP contract.
b) Whether there are any barriers or difficulties that the institution needs to overcome in the course of implementing the PPP. The institution needs to clearly determine how such barriers can be overcome before proceeding with the PPP. As an example, a District Assembly (DA) which decides to enter into a management contract with a private sector entity for the collection of revenue from the general public must confront to the challenge posed by the provisions of the law that gives the power to determine rates and charges at the district level the sole preserve of the DA.

Prior to entering into any PPP arrangement the entity must ensure the following:

1)

That the project has not or will not

receive public funding within the entitys short to medium term plan except where the PPP has been classified as being qualified to receive public funding such as in management contract.

2)

That private sector participation in the project will be in the public interest and will meet the strategic objectives of the entity.

4.1.3

Capability of the Public Sector Entity

PPP often involves a complex set of arrangements and contracts and the public entity must therefore, ensure that it has the capacity to handle the project. Where necessary, entities must seek expert advice on various aspects of the PPP process, especially the financial, legal, managerial and technical aspects, in order to ensure efficiency at every stage of the process.

3)

Ensure that, except in the case of an unsolicited bid, the PPP falls within the list of projects the entity has planned to undertake and for which it has sought or intends to seek approval from the appropriate authority.

4.1.2

Qualification of the Public Sector Entity For PPP

4.1.4

Institutional Coordination

The public sector entity must also ensure that it qualifies to undertake a PPP project. In ascertaining whether a public institution qualifies to undertake a PPP project, it must determine the following : a) Whether the existing legal framework allows it to do so i.e., whether it is not prevented by its establishing instrument from entering into the PPP project. The determination consists of checking whether there is any existing provision under any existing institution from entering in the PPP

A PPP arrangement would normally demand the cooperation of several institutions. It is imperative therefore, that the public sector partner identifies prior to the issuing of the investment opportunity, or prior to entering into any memorandum of understanding in the case of an unsolicited bid, the key institutions that would be involved in the PPP project and where necessary, put into place a team composed of representatives of the identified institutions in order to facilitate the coordination and implementation of the project.

arrangement. If the project is important the

79 Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

4.2

Presenting the PPP Option to the Public

4.2.2

Strategic Importance of the Project

It must be recognized that PPPs do not necessarily provide an automatic solution to the problems of the target community. Potential beneficiaries of a PPP project must be made to understand the factors that will bring about the success of the PPP in question and how the PPP would be operated.
The PPP option should be packaged in a manner which would make it generally acceptable to the public or target community. Entities must bear in mind that no project will succeed if the people reject it. Public sensitivity is crucial to the success of any PPP.

Entities must disseminate information on the strategic importance of any project selected using a PPP option. The extent to which the attainment of the objectives of the PPP would benefit the entity and the nation as a whole should be fully communicated.
4.3

Other Considerations

Other pertinent considerations that entities must take into account before deciding on a PPP include the following:

4.3.1

Financial

Where the budget of Government (Central or Local) will permit the carrying out of the intended project by the public sector entity within the entitys short to medium term plan, it is not advisable to carry out the project as a PPP.

4.2.1 Public

Participation in PPP Projects/ Stakeholder Consultation

Public consultation is key to the success of any PPP project. The involvement of the public is paramount in ensuring the acceptability and success of the PPP project. As a minimum, the following key issues must be communicated to the public by for the public discussions:

Entities must be particularly mindful of the implication of the following on any PPP project:

1) 2) 3)

Financial Administration Regulations.

1) 2)

The need for the project

Regulations relating to the power to fix and charge fees, rates or levies.
The power of some regulatory agencies, such as Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to regulate tariffs and other utility charges and the effect of such powers on the strategic goal of the PPP.

The use of private resources i.e. financial, human etc., to provide the needs of the community.

3) 4) 5)

The technical feasibility of the project.

Measures put in place to cater for any environmental challenges. Any other reason that justify choosing the PPP option. 80 may

4)

Whether the financial structure proposed for the PPP will enable the cost of investment to be recouped without public outcry about the cost of service delivery.

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4.3.2

Safeguards

arrangement can be overcome to ensure the successful implementation of the PPP in question.

1)

Safeguards to protect the public from exploitation by the private partner especially where the public entity does not intend to play any management role in the operations.

Where, for example, displacement of current workers is unavoidable, mechanisms for handling such situations should be incorporated in the project, if possible.

2)

Safeguards to protect the private sector from undue institutional bureaucracy and manipulation of the public sector system.

4.3.7

End User Affordability

In the case of joint ventures, entities c) must include all corporate governance arrangements such as board representation for the public sector partner and agree on the scope of their powers on the board before finalizing the PPP arrangement. 4.3 .3 Technical

to the implementation of the specific PPP


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conduct approp

Whether or not the major technical difficulties currently faced by the public sector entity will be overcome by the PPP arrangements and whether the project offers the potential for technology transfer and an opportunity for innovation. 4.3 .4

Operational

Whether the PPP will lead to operational efficiency which is capable of being translated into better services to the public or target community. 4.3 .5 Availability of Market Where a new project is to be undertaken under a PPP arrangement, the existence of a market should be clearly demonstrated. 4.3 .6

Implementation

The entity must ensure that any identified barriers

2)

Authenticity of the person purporting to

represent the interest of the private sector partner. For example, a board resolution of the company authorizing the person to engage in the PPP on behalf of the entity is advisable.

or are not capable of having a duly registered office in Ghana within sixty days of the coming into force of the first contract entered into for the implementation of the PPP arrangement.

4.4.3

Capability

3)

The fulfillment by the private sector entity

The test for capability of the private partner shall be whether or not the private sector partner is in a position to provide the highest level of service at the least cost. This criterion should also guide the post contract monitoring phase of the process.

whether wholly foreign owned or in partnership with a local counterpart of the requirements of the laws regulating investment in Ghana.

4)

It shall be permitted for the private sector partner(s) to incorporate a company purposely for the PPP arrangement.

In addition to the general requirement on capability, bidders should be specifically required to demonstrate the following:

4.4.2
a)

Disqualification

1)
Disqualified Private Sector Entities

Availability and financial resources

source

of

The following private sector entities shall not qualify to enter into a PPP arrangement as a private sector partner :

2) 3) 4)

Competence of human/managerial resources

the

1) 2)

Natural persons

Ownership of or access to relevant equipment, where applicable Reliability and experience necessary for similar assignments. 4.4.4 Consortium/Joint Venture such as n 4) C education, re 6) F health, ompanies gi oreign st limited by drinking entities er water or guarantee do e who such other except not have a d where the public registered a need as company s office in be is set up may s Ghana or determined purposely do o who the for the by ci not intend approving provision at authority. of 82 io community n 5) U needs s

Sole proprietorship whether operating under own identity or trading under business names.

3)

Partnerships, whether limited or unlimited

Where the private sector partner is a consorti um, there must be proof that:

N embers of one ofthe the consortium member have s is disqualif bound themselves ied under to assume this joint and policy

1)

sector partners obligations under project that partner had consented to bear the or one

several

2)

liability for the private

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the risk of other partners and that a copy of the document evidencing the above has been presented to the public entity for scrutiny.
5

1 2

investment opportunity
evaluation of proposals submitted on the

project. 5.4 Pre-Selection/Request for Expression on Interest


This phase consists of the verification of certain formal requirements such as adequate proof of technical capability and/or prior experience so that all bidders who meet the pre-selection criteria are automatically admitted to the tendering process. This may be done by advertising a request for expression of interest and establishing a short list.

Procurement Process
Records of the PPP Processes

5.1

Public sector institutions shall keep records of the PPP arrangements from the project inception and shall make the records available for review by appropriate authorities. The records must be kept in accordance with the requirements of the appropriate regulation and shall upon the expiry of a minimum period required by the appropriate regulation, be transferred to archives as required by existing law/government policy. 5.2

5.5

Use of Competitive Bidding

Request for Proposals/Invitation to Bid

Unless expressly permitted by an appropriate authority as a follow up of an unsolicited bid, all private sector parties for PPP projects shall be selected by the use of competitive bidding methods and the following procedures shall generally guide the PPP procurement process. 5.3 General Notice of Investment

a) The entity may issue a Request for Proposals (RFP), which should include adequate instructions to bidders in order to elicit information relevant to provide the following:
i)

A basis for comparison of bids

Once a PPP project is identified, a General Notice of the Investment opportunity should be issued at least 60 clear days or in accordance with the applicable law before the invitation for bids are issued. Except in the case of an unsolicited bid, a general notice of procurement shall be issued with the view to eliciting interest in the PPP project bids. Prior to the publication, entities should undertake their own feasibility studies to determine which services or infrastructure are suitable to be undertaken through PPPs. The feasibility study

would also provide a basis for: the preparation of information memo-

of consortia or iii ) iv )

Source o

randa on the project


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Operation experienc

1)
v)

Technical feasibility of the proposal

Details of the following:

1 2 3

Implementation schedule Financing schedule Other resource deployment

2) 3)

Effectiveness of the methods and resources to be deployed


Quality of resources to be employed and how it ultimately relates to services to be provided under the PPP

vi) In the event a bidder submits an alternate offer, an indication of how beneficial that method is over and above the conforming method.

4)

5.5.1

Alternate Bids

Entities shall allow bidders to submit alternate bids in order to encourage innovation but it shall be necessary for those who submit alternate bids to first submit conforming offer.

Planned improvements over the PPP project, for example enhancements to be made to the existing facilities during the life of the project.

5)

How the proposal enhances the overall

5.5.2

Pre-Bid Conferences

strategic objectives for social and economic development of the specific community and the nation such as poverty reduction.

Depending on the type of project, it is advisable that a PPP procurement process should include a well-organized pre-bid conference. This will generally give bidders and public sector entities the opportunity to clarify issues and to obtain additional information, where necessary, on the requirements of the project. 5.6 Evaluating the Proposals

6) 7)

Technology transfer, increased domestic investment etc. Any key success factor that the PPP project hinges on.
5.6.1 Oral Presentation to Stake-holders

The entity should constitute its own evaluation team taking into account the provisions of existing laws and policies on public procurement. It should also take into consideration the particular requirements of the project and the nature of the expertise required for a proper and comprehensive evaluation. The evaluation state is paramount to ensuring that the public entity procures the best value for money. Key issues that must be taken into account in the evaluation include the following:

In addition to written proposals, it is beneficial in some PPP projects for the bidder to make an oral presentation of its strategic plan for the project. Such presentation often provides an opportunity for the public entity to seek further clarifications on the proposals presented and affords the private sector partner an opportunity to articulate its vision for the project. As a rule, oral presentations should only take place after the evaluation of the written proposal is completed but it may form part of the criteria in determining the preferred bidder.

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5.7

Approvals

Entities must recognize that PPP is not intended by government to usurp the existing approval systems of public sector institutions. The current public sector institutional framework for the time being in force must therefore be respected. Where applicable, approvals from the appropriate tender board must be sought before the announcement of any PPP project as follows:
a)

National Level

Tender Committee for Central Management Agency/Ministry/Subvented Agency


b)
Regional Level

Tender Committee for Regional Coordinating Council


c)

District Level

Metropolitan/Municipal/DistrictTender Committee
d)
Other Tender Boards

As stipulated in public sector regulations at any time in force.


e)

Other Approval

Cases which are not subject to tender board approval or by Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) should be subject to the approval of the requisite institution in accordance with existing policy/laws for the time being in force.
5.8 Unsolicited Bids

It is without doubt that unsolicited bids constitute a key component of PPP projects worldwide. It

85 Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

is however, also a fact that unsolicited proposals are easy to exploit and the process can easily be manipulated. The following rules shall therefore, apply to unsolicited bids:

1)

The unsolicited bids should not relate to a project for which selection or competitive procedures have already been initiated.

2)

Where a private sector entity approaches a

public entity with an unsolicited proposal for a PPP project, the following should be considered:

1)

Whether the proposal is novel, innovative or specialized in nature and the competitive bidding process will not result in the attraction of another private sector partner with the specialization required.

2)

Whether the proposal provides innovation and offers the potential of new technology transfer.

3)

Whether there are no substantial financial contributions to be made by the Government in terms of money, guarantees, subsidies or equity participation.

4) 5) 6)

Whether or not the project has already been identified by the entity.
Whether or not the project is capable of being subjected to the competitive process. Whether or not there were previous unsolicited/solicited bids and why the previous arrangements were not concluded.

7)

Whether the laws and policies of the institution allow for the sole sourcing or restricted bids for the particular project.
5.8.1 Preliminary Discussion/Informal Proposal

A private sector partner who submits an informal unsolicited bid should be requested to submit an

initial proposal containing such information as would allow the public entity to make a prima facie assessment of whether the conditions for considering unsolicited bids have been met and in particular whether the PPP will be in the public interest.

of the evaluation, prepare a list of shortlisted bidders in order of preference.


If negotiations fail with the preferred bidder, negotiations should be held with the next bidder till a successful bidder is selected.
In the case of an unsolicited bid, negotiation should start after the evaluation of the unsolicited bids leads to the conclusion that bid meets the criteria set by the entity within the guidelines of this framework.

As a rule, verbal enquiries or verbal unsolicited offers should be necessarily followed by a formal bid in writing. 5.8.2 Evaluation of An Unsolicited Bid

The entity shall set up an evaluation criterion for the unsolicited bid which shall include a determination of at least:

5.9.2 Points

for a Successful Negotiation of a PPP Contract

The following guidelines are relevant :

1) 2) 3) 4)

The uniqueness of the proposal in terms

of methods to be employed innovation, etc.

1)

The qualification and previous experience of the entity making the proposal. Financial standing/source of funding
Resources required from the public

The mandate of the persons representing the respective parties in the negotiations and the extent of the mandate.

2) 3)

The scope and objectives of the negotiations. Key points of the negotiations which should include:
i) Identifying responsibilities of the respective public and the private partners;

entity /government if any, and whether government/ public entity is able to meet the same.

5.8.3

Value for Money Assessment

2) 3) 4)

Notwithstanding the general requirement of entities to ensure that PPP projects give value for money, it shall be necessary in the case of unsolicited bids for entities to carry out value for money assessment.
5.9 Negotiation of the PPP

Setting out the legal liabilities of the respective public and private partners;

Identifying clear standards of performance;


Ensuring control of costs, quality, service,

deadlines, safety, community relations, compliance and operating /maintenance requirements;

5.9.1

Before the Negotiations

5)

Balancing risks and benefits between the

Prior to the negotiations the entity must, as part

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public and private partners (e.g., financial savings, return on investment, increased service); Contingency arrangements if the vi) private sector partner is dissolved, becomes insolvent or contravenes the agreement or agreements; vii ) Tax obligations;

the company by promoters and other investors. Promoters/shareholders earn dividends and cannot recoup their investments (unlike loans or repayments) except through a share sale. Commercial loans short, medium c) or long term loans from national or international ban ks. Subordinated Debt the repayment d) of these loans are made subordinate to the payment of commercial loans generally or may be made subordinate to specific loans identified. These usually attract a higher rate of interest, or in the alternative, providers of subordinated debts may be offered direct participation in the project by way of shares. Institutional investors loans may e) be procured from insurance companies, pension funds, investment funds, etc. Capital market funding floating f) of shares on the stock exchange. g) Financing by international financial

vii Identifying mechanisms for i) monitoring performance, quality of service and other project objectives; Establishin g confli ct resoluti on

ix)

mechanisms; Ensuring that the preferred partner x) has a clear understanding of the concept of publicprivate partnership and the type of arrangements involved in the final contract, the allocation and assumption of risks, and the scope of work required to complete the contract. 6 Financing Structures

Financing mechanisms are numerous and are often

institutions

project specific. The following financing mechanisms may serve as a guide in assessing the financing mechanism of the proposal: Project Finance (non-recourse a) financing) credit is made available to the extent that the lenders can be satisfied to look primarily to the projects cash flow earnings as the source of funds for the repayment of loans taken by the project company. The rights and obligations relating to the projects assets and revenue are independently estimated and are strictly separated from the assets of the project companys shareholders. Equity Capital investment is made in

h)

Support by export credit and investment

promotion agencies. Combined public and private i) finance public funds could be in the form of grants, guarantees or equity participation. As a rule, public entities should seek professional advise prior to concluding the financial arrangement. Contract Formation and Management Types of Agreements

7 7.1

b)

Each PPP will require a number of agreements, depending on the nature of the partnership. 8 7

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Types of agreements that may be involved in a PPP include:

123456789101112-

the

initial

Memorandum

of

Under-

standing : this is often useful for unsolicited bids.

Concession agreement Loan agreement Bond/security agreement


Construction/development agreement

Purchase/sale agreement
Operation and maintenance agreement

Shareholders agreement Facility utilization agreement

Corporate or personnel services agreement Transfer agreement Lease agreement

It must be recognized that each PPP arrangement may involve multiple agreements, some of which are listed above.
The type of agreements involved in a particular PPP would depend on the form of PPP. It is, therefore, important to seek legal advice. That notwithstanding, entities must have regard, where applicable, to the import of the laws in Annex I of this policy framework. 7.2 Key Contractual Issues - Checklist

The entity should develop a checklist and confirm that all key issues have been dealt with prior to concluding the contract. Whilst it is imperative that legal advice should be sought, it is necessary for

88

the public sector entity to check that the following have been catered for under the draft contracts:

1)

A description of the project (including information on the scope of the project), deliverables, the terms and the effective date of the agreement;

2)

The financial components including payment provisions, the time of payment and currency;

3)

Identification of the private partners

management team, including key professionals and convenants relating to their participation;

4) 5)

Provisions for the replacement of key individuals


Transfer, lease, license or use of government premises or facilities, including responsibilities for insurance, liability, security, operation and maintenance;

6) 7)

Allocation of revenue from services or

facilities
Contract revision arising from material

change in the conditions (e.g. change in technology, applicable laws, Acts of God, etc.)

8)

Lending, borrowing and financing arrangements, including payments, rates, security and notice;

9)

Indemnity, release and insurance provisions;

10) 11)

Due diligence of the parties

Risk analysis, risk sharing and allocation, guarantees and warranties;

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12) 13) 14) 15) 16) 17) 18) 19)

Labour issues
Environmental impact assessment

Termination provisions
Project failure and remedies, if any
Breach of contract/events of default

Provision for re-entry, buy back transfer, reversion, assignment etc.

Charges, rates, fees, taxes etc.

Conflict or dispute resolution mechanisms including arbitration and venue of dispute resolution

20) 21) 22) 23) 24)

Non-circumvention, confidentiality and scope of these provisions

Force majeure

Ownership of intellectual property, facilities or new technologies developed


Provisions which survive termination of the contract e.g., arbitration, confidentiality

Contract amendment process Dispute Resolution

7.2.1

There should be mechanisms to reduce the potential of disputes viz; regular meetings and where the disputes occur, there should be clear procedures for resolving them which may include the following:

a) Administrative procedures using internal review boards

2) 3) 4)
7.2.2

Conciliation Mediation Arbitration Compulsory Provisions

Unless with the express approval of the Attorney General, all contracts should contain the following provisions:

1) 2)

That the laws of Ghana shall be the applicable law of contract


That in the event that parties to a PPP contract are unable to resolve any dispute through internal mechanisms, conciliation, and/or mediation, arbitration shall be the dispute resolution mechanism.

3)

That Ghana shall be the venue for the resolution of disputes and the seat of any arbitral panel.

4) 5)

That the language arbitration shall be English

for

the

That there shall be recourse to the ordinary courts in Ghana in the event the alternative dispute resolution fails.
7.3

Contract Managment

The management of the PPP contract is vital to attaining the goals and objectives of the PPP arrangement and for determining whether a PPP contract should be renewed. The public sector entity must institute mechanisms for:

a) Monitoring the implementation of and performance of the terms and conditions of the agreements

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2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7)

including but not limited to the following:

Administrative and institutional co-ordination Liaising and communicating with the private partner
Ensuring compliance with prescribed benchmarks and quality standards

1o 2o 3o

Environmental Economy

Society as a whole (particularly the poor and disadvantaged)


Entities must recognize the importance of periodic assessment of compliance by both parties with the contracts. Accordingly, entities must undertake regular review of project objectives, assess the achievements and determine deviations, if any, from contract conditions and project objectives. This will, inter alia, provide a means to check anomalies and avoid or minimize dispute.

Reporting procedures of the

Regular reviews performance of the project

Impact over time of the PPP on key areas

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Appendix

LIST OF PRINCIPAL LAWS


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1992 Fourth Republican Constitution Financial Administration Decree, 1979 SMCD 221 Financial Administration Regulation LI 1234 Financial Administration Bill (Proposed) Public Procurement Act, 2003 Act 663 Contracts Act, 1960, Act 25 Concession Act, 1962 Act 124 Government Contract Decree, AFRCD 58 Local Government Act, 1993 Act 462 District Tender Board Regulations, LI 1606 Ghana Highway Authority Act, 1997, Act 540 Divestiture of State Interests (Implementation) Law, 1993, PNDCL 326 Companies Code, 1963 Act 179 Insurance Law, 1989, PNDCL 227 National Development Planning Commission, Act 1994, Act 479 National Development (Systems) Act, 1994, Act 480 Exchange Control Act, 1961, Act 71 as amended Arbitration Act, 1961, Act 38 Internal Revenue Act, 2000, Act 592 as amended

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

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20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Securities Industry Law, 1993, PNDCL 333 Banking Law 1989, PNDCL 225 Ghana Investment Promotion Center Act, 1994, Act 478 Free Zones Act, 1995, Act 504 Environmental Protection Agency Act, Act 490 Environmental Assessment Regulations, 1999, LI 1652

Customs, Excise and Preventive Services (Management) Law 1993 (PNDCL 330) as amended by Act 511 of 1996 Technology Transfer Regulations, 1992, LI 1547 Civil Service Law, 1993, PNDCL 327 Finance Lease Law, 1993 PNDC Law 331 Other Relevant Laws

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Annexure 4.2.5

PUBLIC-PRIVATE COMMUNITY-BASED INSTITUTIONS PARTNERSHIP : AN APPROACH TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT : INDIAN EXPERIENCES
B S Negi
1 Introduction The Asia and Africa are the home of majority of the world poor and poverty is disproportionately concentrated in rural areas, in certain pockets and communities, within the countries and there is a widening gap between urban and rural areas in many Asian and African countries. Having found that multi-dimensional approaches to tackle poverty are not enough, specific agendas have been set by national Governments and 2 The Role of Private Sector Globally, the private sector and multinational cooperations are realising that there are vast untapped markets in the rural areas (apart from resources and skills) and started working out their own marketing strategies. They have also started identifying ways and means of increasing the purchasing power of the rural people (rather than treating them as poor and lacking capacity to buy). They have also realised, apart from the

international agencies and strategies worked out, including the capability approach (to enhance choices and productive capacities of the poor). The geographical (less favoured areas) and social concerns (women, deprived persons, marginalized workforce etc.) have been taken into account in these approaches. Apart from individual country strategies, the 1995 World Social Summit had placed poverty reduction squarely on the global development agenda, to reduce poverty by half up to 2015. Its centrality was again reconfirmed at the Millennium Summit in 2000. It is to be recognised that poverty can not be tackled without a higher growth rate in the rural sector and without institutional reforms. In this, the role of local governmen NGOs commun bas ts, , ity ed organizations, private sector and their participation is identified as crucial to rural development.
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governments, the benefits of globalization cannot reach the poor without actively engaging them in the production and marketing process. Active engagement of private sector is seen as part of creating inclusive capitalism-a market economy of shared profits between private firms, local producers and entrepreneurs. Even donor agencies focusing on education and other social sectors have realised that private sector participation is crucial for poverty alleviation (Cemex in Mexico, ITC, Hindustan Lever in India, etc). In the credit market, micro-credit models have shown the way for emerging growth points for the rural poor. Country Specific Instances in 3 the Region 3.1 The Thai Business in Rural Development (TBIRD) is established to facilitate sharing of skills 93

between business and cooperatives. This establishes a network of relationship between governments, private business, cooperatives and government organizations. The main advantage is a forum of development that facilitates exchange of skills between the villagers and the private businesses. The village credit union (KLOOM-SUP) is a supportive financial institution operated by the villagers. TBIRD allows rural people to enhance skills and gain experience in running business, including administration, management and market skills.

was evolved with various benefits to the rural masses for agro processing, household facilities, enterprises, transportation etc., though in a small way.

3.4 In

Philippines,

the

Agri-business

Linkage

programme (BAR-SARC-TSARRD) apart from capacity building and information dissemination facilitates face to face exchanges between farmers, investors and agribusiness firms. The encounters forged marketing agreements between agribusiness enterprises and ARB organizations. between A linkage has thus been and established Agrarian farmers, agribusiness market

3.2

In India, the ITC and Hindustan Lever are

prospective investors, with a DAR (Depart-ment of Reforms)-sponsored information dissemination strategy.

classic examples of collaboration between the rural poor (farmers etc.) and the big industrial giants. The HLL promoted a public-private partnership (PPP) for hand washing with soap, later to become a programme of health in your hands a public private partnership and leveraged the specific competencies of each partner (Government, private sector and communities). As a company, the HLL(as life boy) has mainstreamed the Government in Kerala, India to gain access to 10,000 Schools, 20,000 Social Working Sectors and 6000 Health Centres. The World Bank, UNICEF etc. have helped crafting packages.

3.5 In

Malaysia, under OPP3, National Vision

Policy (2001-2010), one of the important measures for poverty eradication, is smart partnership with NGOs and private sector in income generating projects. The local agenda 21 promotes partnership between the local authority, NGO, CBO, Government agencies and private sector. In its implementation, its actions/planning process encompassed the formulation of community vision, formation of partnerships, community based issue analysis, drafting of action plans, implementation and monitoring and evaluation.

3.3

In Nepal, the Rural Energy Development

Programme (REDP) covers 25 districts through a joint collaboration of government agencies, private sectors for technical assistance, NGOs for community mobilization and people for operation and management as owners. The programme helped create Community Energy Fund (CEF) to manage community owned micro hydro schemes. The VDC (Village Development Committee) and the DDC (District Development Committee) are encouraged to invest in community owned hydro systems and to receive dividends as share holders. Thus, a rural energy system through partnerships

3.6 In

Bangladesh, an emerging micro finance

sector with private participation in the form of NGOs promoting subsidiary companies is a classical example of private sector participation with government support (in financing through PKSF, NGO Bureau for Regulation etc.). Some of the 17 companies affiliated to Grameen Bank or Grameen Business Promotion, Grameen Udyog (enterprise), Grameen Trust, Grameen Product, Grameen Information Highways etc. Grameen Kalyan and Grameen Bank has provided

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loans to 15,746 borrowers to buy cell phones, to provide communication facilities for nearly 20 thousands villages. Likewise BRAC private company, covering even the most modern sectors. It has a monopoly in dairy industry which linked to thousands of micro-credit borrowers in two-third of villages in Bangladesh, apart from market outlets.
4

The Need

The above illustrations show that the partnerships and coalition building have become an active ingredient of rural development policies and programmes - particularly for poverty alleviation, gender mainstreaming, community participation and above all for economic growth and rural prosperity. The models available in the region can be broadly classified as, to name a few:

1 2 3

GO-NGO-Private SectorCommunity Participation Model Donor/NGO-GO-Private Sector Community Participation Model


Exclusive GO-Private Sector Coalition

Model

Industrial

Companies/MNCs-Govern-

ment-Community Participation Model

Exclusive Government-Peoples Organi-zations Direct Participation Model

International Organizations (World Bank, IFAD, UNDP etc.)Government Participation Model

Case Studies
Case 1: Public-Private Partnerships in Education: The Shiksha Karmi and Lok Jumbish in Rajasthan1 (Planning Commission and UNDP, DFID, UNICEF)

5.1

The Background : Shiksha Karmi literally means education worker and the Shiksha Karmi Project being implemented in Rajasthan since 1987 aims to transform dysfunctional schools with teacher absenteeism into more efficient ones through the provision of quality education with the help of locally available youth albeit with lower qualification.
The programme was formulated on the basis of a successful project of a non-governmental organisation called the Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC) at Tilonia in Rajasthan. During a pilot project in 1984-86, the SWRC ran three experimental primary schools using local teachers and providing continual in-service training. The curriculum and textbook design related directly to life in a rural environment, and the education outcomes were impressive. When the project was evaluated, these schools compared very favourably than government primary schools. The Government of Rajasthan, in cooperation with SWRC, extended the project to 13 more villages where teacher absenteeism was particularly high.

Some of the objectives of the SK project were to achieve the following:


Universal primary education in remote, socio-economically backward villages in those blocks of Rajasthan where the existing primary schools were dysfunctional.

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Rajasthan took the initiative to transform the

A qualitative improvement of primary education in such villages by adapting the form and content of education to local needs and conditions.

provisioning of education in the state by replicating this. The enrolment and attendance of girl children has improved due to several innovative strategies like the Mahila Sahayogi and the Aangan Pathshalas. The project has proved to be a good

2 3

Improvement in enrolment of all boys and girls in the age group of 6-14 years.

alternative system of education conceptualised and implemented by the Government of Rajasthan.

Elevating the level of learning equivalent to the norms of Class V.


The project is implemented by an autonomous body called the Shiksha Karmi Board (SKB). There is an in-built monitoring process at the village, block, district headquarter and state level. To attract more girl children to education, the SKP programme involved women SKs as well. Special residential womens training centres have been established across the state by NGOs, to train young women to imbibe the basic education required to become an SK. Most women SKs are mothers of young children. To facilitate their training, the centres also have crches and child care units with women helpers.

The potential for lesson learning and the replication of aspects of the gender strategy and village mobilisation in other parts of India are tremendous.

5.2

Case 2: Management of Public Hospitals through Community Participation Rogi Kalyan Samiti, Madhya Pradesh (Planning Commission and UNDP)2

The Background : Health is a critical indicator of the quality of life of the population, and significantly contributes towards national development. The Rogi Kalyan Samiti (RKS) is an example of effective delivery of social services through decentralisation and community participation that culminated in the user community managing hospitals.
As fear of an impending plague epidemic spread across most of north India in 1994, the District Collector of Indore, along with the people of the district, decided to take effective steps to prevent an outbreak of the disease in the district. Objectives : The immediate objective was to ensure sanitation and remodelling of the Maharaja Yashwantrao Hospital, to prevent plague. Once this objective was achieved, the aim was to create a model of the management of public service delivery based on public participation, with minimal recourse to the state exchequer and to

The SKP has been responsible for several tangible achievements. The project now covers 2,715 villages in 146 blocks of 32 districts of Rajasthan and 6,285 SKs provide primary education to 2.16 lakh children in day schools. There are 2,715 day schools and 4,829 PPs. Phase I and II of SKP was implemented with the financial assistance from DFID of UK and Government of Rajasthan on 50 : 50 basis and Phase-III was contributed by DFID and Government of Rajasthan on the revised funding norms of 75:25 ratio respectively. Using the experience of an NGO that started the process on an experimental basis, the Government of

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independent group of trustees for the hospital

ensure a degree of permanency and to prevent a relapse to its old state of decadence.
The Process, Impact and Replication : Maharaja Yashwantrao Hospital is a public hospital located in the town of Indore. An innovative plan was devised to overhaul the ailing health-care system through an experiment that used no government funds and cost a little over Rs.45 lakh.

while an Executive Committee, constituted for facilitating efficient administration, is expected to manage the affairs of the hospital. RKS is free to use the funds at its disposal to its best judgement, and RKS bodies have used the funds for maintenance, repairing and necessary construction of the physical facilities in the hospitals; sanitation, security, hospital waste management and other services in the hospital through private agencies; upgradation of facilities; purchase of equipment through donations and loans; improvement of hospital environment and facilities for attendants and patients; and free or subsidised medical care to the poor and needy.

After elaborate discussions with the community, the hospital staff, elected representatives, environmental scientists, and the district administration evolved an operation policy for implementation. This unique structure of hospital management came to be known as the RKS or Patient Welfare Committee. The RKS was set up as a registered society with the mandate to take all functional decisions for the hospital. Through a carefully calculated process of admissions and discharge, the 750-bed hospital, along with five other hospitals in the same campus, was evacuated of patients, who were shifted to 12 other hospitals, situated all over the town. A massive clean-up operation was undertaken in the hospital complex. After the clean-up, all physical facilities were restored and the hospital was renovated. Throughout the process, the involvement of the people of the town was sought.
The RKS comprises peoples representatives,

Broad guidelines were drawn up for levy of user charges. However, the poorer sections are exempted from the levy. Charges for the general wards are nominal while higher charges are fixed for private wards. Funds received from user charges are deposited with the RKS and not in the government exchequer.
RKSs have been established in 604 hospitals across Madhya Pradesh, with 65-70 million beneficiaries and over 6000 people involved in its management.

The RKS system led to:

1 2

Increased staff efficiency in government-owned health institutions. Empowerment of the community to contribute towards strengthening of public institutions.

health officials, district officials, prominent citizens, representatives of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), members of urban local bodies and members of the Panchayat, as well as leading donors. Due to its success, RKSs have been set up in medical colleges, district hospitals, and community health centres throughout Madhya Pradesh and

Inculcation of a sense of moral responsibility among the medical staff and a feeling of ownership in the minds of the patients through the system of user charges.

Chhattisgarh. The RKS acts as an

97 Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

Additional budgetary support for improvement of the health system. Social benefits due to the restoration of safe and healthy surroundings in government hospitals. Upgradation of expansion of healthcare centres in rural and semi-rural areas from the internal resources generated by the RKS across the state. Improved working conditions for doctors and staff. Increased efficiency due to privatisation of medical services.
Allocation of funds for improvement of health institutions from discretionary local area development funds by Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assemblies.

5.3

Case 3 : e Choupal-Role of ITC - A Multinational Company in Public Private Partnership in Agribusiness

ITC Limited (www.itcportal.com), one of the leading companies of India, created eChoupal3 by innovatively leveraging information & communication technologies (ICTs) to set up an information & business platform for Indias small and poor farmers, who otherwise continue to operate in unevolved markets where the vested interests exploit their disadvantaged position. ITC takes on the role of a Network Orchestrator in this mega-market by stitching together an end-to-end solution by synergizing and unleashing the power of partnerships in public, private and not-for-profit sectors.
Under e-Choupal, ITC has set up Internet kiosks in villages. Farmers selected from within the community, designated as Choupal Sanchalaks, manage these kiosks. Sanchalaks help farmers access different agricultural crop-specific websites that ITC has created in relevant local languages. The content includes best farm practices (including videos), prevailing prices and price trends for crops in Indian and world markets, intricacies of risk management/farm forecast. seeds, Farmers insurance, can offered also by local order, the weather through

RKS represents an effort to create a system that is self-sustaining and where active participation of hospital administration, motivation of staff and constant monitoring by the public can be ensured to guarantee better all-round performance of hospitals.
The RKS initiative signifies a paradigm shift from the top-down approach hospital a to health staff delivery user mutual for the systems in the country. It has been successful in bringing together and and of communities understanding through process

Sanchalak, high-quality agricultural inputs such as fertilizers participating partner companies. Finally, eChoupal goes beyond mere knowledge-connectivity and enables farmers to exercise the informed choice by connecting them to local and global markets. Thus, the human and the digital infrastructure at the village is complemented and completed with a physical infrastructure in the form of Choupal Saagars, each at the centre of a cluster of 40 eChoupals. Saagars offer multiple services under one roof a marketing platform, store front for agri-equipment

problem-sharing,

common goal of improving local health service systems. The Rogi Kalyan Samiti has effectively constructed a sustainable state-society synergy.

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and personal consumption products, insurance counters, pharmacy & health center, agriextension clinic, fuel station and a food court.
e-Choupal is an integral part of ITCs competitive strategy market to create with the needs linkage shareholder value economic and enhanced and is enmeshed empowerment, modest

dimensions in rural development by participation of community-led organisations, private sector and civil society.

incomes of Indias agrarian communities. The mutuality and the strategic fit make it possible to scale up the initiative to a significant size. The scaling up of the model is also enabled as by design more & more eChoupals are created, there is a better and more value for all the stakeholders. As of May 2007, eChoupal services reach more than 4 million farmers in about 40,000 villages through more than 6500 Choupals across 8 States of India. ITC intends scaling up the initiative to reach 10 million farmers in 100,000 villages by 2012. 6

Footnotes This case is based on summarising 1 material in Partnerships in Education: Shiksha Karmi and
Lok Jumbish in Rajasthan, in Successful Governance Initiatives and Best Practices, Planning Commission and UNDP, New Delhi, 2002 and on Why is Girls Education Important: DFID Policy at http:www.dfid.gov.uk/education/themes/ gender/index.htm as also R. Govinda, Lok Jumbish: An Innovation In Grassroots Level Management Of Primary Education, Unicef, India (Courtesy: Dr P L Sanjeev Reddy, et.al. Proceedings of the Governance Workshop held in Dhaka, 2006.

Conclusion

The Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, has long been attached to strengthening local government institutions, other rural institutions, state institutes of rural development, non-governmental organisations in a big way. Its funding of projects to NGOs has initiated a new

2 This case is based on summarising material in Management of Public Hospitals through Community Participation Rogi Kalyan Samiti, Madhya Pradesh in Successful Governance Initiatives and Best Practices, Planning Commission and UNDP, New Delhi, 2002.
3 Choupal is a villages assembling point.

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Annexure 4.2.6

AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN IRAQ


Naser M. Feal
It forms quarter of the Iraqis square i.e., 132,500 kilometers

and extends in the


1

Location

form of rectangle (650 kms kms long wide) and 250 between

Republic of Iraq is located in the Ballad, on the Tigris south-west of Asia, to the northriver and Ramadi, in east of Arab homeland, bounded the Tal al-aswad on the north by Turkey, on the east region on the by Iran, on the west by Syria, Euphrates river in the Jordan and Saudi Arabia, on the north, Iranian border south by Arab gulf, Kuwait and on the east and the Saudi Arabia. Iraq lies between desert plateau on the latitudes 29.5 and 37.22 north and between longitudes 38.45 andwest including the 48.45 east. The area of Iraq is marsh and lake area. 435,052 square kilometers.
2

than a half of the country area or 168,552 square kilometers and its altitude about 1001000 meters. It includes Al-jazira area.

Main Physical Divisions

2.2 The Desert Plateau It is located in the west of Iraq and forms about less

of Iraq
2.1

Sedimentary Plain

kilometers. 24000 square kilometers outside the mountainous region 2.3 The Mountains Region with an altitude of 100-200 m and 25000 This region is located in the kilometers north and north-east of Iraq andsquare extend to joint boundaries withinside mountainous with an Syria, Turkey and Iran in theregion altitude of 200-450 west, north and east. This region forms one quarter of Iraq area ofm.

rainfall occurs almost in in and winter, autumn, Iraq spring and disappear summer. climate is continental subtropical. Climate can be divided into three kinds:

3.1 Mediterranean Climate


It covers the mountainous region at the north-eastern which is characterised by cool winter where

about 92,000 square kilometers. 2.4


The Terrain Region

Climate

Iraq lies within the

It is a transitional region betweenmoderate northern lowlands in the south and highregion, system similar mountains region in the north andto that of north-east. It forms 50 per cent of theMediterranean where mountains region or 67,000 square

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snow falls at the top of mountains and rainfall ranges between 400-1000 mm annually. Its summer is moderate and the temperature does not exceed 35c in most of its part. 3. 2 Steppes Climate

cent is covered with herbs and shrubs. The important plants in this region are, acom, almonds, walnuts, pine and terebinth. 4.2 Steppes Region

It is a transitional climate between the mountainous region in the north and the hot desert in the south.This climate prevails in the terrain area with annual rainfall ranges between 200-400 mm which is sufficient for seasonal pastures. 3. 3 Hot Desert Climate It prevails in the sedimentary plain and western plateau which cover 70 per cent. It is characterised by great temperature variation between day and night, summer and winter with annual rainfall between 50-200 mm. The maximum of which reaches 45-50 c in winter warm weather prevails, temperature remains above frost and dose not fall below it except for few night. It is cool and dry in winter as north-western winds prevail in Iraq during all seasons of the year, accompanied by clear sky, whereas in summer the

It covers the semi-mountain (terrain) regions and part of the eastern sides of the sedimentary plain. Most of its plants are herbs some bulbs and thomy plan ts. 4.3 River Banks Region The vegetation consists of trees, shrubs and herbs. It covers the riverbanks in different region of Iraq. On the riverbanks citrus trees and date palms are willow, tamarisk, liqurice shrubs and camel thom.

4.4

Marshes Region

The marshes region is located at the south of the sedimentary plain and it has the shape of a triangle, where the cities of O'Mara, Nasria, and Qurna are on its capital triangle.

4.5

Desert Region

wind moderates the weather and decreases high temperatures. Eastern or northeastern winds blow in winter, accompanied by severe cold and clear sky. South-eastern winds are relatively warm and humid causing, sometimes, clouds and rains. 4 4. 1 Vegetation Forests and Mountains Herbs Region

This region covers the desert plateau and the alluvial plain except its northern and eastern sides. As a result of the great variation in temperature during night and day summer and winter, as well as the small quantity of rain, there is shortage of plants except of those who adapted themselves to this hard condition such as tamarisk, milfoil, zizyphus, thros and other desert plants. Work Paper on Agriculture Sector 5 in Mayssan Province An assembled study for the agriculture in Iraq revealed that Mayssan province in the southern governorates has a very large agricultural lands and 1 0 1

This region is located in the high mountains and limits of the Mediterranean climate is considered the thickest vegetation due to rainfall and moderation of temperature. Plants cover 70 per cent of the regions area and the remaining 30 per

Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

marshes and both of them are very invasive. Chances for the agricultural sector in both items the botanic and faunist are very bright Mayssan total area is 16072 square kilometers and divided into following:

f) The participation of the agricultural sector in providing the food is very small as crops does not pass more than 10 per cent and the vegetable are about 5 per cent.
This data reveals the governorate low level and the living condition of the farming families and specially the marshes people are very poor.
6

1 2

The marshes lands/4094square kilometers;

The cities borders/816 square kilometers and is increased continuously taken out spaces for the farm lands.

Agricultural Programme

This programme aims to accomplish the following:

The farm land/11162 square kilometers including sand and stony lands needs to be statistics;

6.1

Reaching the self sufficiency in food,

providing of the main crops which have priorities in the governorate are (wheat, rice, corn, white corn, ensilage bounties) as well as to the vegetable (tomato, onion, potato) the animal products and the other agricultural products, participating in providing the food to the country.

4 1) 2)

The farm lands in Mayssan governorate are described as below:


Many of it is affected by the salinity and that leading to desertification.
Most of the farm lands that is actionable and especially in the Aljazira Alsharkia Aljazira and Algharbia and about two million donam is unused because of the exiguity of irrigation water and its delivery.

6.2

Improve the living conditions and the

social conditions for the marshes families and to decrease the rate of the jobless among young men as an important item to stabilise the marshes.

3)

The low production in the area about

To accomplish these goals, following strategies are under consideration :

300kg/donam as a invariable rate for wheat and 500kg/donam for the rice because of the above mentioned reason besides the absence of the modern technical and the vertical production.

1)

Accomplish the highest level for the yields in the area units for all the crops especially the above strategy.

2) 4)
The ratio of owning the farm lands according to the law in less than 20 per cent from the farm areas above and that's mean there is a surplus in the unoccupied farm lands reach 80 per cent.

Accomplishing the different kind of crops

in agricultural products in both its items the botanic and the faunist and develop the products.

3)

5)

The number of jobless young in the marsh land areas is very high despite the fact that there is a huge unused marsh.

Accomplishing the highest horizontal occupying for the farming areas in accounting on the available sources from the earth and the water to continuing it's products and expand the palm orchards.

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4)

Increase the income of producers especially the marshes people, through expanding the permanent agricultural programme and enlarging the small projects that have a high protection and high income.

5)

Improving the environment to keep it develop.

17 7.1

Directions and Steps for the Work to Accomplish the Goals

Studying the soil and stopping the phenomenon's that tumbles it. Also improves and stops desertification;

7.2

Permanent agriculture is the perfect use

for the available sources to come up with highest possible production with good quality and keeping these sources depending on the methods that keep its actionable and validity and its production like the earth (soil) and that comes through:

1)

Treating the water chokes that lead to the wetness and the salinity and that comes through the drain net;

2)

Organising the irrigation operation and

decreasing the wasting of the water by using the modern methods in the irrigation system;

3)

Depending on the agricultural recycle and providing the equipments that improve the soil fertility accounting on the agricultural techniques to improve the fertility;

4)

Making a continuous study to observe the

soil conditions and work on the treatment on the salinity and the exiguity of fertility by spreading the laboratories, the fertility scanning teams; and

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e) Using the right yields in every soil, and working on the proportion of right types and kinds.

7.3 1) 2)

Prepare and Develop the Working Forces which include

Working on to cover the real needs of agricultural engineers in different specialities;

Set up a lot of practical courses to develop the skills for the crews in all the specialities inside and outside Iraq; and

3)

Activate the guiding activity toward developing the farmers abilities to adopt the modern techniques in the agriculture to rise up them socially.

7.4 1)

Develop and Expand the Crops Farming and Vegetables


Import the good seeds that have a high through the qualifying seeds

production and suitable with the governorate environment programmeme for all the producers every (3-5) years according to the crops and providing the supported hybrid seeds concerning the vegetables;

2)

Expanding the crops yields farming by increasing the range and provide the occupying equipments for the unused lands as well as to the main vegetables;

3)

Providing all the items for the vertical farming and depending on diversity in the crops according to the suitable soil;

4)

Open an marketing centre in the province

for all the crops that the ministry of commerce does not receive like white corn, yellow corn, sun

flour; also funding a marketing projects supporting the vegetables yields and balancing the local products and the imported, to continue producing the local products and develop it to accomplish a good income for the producers.

produce generations for meat and milk and develop the artificial fecundating stations and build preserving factories for the meat and fish and store it in frozen storages; and
e) The imports procedures should be observe by the government and the buying milk prices to be supported for the next 10 years and guiding the investment of the government and the private sector and build a gathering milk collection centers and dairy factories.

7.5 1)

Maintain and Expand Forming Orchards

and

Qualifying the orchards by executing the qualifying project and expands and secure it according with what the qualifying operation required; and

19 1)
ment;

Reduce the Effect of the Agricultural Pests and Preserving the Environment Depending the integrated best manage-

2)

Making the orchards farming license procedures easy and authorise the local authorities for all the agricultural processing.
8

2) 3)

Qualify and refresh the marsh lands; and

Develop and Expand Livestock


Qualify and operate the ensilage factories

Develop and expand the forests and the green lands.

1)

in the province and forming special ensilage factories in small capacities and opening a selling and keeping centre in the province;

10 1) 2) 3)

Provide the Operative Finance sources and the Capital

Increase the finance condition in the agricultural banks in the province; Reconsider the required insurance to take back the loans;
Authorise the lending committee in the governorate to decide to spend the loans to any funds according to the law; and

2)

Forming hatchery to produce eggs and

chicken and build a slaughterhouse and also hatchery for small fish in the province and frozen storages and setting up a programme to buy the products from the producers in supported price and sell it to the clients at subside subsidised prices;

3)

Qualify and operate Mayssan company

for producing table eggs and expand the forming in the eggs production projects;

4)

Including all the agricultural possession to land and organise the agricultural relations and reconsider the items of the law which organise. the relations.

4)

Build a large station to raise cow, buffalo


Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

and breeding cows and sheep and import the high

1 0 4

Annexure 4.2.7

PUBLIC-PRIVATE COMMUNITY-BASED INSTITUTIONS PARTNERSHIP IN AGRICULTURAL SECTOR IN LEBANON


Hala Debs
of Statistics, 1997). Population growth is expected to be less than 2 per cent for the next twenty years
(UNDP). Population density is 400 person/km and 90 per cent of population live in urban areas. Population growth rate is negative in rural areas and positive and increasing in urban areas. Urbanization level increased to 89.7 per cent in 2000
2

1 Introduction Lebanon occupies a favoured place in the Near


East region at the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, surrounded by Syria in the north east and by Occupied Palestine in the south.
2

The total land area is 10,452 km . The services

sect accounts for the bulk of or Lebanons economy (nearly 70 per cent of GDP), and the industrial sector contributes to around 18 per cent. The agricultural sector contributes to only 12 per
cent of

from 79.4 per cent in 1985. Agriculture is one of the important components of sustainable development in rural areas for social, economic, environmental and cultural reasons and consequently plays a crucial role in the development of rural areas. The mapping of living conditions (1997) shows that 75 per cent of agricultural households are considered to be poor, with the majority concentrated in the remote rural areas of the cazas of Baalbeck, Hermel and Akkar.

agriculture to the national economy has declined continuously during the last ten years. The total labor force is estimated at around 34 per cent of the population, and agriculture employs around 9 per cent of the total labor force. Government expenditures in the agricultural sector was very minimal during the last few years. The share of

the total GDP. The contribution of

the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) from the total budget was extremely low and steadily declining (less than 1 per cent of the total government budget). On the other hand, the agricultural sector

Agricultural activities cannot ensure a substantial and stable income to the rural population where the average annual income generated from agriculture is only LBP 5,364,000 (approx. US $3600) and LBP 4,868,000 (approx. US $3240) in BaalbeckHermel and Akkar respectively (Central Administration of Statistics, 1998). Farming systems in rural areas are characterized by the prevalence of traditional cropping patterns, dry land farming and marked by the fragmentation and parceling of the agricultural holdings. 1 0 5

is still benefiting from less than 2 per cent of the

total bank credits, which is a major constraint to the development and expansion of agricultural enterprises. 2 Rural Areas

The total population in Lebanon is estimated to be 4 million inhabitants (Central Administration

Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

Marginal areas in the rural space are generally endowed with limited natural resource base governed by unstable environmental conditions with low production potential resulting in low crop yield. The high variability in market price of agricultural output, inadequate rural and marketing infrastructure, and lack of adequate access to credit pose increased risks to farmers. In addition, inappropriate techniques are generally practiced on these lands due to lack of advanced knowledge and adequate resources. Despite the numerous interventions fostering sustainable rural development carried out for the last few years, rural areas remain below the level of development required, and rural population which is mainly engaged in agricultural activities continue to live in deprivation. This is mainly due to scattered and fragmented efforts undertaken by public sector, private sector and community institutions.
3

General Directorate of Cooperatives recently structured within the Ministry of Agriculture after the law decree number 247/2000 (abrogation, incorporation and establishment of ministries and boards).
The number of cooperatives increased significantly during the last few years whereby the number reached 1,166 in the year 2007 instead of 680 in 2000(establishment of cooperatives for political reasons and for obtaining government or non-governmental aid).

The General Directorate of Cooperatives plays an important role in supporting cooperatives through its roles in:

Motivation for establishment of cooperatives.

1 2

Establishment of cooperatives

Cooperative Movement in Rural Areas

Cooperatives play a `vital role in development of rural areas and this is because cooperatives objectives are to improve socio-economical status of their members. Cooperatives are also the target of programmes and projects implemented by the public and private sectors NGOs. Non-governmental organizations in Lebanon became active during the prolonged civil war and they remained in Lebanon and reoriented their activities toward economical and social development role. The cooperatives were their target in different extension and training aspects such as capacity building, food processing, book keeping, marketing, etc.
The main governmental institution that deals with the cooperative movement in Lebanon is the

Following up the functions of cooper-atives and promoting and developing the movement to achieve its goals in developing and improving socioeconomic conditions of its members.

Responsibility for safeguarding the rights

of members and the correct implementation of the cooperative laws and by-laws.

Helping cooperative societies to prepare

their minutes of meetings and budgets through supplying them with specific formats.

Playing a vital role in training cooperative

members on various aspects such as management, book-keeping and technical aspects.

Giving annual financial aids for selected cooperatives depending on the projects they apply for.

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Moreover, cooperative societies have remissions on certain tax aspects written in its laws. These remissions resemble the basic points that protect cooperatives work against competition of the private sector.

The cooperative movement in Lebanon suffers from some constraints such as :

1 2 3 4
aims

Passive members participation of

Lack of understanding members to their roles and duties

Domination of minority to run the societies


Establishment of cooperatives for political

5 6

Members of cooperatives lack ability to plan, organize and manage their work

High level of individualism in the mentality of cooperative members


The above constraints led to the failure of a high number of cooperatives to play their role in improving socio-economical status of their members. Another reason why these cooperatives went stagnant and became incapable of performing their tasks is that the majority of them did not stem from a clear economical or productive project but were rather seen as a means to obtain government or non-governmental aid. On the other hand, some cooperatives played their appropriate economic role in poverty alleviation. An example of a successful cooperative is a developmental agricultural cooperative in Jezzine rural area for those who were injured during the

war. The number of members of this cooperative reached 170 and were divided into 4 groups. These groups work with poultry, goat raising, bee-keeping and production of medical plants. The assets of the cooperative reached 200 million Lebanese Pounds. This cooperative was supported by non-governmental organizationWRF (World Rehabilitation Fund). The reason for the success of this cooperative was the professionalism of its members and the good managerial skills they possess in addition to the good follow up of the NGO.
An institution that helped cooperatives to perform their projects and reach their objectives is the National Union of Cooperative Credit (NUCC).

The national union help member cooperatives to improve their socioeconomic status through financial support.
NUCC was emanated from the cooperative

movement to address the cooperatives financial needs, mainly agricultural cooperative credit. It is composed of cooperative societies who voluntarily would join the NUCC. 63 per cent of the cooperative societies that are members of the union are agricultural. The main objective of the NUCC is to provide cooperatives which are members with various loans, advances and guarantees.

The NUCC provides loans and advances and guarantees to its member societies according to the following rules:

1 2

Loans are given to member societies to finance their collective projects The amount of loan shall not exceed 60 per cent of the cost of the project.

the 30th RECA Seminar 107 Report of

Kafalat guaranteed loans benefit from interest rate

1 2 3 4 5 6

No loan shall be given without one or more of an acceptable guarantee such as:

subsidies. These subsidies have been set up to mitigate the crowding out effect of the high interest rates in Lebanon that are induced by public sector borrowing. The interest rate subsidies are financed by the Lebanese treasury and administered by the Central Bank of Lebanon.

Bank guarantee Land mortgage current

Mortgage of assets, assets and production persons

The signature of at least two solvent

In 2006, Kafalat signed a partnership with the Ministry of Economy and Trade of Lebanon (MOET). For SMEs and start ups, this partnership specifically aims to:
Owned bySMEs the National Institute for loan guarantees thebased on by

Assignment of a part of permanent

income

In addition to cooperat ives role in rural develop ment, there are many PublicPrivate projects that play importa nt contribu tion to this aspect.
4

providing

Guarantee business of Depositsplans/ (75 cent) fifty banks per perfeasibility andstudies that show

Lebanese the (25viability of cent),the

Kafalat is aproposed Lebanese business financial company with public concern that assists activity. aguarantee application s for loans that are to be It processes

SMEs and innovativ e start ups that belong to one of the following economic sectors: industry, agricultur e, tourism, traditional crafts and high technolog y.

108

Initiatives taken in Lebanon on small andprovided Publicmedium by Private Partnership


sized Lebanese enterprises banks (SMEs) toSMEs operating access l helps to

4.1

Establish ment of Kafalat Corporati on

commercia throughout bankLebanon. funding. It

It targets

omote thethe integration maximum of and SMEsamount of startloan

nsure access to credit to finance sound investme nt projects, without having to provide any collateral requirem ent;

that can be up into the guarantee formal d under sector by the requesting scheme;
that they register as a condition2 application

and market opportunit ies; and

Pr

for a loanovide

In crease and strength en the equity of SMEs and start ups;

Pr

incentives to . commerci al banks For commer to be less risk cial banks, averse this basing partners their hip specific lending decisions ally aims to: on the project 1 In investmen t merits, crease cash flow

In crease the amount of commer cial bank lending available .


The total amount of loans that were given to SME during the year 2007 reached LBP 140,000,28 5,874

Report of

the 30th

RECA

Seminar

(approx. US$ 93 million). The average loan for every project was around LBP 179,028,499 (approx. US$ 120,000). The total amount of money distributed was for 782 projects: 314 agricultural, 349 industrial, 13 high technology, 79 tourism and 28 traditional crafts. This is a real example of the successful partnership between public and private sector in Lebanon.

Advising the Lebanese government on investment policy issues.


IDAL supported the agricultural sector through its export plus programme whereby tangible results were achieved and export figures rose significantly through opening of new markets and improve-ment of produce quality.
lop-

4.2

Esta blish ment of Inves tmen t Deve

ID AL to get he r wit h

the syndicate of Lebanese


ment Lebanon Authority ( of IDAL)

IDAL was establi shed in 1994 by from the Leban ese Counci l of Minist ers to spearh ead Leban on's invest ment promo tion efforts. On Augus t 16, a decree

2001, striving IDAL's stimulate role was Lebanon's economic

reinfor social the ment

agroindustries launched the Agro Market Access tooppo other rtunit releva ies in nt Leba inform and non;
ation;

ced bydevelopment as well as enhance competitiveness. enact its of theIts mission is to Invest promote ment Lebanon as a Develo viable pment investment Law 360, ing foster, destination

2
Disse minati ng market intellig ence about

andLeban facilitateon

regulat and invest the

retainthe investments inbusine

country.ss, ment IDAL's scope oflegal promo work entails theand invest tion offollowing domes functions: tic and foreign1 ment frame

Identif works ying andas well entitie promoting as s and investment

(Agro map) in 2004. This privat e/publ ic coope ration aimed at suppo rting Leban ese indust rialist s promo te export s of agro-

Fac ilita ting the regi stra tion and iss uan ce of per mit s and lice nse s req uire

Produc culture cts. 4.3 tion IDAL . The and disbur action Deliver s sed y of US concer Certifie $323,0 ning d 00 in Plantin the 2004 nurser g to Materia y fund l sector the are of initiative partici The a by pation financed priorit Italian of y with local cooperation andrespec comp Lebanese t to anies Agriculture other Research in needs nation Institute (LARI)of fruit al andfocuses on thechain, of intern attention since improving the ationa it of l fairsquality repres fruit and Lebanese ents stor est d estment to for projects resp age time ond any once and of inv establish to proc fruit the est ed; essi spec new me con ng ies nt 3 Ide sum facili reso pro ntifying er's ties rting ject tast potential e; ; of to
joint venture partners and

first step leadin g the renew al the variety platfor m the Leban ese fruit industr y. This renew al is necess ary for the followi ng of of to

Pro strategic to for vidi allies resp ng Lebanese ongbusinesses; ond to oin g and the sup curr por ent t for need inv s of

2)

fruit mor prod e ucts culti ; vars for each spec

3)
to nd the

exte ies;

4)

harv to

repl ace the old root stoc ks with new one s resi stan t to viru ses and dise ases ; and

Re t of the por 30th

RE CA

Se nar mi

v) to benefit of cultivars free from viral infections and other diseases and to reduce the costs of production and pests residue in fruits.

Establishment/rehabilitation of efficient technical advisory services to agricultural production;

The project could be considered as an example of integration of technical and legal aspects linked to the private sector, matching in this way all the necessary elements that any project must have to be sustainable.
5

Establishment of a fully operational

pest and plant disease forecast service;

Development of the prevailing market


information service;

Agricultural Development Project

Creation of the production norms and


trade information service;

The Lebanese Government, represented by the Ministry of Agriculture and the European Union has signed an agreement to execute the Agriculture Development Project for Fruit and Vegetable according to the following terms:

Linking producers to traders/buyers of


agricultural products (large-scale distribution, agro-processing industries);

1)

Project type : The ADP is a pilot project and will be extended based on the results of the first implementation phase.

Promotion of artisanal, regional and local products; Creati of an agricultural on export information service;

2)

Financing : 10 million Euro grant from the European Union and two million Euro contribution from the Ministry of Agriculture.

Establishment of a farm accounting

and management support service; and

3)

Contracting Firm : Landel Mills, a British

Creation of a support fund to farmer


groups.

consulting firm, is executing the project under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture.
The overall objectives of the project are to increase farmers revenues in the fruits and vegetable sector by optimal use of the production factors, improving products quality to better respond to market demand, and supporting new marketing channels for agricultural products. The project will contribute to the modernization of the fruit and vegetable sector by providing support to farmers organizations through the establishment of a number of services:

16

A Case Study on Organic Farming in Lebanon

The organic farming is constantly increasing since late 90s. The private sector has the leading role in promoting organic agriculture. Public sector has also played its role through interventions from the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and the Ministry of Economy and Trade (MOET). The collaboration of these two sectors (private and public) has a synergic effect.

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not have the ability to impliment successful

MOA role is an actor and sometimes as a catalyst in the process. MOA has conducted several activities in the field of organic farming at different levels going from directly working with farmers, to regulation and organization of the sector. MOA in its newly formulated strategy has among its vision supporting the organic farming sector in cooperation and partnership building with the various actors.
If we study the chronological development of the organic agriculture in Lebanon, several events or initiatives from 1992 to 2008 are repaired and had some good benefits or little impact on organic farming (this list is not exhaustive but indicate major activities). The chronological development proves that in Lebanon, the private sector is pioneer and the public sector come to develop and assist the private sector. And in each step, the private sector takes the initiative and the public is ready to coordinate and react to answer the needs. 7

programmes on its own. Moreover, although more responsibilities are laid on the part of the private sector and community-based institutions, these also have limited resources whereby they cannot perform the whole of the work alone. It is also important to emphasize that public-private partnership as a mechanism for improving public service provision and implementing development projects. It is important that such a partnership is used to mobilize in the based complementary private-public institutions and scarce and the resources community sectors involving

development of infrastructure and rural areas. There are many cases of partnerships in Lebanon among governmental organizations, communities and non-governmental organizations under which each entity contributes human, physical and financial resources to foster the generation and diffusion of innovations, new forms of technologies and knowledge to redress gaps in the development, production, processing and marketing of improved agricultural products. So a public-private partnership is an arrangement between public and private sector under which each party contributes to the planning, resources, and activities associated with accomplishing clear mutual objectives and at the same time sharing the risks and benefits. However, it was found that in many projects in Lebanon that the agents enter the partnership without clear objectives and without negotiating the partner contributions or without having a clear picture of the potential benefits which resulted in the failure of the programmes implemented by these agents.

Conclusion

Most of the programmes and projects which were applied on a single basis led to either failure or little benefit and lack sustainability whether it was implemented by the private sector, public or community-based institutions. The failure of the programmes implemented by the public sector is due to the fact that the public sector has several limitations. These limitations are mainly related to the managerial as well as the fiscal aspects since there is bureacuacy in the public administration as

well as limited budgets. The public sector does

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Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

Apendix 1 : Chronological Development of Agricultural Organic Farming in Lebanon


Year Activity Opera tor E Middl a e st Trans o fer f Technology (MECTAD) f Cent o er r Appropria te Initia tor Private sector (the private sector was the pioneer and the beginner in initiating activity in orga farmi (certifi nic ng ed organic farming) t o Priva sec (NG o te tor O k organic farming as a tool to preserve environment) Public-Private Sectors :in which, as response on private sector dema a extensi nd, n on w component orga a on nic s elaborated
Private sector (NGOs activities) initiated from this project .

1993

Production Initiatives

1997

Training, Brochures

Green line

2000 - 2002

Extension project on IPM, irrigation, Good Practices and Organic in big scheme of irrigation area

MOA on contract basis with Ameri Univers o can ity f Beirut (AUB)

2001

2002 - 2004

Organic production in small scale in south Lebanon Extension Project on IPM Irrigation and Organic in big a n sm Schem d all es of Irrigation Perimeter Extension project on IPM irrigation and organic in big a n sm schem d all es of irrigation perimeter Market ing Healthy Basket

World Vision funded by Mercy Corp MOA on contract basis with American University of Beirut (AUB)

MOA on contract basis with NGO (YMCA, World Vision, ICU)

PublicPrivate sector : This project has a major impact in extension of organic activities and many markets and demonstr ation plots were

Publicprivate sector : an extension of previous project to make demonstrati ve plots and initiate agricultural farming in all the country by working with NGO

2002

2003

2004 - 2005 2002-2008 2004

Extension on Organic Marketing: Souk al Tayeb

(Farmer Ma and Convention at

Beirut D.T)

Private sector: this initiation was issued and can be considered as a result from the development of the extension project

initi ate d by the MO A Pu blic sec

tor: norms on organi c farmin g has been set.

e Sector: World Vision

( NGO) Private Sector

Private sector has taken the initiative. But the municipality of Beirut and SOLIDERE has facilitated the activity in Privat allowing to make a

farmer marke t at the down town area of Beirut

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2005 - 2008 Project of Law

MOA and other Stakeholders

Public Sector: All the local stakeholders demanding from the MOA to initiate a law of organic
Public sector: The Ministry of Economy and Trade (MOET) has put a part of its development project to serve organic farming, to develop marketing and certification and organization of the organic sector in Lebanon

2005 2010

Marketing and Certification

MOET Governm ent

an d

S wi ss

Public sector :3 cooperatives working in agricultural farming were financed (40% of business plan)

20062008

Developm ent organic

proje cts

on

MOA, through the Agricultural Development Project (ADP), a co financed development project by the MOA and the EU MOA and IAM Bari

Public Sector: Implementation of the law and executing exten-sion activities with cooperatives and local stakeholders

20072008

Strengthenin g of

MO A

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Annexure 4.2.8

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES FOR PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP IN LIBERIA


Hon. Yah S. Kalian
bridges, schools and clinics)
As we strive to explore the Public-2 Private Community-based institutions PartnerSustainable an Approach and towards Rural Agriculture

cannot be handled or solved handedly single by

High level of food insecurity

government but

114

Development I guess that all of us are 3

Insufficien t inputs and very much aware of the plight of the access to credit rural poor whether it is in Liberia or facilities to elsewhere in any other country south of farmers
the Sahara. Liberia is recovering from a prolonged

Limited and the poorest countries in West Africa withsanitation facilities in rural food insecurity. communities
political instability and remains among health

period

of

civil

war

and

Post conflict rural communities in Liberia are characterized by: It has become more
evident that the

Poor

status (road

of

national networks,

plight of poor and rural communities

infrastructure

To ensure these, the government is charged with through collaborative venture of all the responsibility stakeholders (government/publicto:
sector, private sector and the communities themselves).

1) Create conducive Since governments all over the world areeconomic responsible for the well-being and security environment for (social and economic security) of theirexecution of citizens, they must initiate viablenational programmes to ensure that the citizens are development developed to their full potential regardless prog-rammes projects of which part of the country they live (ruraland within the rural or urban) sharing fairly the resources of areas of the the country. country;

Regulate, set quality standards and supervise/monito r any and all developmental initiatives;

2)

3) Negotiate donors support for national development agenda; 4) Hire private sector in the execution of its development priorities; and

Report of the 30th

RECA Seminar

v) Ensure accountability and transparency as a hallmark for good governance.


In the same vein, the private sector as a service delivery entity, should in the partnership with government and private volunteer organizations (PVOs) ensure the quality of services being delivered, mobilize communities to action where they are able to understand and fully participate in their own development projects. The communities as integral part of the partnership are most of the time not viable enough to undertake the needed development at their level, despite the abundant resources available to carry on the development : However, as recipients of the venture, they should be in the position to identify and help to manage projects at their own level.

Government in an effort to encourage massive production of the nations staple food-rice signed a US $30 million concession agreement with this local private organization. Under this agreement, ADA is under obligation to produce rice on a large scale
Cancellation of taxes on agro commodities( seeds, tools, tractors, power tillers, chemicals etc.)

Massive road rehabilitation across the country

Compulsory free primary education Back to the soil campaign


Some of the major challenges involved in this public-private sector intervention to support sustainable agriculture and rural development involve the lack of basic framework, issues of confidence of the venture, transparency, service delivery time, system and adequate funding to implement projects identified by all parties. In addition to these fundamental obstacles that one may describe as internal, there are lots of challenges that cut across international boundaries that are not controlled by one nation regardless of the economic status in the phase of globalization where nations of the world have become one village. These includes :

Recognizing the roles of public private community interaction in support of sustainable agriculture and rural development, the government of Her Excellency, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf since its inception had initiated several programmes aimed at improving economic growth and development of the country and its citizens. These programmes are:
County Development Fund : Government in 2007 provided funds to support development priorities reached at various county development meetings.

Poverty Reduction Strategy (2008-2012) : A strategy based on 4 pillars is intended to guide government in mapping out mechanism to achieve economic viability of the country after 14 years of development. Increase in budgetary allocation (2008/2009) to agriculture- the increment is geared towards helping to improve agriculture production across the country.

1 2 3

The increased need for fuel to continue

to turn the economic wheels of all nations.

The increased use of basic food/cash crops to produce bio-fuel Hike in the price of fuel/gasoline
Incorporate decrease in the d: production of cereals

Concession agreement with ADA commercial

The

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1 2

Massive rural-urban migration in search for economic security


High cost of food across nations of the

1)

the government in April 2008 signed a

US $30 million agreement with Liberia CompanyFoundation for African Development Aid Commercial for the production of rice;

world

2)
for

The government cancelled taxes on all

The increased demand natural rubber in the world market

agro-related commodities (seeds, tools, tractors, power tiller, fertilizers, chemicals etc.)

Despite the challenges, there are indeed great opportunities on the other side of the corn. In Liberia it has become evident that the government is unable to single handily address the issue of rural development without a well-defined framework to establish, nurture and sustain a venture that ensures a vibrant partnership with private sector and the community.

3)

Government

facilitated

the

establishment of Liberia Enterprise Development Finance Corporation (LEDFC) and giving loans especially agricultural development in areas
I wish to remind all of you that the public private partnership concept in view of globalization, the role of the private sector and rural institutions are of critical significance. In most of the countries, higher percentage of population dwells in rural areas and their livelihood activities are tied in with agriculture. Therefore we must at once galvanize our shared vision for the promotion and support to the Triple P Approach to rural development. For us we shall ensure that whatever resolutions and recommendations that come out of this seminar is reported back home.

The government is aware that within a welldefined partnership with private sector financial resources can be mobilized to rehabilitate damaged rural infrastructures destroyed as the result of war in the country.

In the endeavour, the government of Liberia has facilitated the ushering in of several private sector initiatives in addressing

agriculture and rural development :

1 1 6
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Annexure 4.2.9

PUBLIC-PRIVATE COMMUNITYBASED INSTITUTIONS PARTNERSHIP IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF RUBBER SMALLHOLDERS IN MALAYSIA


Mohd. Yusof Sulaiman and Hj. Khalid Awang Said
declined to about 4.1
1

Introduction

per cent.

Malaysia was once the number onestill remains producer of natural rubber in the important

Rubber cultivation an

namely the rubber products and rubber wood based industries.


The to of natural the export rubber national earnings

world but its position has since component in the declined as the country movesnational economy towards industrialisation. In 1960, in spite of the value of rubber export structural changes accounted for 63 per cent of total and

industry

contributes

development in terms and foreign exchange to a value of RM 25.6 billion in 2006 from export of natural rubber, rubber based products and rubber wood products. based

production export of the country. However, itshas assumed a contribution has declined asnew and important Malaysias economic focus shifted role as a from the primary industries to the consequences of broad-based export-orientedthe manufacturing activities and theindustrialisation structural transformation hasprocess, supplying impacted greatly upon agricultural raw materials to sector in general and the rubbertwo resourceindustry in particular. By 2006, itsbased industries,
contribution to total export had

smallholders.
Natural rubber is being traded as a2

The the rubber sector

The commodity with its price determinedSmallholders in the market place by the forces of Sector
supply and demand. The transient imbalances between supply demandThe have resulted in wide pricerubber

backbone Malaysian smallholder which

of

industry today is the contributes

Malaysian industry

two fluctuations. Past trends show thatcomprises sectors, the real price of rubber was low until distinct
the year 2003 when the price show namely the estate an upward trend. The strong pricesector surge in demand by the newEstate

1.25 million mt or 95.1 per cent of the total produced hectarage, smallholder rubber in the the sector

and refer

the to

performance was mainly due to thesmallholder sector. emerging economies of China, Indiaplantation of areas and Eastern Europe. It is beingin excess of 40.5 forcasted that the price of rubberhectares. Owners of will remain high due the tight supply lands of less than of rubber until the year 2020.

country. In terms of

cover an area of 1.24 million hectares or 95.3 per cent of the total rubber area in the country.

40.5

hectares

are as

classified

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Although the smallholder sector is still the mainstay of the countrys natural rubber industry in terms of land area, production and rural employment, of the the unfavourable structural characteristics

smallholder sector is the key to the continued viability of the industry, the government set up a number of agencies with clearly defined roles to ensure its orderly growth.
Rubber Industry Smallholders Development

smallholder sector pose further constraints towards growth of the industry. The negative factors take the forms of non-contiguity of generally uneconomic holdings, increasingly aging and aged labour force, lower productivity as compared to estate sector, high cost of production, labour shortage, slow rate of technology adoption, lack of investment as well as leadearship, organisational and entrepreneurial weakneses. Above all these, severe price fluctuation of rubber prices from which they are not sheltered has a direct impact on their income and the incidence of poverty in the rubber smallholder sector.

Authority (RISDA) was established in 1973 with the mandate to accelerate the modernisation of rubber smallholdings by providing replanting grants, extension and technical advisory services on the implementation of innovations emanating from research in planting techniques and training in farm management, processing and marketing. The functions of RISDA, inter alia, are :

1 2 3

To administer the Industry (Replanting) Fund;

Rubber

The profile of the smallholders sector in Peninsular Malaysia as indicated by the census carried out in the year 2002 are as follows:

To manage and operate approved projects and schemes; To implement all innovations emanating from research that are appropriate to the smallholder sector;

1 2 3

56.4 per cent of the smallholders are owner-operator, The average age of a smallholder is 56.8 years, and 95 per cent of smallholders owned less than 4 hectares with an average size holding of 2.3 hectares.
3 Smallholders Development Programmes

To cooperate and maintain liaison with all

government agencies concerned with research, extension services, the provision of agricultural credits, processing and marketing of rubber; and

To ensure that the smallholder sector is modernised in every sense in order to improve its economic well-being.
Services to the rubber smallholders are provided through various development programmes/ projects. Replanting is the main activity, although other related activities and supporting services are provided. Block or group replanting is being encouraged, coupled with the latest technologies through the transfer of technology.

Unlike the estate sector, which enjoys the advantage of size, technical expertise and the ability to take up new ideas quickly, smallholders operate independently. They generally lack capital, knowledge and basic amenities and have little choice of where their rubber can be sold and at what price. Recognising that the development of the

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Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

RISDA has adopted a total development approach in promoting smallholder development. Over the years, a comprehensive development programmes has been implemented for the smallholders comprising the following:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
4

Replanting programme Integrated farm programme


Transfer of technology programme

Extension programme Marketing programme


Infrastructure development programme

Human and development programme


Replanting Programmes

institutional

Replanting is the main activity in the development of the smallholders economy, as well as being the thrust of other development activities. Replanting was first introduced in 1952 to enable smallholders with old and uneconomic rubber trees to replant with improved rubber clones or to replant with other approved crops under the replanting scheme. Replanting is financed through cess collected on natural rubber exported and also funds provided by the government to fulfil the annual replanting target. The replanting grants to the smallholders are given in the form of cash and inputs which are being disbursed in stages based on the progress of replanting work. The grant disbursement stretches from 4 to 6 installment over a period of 2 1/2 to 41/2 years depending on the type of crops planted. The amount of replanting grant is higher

for rubber than other crops so as to provide incentive for smallholders to continue to replant their holding with rubber.
In promoting the replanting programme, RISDA is sensitive to the needs of smallholders which vary according to the various situations under which they exists. Some smallholders can operate their own farms while others are incapable of doing so due to their status as absentee owners or due to age and lack of labour force. Besides these situation, the location of the smallholdings also determine the heterogeneity of the sector. There are smallholdings which are located in contiguity with each other thereby allowing physical integration of the farms into larger units for the purpose of development. Individual replanting has been the main form of replanting activities carried out by the smallholders until in the 1970s when group development approach first introduced. The group development approach started with the implementation of group replanting method. It was later extended through the implementation of mini estate system and more recently commercial replanting system. Collective replanting enable land to be consolidated, developed and managed more effectively.

Briefly, the methods of replanting implemented for the smallholders are as follows:

The individual replanting method where the smallholders operate his own smallholding and initiates his own replanting programme using funds provided by RISDA
The group replanting method whereby a few smallholders form a loose group and organise their own replanting through co-operative effort

RECA Seminar 119 Report of the 30th

or through contract workers using aid provided by RISDA.


The mini-estate replanting system where group of smallholders owning lands located on a contiguous basis, caveate their lands to RISDA and provide legal authority to RISDA to develop the intergrated smallholdings using estate management practices utilisingfunds set aside for replanting.

5.4

Absentee Land Owner

Smallholders not depending on rubber as their main income will make their land idle and unmanaged. This will reduce productivity and income to the country. This idle land will create areas for pest production.
6

Land Consolidation

The commercial replanting method whereby smallhoders land are grouped into a commercially viable unit size to be managed by RISDAs subsidiary after both parties agreed on the terms and conditions pertaining to the management of the holding
5

RISDA had adopted the concept of estatisation in land consolidation policy to resolves the issue and challenges by the smallholders. The concept of estatisation was introduced in early 1996. Progressively, it is an expansion at the group development approaches of the 1970s. It combi-nes the various replanting approaches (group, mini estate and individual) within a certain defined geographical region into a larger entity. The estatisation approach includes management of smallholdings at the immature and mature stage involving tapping, harvesting, marketing and

Issues and Challenges Uneconomic Size Holdings

5.1

The average holding size is about 2.5 hectares, scattered and some are in remote areas making it difficult to develop effectively and efficiently. The uneconomic-size holdings are a constraint for the smallholders to develop their land. 5.2

processing. To undertake this responsibility RISDA has formed a subsidiary, RISDA Smallholders Plantation Sdn. Bhd (RPSB). The primary role of RPSB is towards land consolidation and development, reduce development and prod-uction

Labour Shortage

costs, increase productivity and income, organised marketing/processing and to venture As into at downstream manufacturing activities.

Many of the rubber smallholdings are confronted with the problem of labour shortages due to the old age of the smallholders and the reluctance of their children to continue managing the holdings. This problem is compounded by the fact that managing a rubber holding is labour-intensive.

December 2007, RSPSB has managed a total of 74,190 hectares of smallholders land involving 40,126 smallholders.

5.3

Low Level of Technology Adoption

Adoption of new technologies especially in rubber exploitation needs high initial cost. This, in turn, affects productivity, cost of production and returns to smallholders.

Smallholding will be consolidated and manage in group according to their stage of development under estatisation activitiess. In doing so, the consolidated land will be manage professionally with good agronomic practices hence leading to the increase in productivity. Estatisation of smallholding provides better utilisation of work

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force, improve marketing services and provide financial credit.


In managing the smallholders land, the smallholders are required to sign an agreement with the company so as to agree with the terms and conditions and the smallholders have to choose the method of profit distribution mainly by management fees or profit sharing
Through estatisation, RPSB will help to accelerate the process of group replanting in line with the objectives increase of National Agricultural and Policy to of productivity competiveness

oil palms fruits and rubber wood) supply of agricultural inputs (rubber and oil, palm seedlings, fertilizers and chemical), contract work (develop-ment and maintenance of group replanting projects, tapping of rubber holdings) and services (transport, tourism and insurance).
8

Conclusion

Being the main producer of rubber in the country, it is imperative for smallholder to be transformed into a more dynamic sector and continue to contribute to the national development. To meet future challenges there is need to accelerate the use of high technology to optimise 7 output through organised Looking management the of

agriculture and smallholding sector.

Smallholders Cooperatives

One of the strategies in developing the rubber smallholder sector is through cooperative movement where available resources of human, capital and management skills of smallholders are pooled and developed to carry out economic and social activities for the common good.
There are altogether 60 smallholders cooperative in the country with a total membership of 184,694. The total shares accumulated amounted to RM 27,385,470 as on 31 December 2007.

smallholdings. be managed

forward, by

future

generates a scenario where all smallholdings will economically progressive smallholders or smallholder cooperatives through land consolidation. This vision includes smallholders operating bigger and more economically viable farms. It means the future hold for progressive smallholders who are well equip with entrepreneurial skills and who can generate a continuous and a stable streams of income from rubber and other economic activities. Towards this end enhancement of human development should be further emphasised as a catalyst of growth in the smallholder sector.

The main business activities of the cooperatives

are marketing of smallhoders produce (rubber,


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Annexure 4.2.10

PUBLIC-PRIVATE COMMUNITY-BASED INSTITUTIONS PARTNERSHIP: AN APPROACH TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN MALAWI
Joseph Nelson Magwira
livelihood and 52.4 per

Background

cent of the people live below the poverty line

Malawi is a landlocked country located inof less than one dollar the south eastern part of Africa; sharing per day (HDR, 2006). boundaries with Tanzania to the north,

About 69.5 per cent and 46.5 per cent of the southern and eastern borders. The the rural and urban total area is 118,000 square kilometers of population which 80 per cent is land and the respectively are remainder is covered by water. Lake economically Malawi covers most of the area with water active. Rural-urban at 28,750 square kilometers. migration has also been on the Malawi has a population of about increase in Malawi.
Zambia to the west and Mozambique on 12,341,171 (2005) at an average population density rate of 105 people per kilometer (NSO 1998). About 86 per cent

40 per cent of GDP. The agriculture sector provides 80 per cent of the total productive employment and also 85 per cent of export earnings.

The countrys economy is of the population lives in the rural areas predominantly and most of the people depend on agricultural based, subsistence agriculture for their accounting for about

Malawi to create their

Although agriculture still remainsown wealth through the biggest contributor to thesocio-economic economy, it has remainedtransformation. subsistence with few crops likeAmong the issue tobacco, tea and cotton being foridentified are those of export. agriculture and rural
Government of Malawi has prepared the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS). It has identified areas that need particular attention to ensure that the country grows socially and economically. The MGDS is an overarching development policy for 2006-2011 with its major objectives as to achieve strong and sustainable economic growth of at least six per cent and to enable people of development. Just like with other government development initiatives have so extensively the far two relied on

12

Rationale for Adoption of PublicPrivate Partnershi ps (PPPs)

Contemporary development schools of thought, however, hinge the success of development on the involvement numerous of stake-

government agencies to run and implement in rural and urban areas.

holders concerned to ensure sustainability.

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Implementation of development initiatives in both The advantage of partnerships lies in the diversity of ideas and capacities which when synergized will create a pool of knowledge and experiences that are vital for sustainable development in both agriculture and rural development. For example, while the public sector has the capacity for the provision of resources and services for economic development, the communities have the potential to produce but face difficulties in accessing the resources of public and private sector. agriculture and rural development in Malawi tend to leave out local capacities that are available at grass root in the form of Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and local NGOs that have enormous knowledge and experience. Community based institutions also have the local understanding of the areas and communities they work thus, harboring a lot of community knowledge. Public and private community be a based viable institutions approach to partnership would

sustainable agricultural and rural development.

In the same vein the private sector may have the resources and skills and the expertise to commer-cialise the potential in the district but lacks reliable access to support the provisions that the public sector as well as the organised communities can provide. In some cases, local buyers and users of raw materials rely on imported goods due to disorganised and irregular supply of low quality products from local suppliers who would otherwise improve their product if they had viable partnership with the public sector.
Partnership, therefore, ensure that initiatives are directed effective towards use of a common goal without of duplicating efforts thereby ensuring efficient and resources.Involvement stakeholders in agriculture and rural development would come about through deliberate efforts towards workable partnership meant to compliment each other and achieve what can be termed as there is strength in unity. The partnership would involve different government development

Opportunities in Malawi

In Malawi, a number of opportunities already exist that would facilitate a stronger and more profitable existance of public and private partnership which would then lead to sustainable agriculture and rural development. 3.1

Decentralisation

Government of Malawi, with the assistance of the German Development Cooperation (GTZ) embarked on a decentralisation programme essentially to remove the concentration of decision making powers from central government to the local communities. With the theme power to the people decentralisation openly submits that existing local structures in traditional authorities and villages have the power to decide what is essential and immediate and what is of intermediate and long term importance to them in terms of development.
Local structures like Area Development Co-mmittee (ADC) and Village Development Co-mmittees (VDC) take up the responsibility of prioritising the development needs and government as the public entity, partners them in

agencies

implementing

initiatives as a public stakeholder on one hand and community based organisations and local nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) as private

community based institutions on the other.

123Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

the provision of resources that may not be raised locally. With a partnership arrangement, the local structures take full responsibility of the project and will contribute to its realisation. This brings about ownership of the project to the people and they seriously guard against any threats to the structures thereby contributing to sustainability.

community organisations are empowered with capacity on basics of security set up systems in Malawi and human rights.
It is common knowledge that security is a pivotal requirement for sustainable development. Without peace and tranquility there would be no development and also that the already provided for services e.g. boreholes, telecommunication and electricity facilities can be lost through vandalism activities thereby retanding development. Agricultural production is also affected by thefts.

With decentralisation, private community entities will benefit from their partnership with the public sector through capacity building, acquisition of infrastructure for socio-economic development and an improved livelihood.

The private sector on the other hand will benefit from local capacity through local resource mobilisation, local project management and in some cases labour which would have, otherwise cost more.
3.2

In this set-up, the community benefit form law enforcing agencies like the police on issue such as ctraining, reinforcement in times of need which ultimately contributes to a crime free society. On the other hand, the police gain cheap and affordable provision of law enforcement by the communities themselves.

Community Policing

3.3

Involvement of Locals in Preservation of Natural Resources

Community policing is another opportunity in Malawi where well coordinated and maintained partnership between public and private community organisations are working together in realisation of peace and tranquility in communities.

Degradation of environment and natural resources is one of the single most issues of concern in developing countries today. Unsustainable use of natural resources by human beings has brought untold devastation to the environment and has caused unpredictable weather pattern and in some cases floods which have ended in loss of life, property and crop production.

In the arrangement, peace keeping public entity in the form of the Malawi Police Services uses the services of local structures to enhance the security for the population of Malawi. The initiative comes with the realisation that less crimes happen among communities who are better placed to look out for themselves and their property in their localities. Through this initiative the police partners with local security structures formed from among members of the commu-nities where crime takes place to fight it from within. Through this initiative, the private

In Malawi such devastation is in the form of wanton cutting down of trees for settlement and cultivation. Sometimes trees are felled for business too (timber). In other areas people cut down trees to burn charcoal as a form of income generating activities.
Another bulk of damage also happens by the mere use of the forests and forest products as a

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source of energy. The rate at which the environ-ment is degrading is so alarming that government took the initiative to involve the community in sustainable use natural resources and their conservation.
At first, government single handedly enforced the protection of the resources and engaged in a cat and mouse chase with those that benefitted from it. The people did not see why they should not use trees because they did not know the effects of their behavior to the environment and infrastructure.
Of late, Government of Malawi has realised that the only way to sustainably look after the environment is through partnering as a with local community effort. Now organisation to preserve and take up the issue of conservation concerted government has partnered local organisation like environmental clubs in primary and secondary school. Government is also working closely with local committee formed at area and village level to look at the preservation of the environment.

By nature, most private organisations are formed with a profit making slant. They tend to participate in activities that are meant to bring income and consequently make the organisation grow and be visible to the public it serves. These private organisations may not be very enthusiastic to take up development initiatives brought by the public sector that do not have incentives attached to them nor do not promise a monetary or material reward in the end. This is an obvious frustration to a well meaning public sector initiatives as it will or establish inroads into the community or communities it is meant to work with and influence.
Education and literacy levels in Malawi are still very low especially among people in rural areas which can lead to lesser understanding of issues and thereby not appreciating the importance of forming private community organisations to address issues affecting them. This is also a problem to the development of capacity among the people who may have problems grasping concepts and issues to be addressed by the public organisations in their areas. The other threat is the mere fact there is no deep rooted culture for private community organisations in the country tackling different issues. This has been partly because Malawi just gained its multi party democracy in 1993/94. During the one party rule, local or community organisations were frowned upon or outright feared because they were politically incorrect and people feared to be found on the wrong side of the law. 5

Instead of policing the people on their use of the natural resources, public institutions like the Environment Affairs Department in the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has now capacitated such organisation to take up the matter among the people in the villages. Though not completely won but through the partnership, the battle of saving and preserving the remaining natural resources is on track.
4

Threats

Conclusion

While the potential for a viable and more meaningful partnership, with benefit on both sides, is a real possibility for Malawi, there are

The concept of public-private partnership is a good and viable idea especially for developing countries because of its vast potential in ensuring

a number of issues that threatens to derail it.

125Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

that even rural communities can participate in the development. It is a win-win situation both for the public and the private sector as each benefits from the other.
Probably most important is the fact that development initiatives realised through partnership, whether in agriculture or rural

by the beneficiaries and, therefore, have a fair chance of being sustainable because of the sense of ownership.
However, with all the potentials, the profit making spirit among private entities can deal a big blow to its existence and viability. With low level of literacy, partnership may not be of much efficiency to both the public and private organisations.

development, have a potential of being owned

1 2 6
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

Annexure 4.2.11

AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN OMAN


Salim Mohammed Saif Al-Hamimi
of total area) part of which is referred to as the Rub Al khali or
1

neighbouring countries and East African countries. Till 1970, the agriculture development in Oman depended knowledge transported from one generation to another. on the

Introduction
of by some size, 309,500 in the square Arabian

'empty (Agriculture

quarter' Census,

The Sultanate of Oman occupies an 2004/2005). area kilometers, and is the second largest country, peninsula. The land encompasses plain, the Nejd and mountain. The coastal plain facing the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea occupies some 9,500 square kilometers (3 per cent of total area) and is the most important area for agriculture. Mountains occupy about 47,000 square kilometers (15 per cent of total area) and comprise two ranges, the Hajar range in the north which extends from Musandam to Ras Al Had and the Qara range in the south-west of the Sultanate. The sand and desert areas predominate by occupying 253,000 square kilometers (82 per cent Due to the location of Oman and the harsh weather, the ancient Omani people have built their civilisation near the limited water resources, falags or deep wells in cultivation, in trading. export such rearing Oman and as

animals, fishing and allows products

import of agriculture dates, lemon, wheat, animal products and dry fish, to the

states of the country. These institutes imparts Presently, time and after the rebirth knowledge to of the Sultanate of Oman in 1970, farmers and rural the agriculture sector took a new peoples in using direction in development such as modern increase in population and rising technologies and individual income and change in adopting consumer's behaviour. So, the investments Government of Sultanate of Oman enterprises and put agriculture and rural solving agriculture development as the main focus in problems. the policy planning. The Ministry of Agriculture began extension and planning for developing the research institutes agriculture sector primarily by are administered by establishing agricultural extension well trained Omani and research institutes in different
staff armed by The agricultural

knowledge abilities efficiently. to

and manage process

experience, having the agricultural

These efforts result in improving crops and livestock production, improving the agriculture structure, and solving soil exhaustions and agricultural small holding problems as well as raising living standard of rural population.

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Livestock Resources falaj is a structure of The livestock include under and above resources 2.1 Crop Resources ground canals that the cattle, sheep, carry water from the goats and camels A wide range of crops are cultivated in source to places herds which are Oman. Permanent tree crops,where people distributed in variant particularly dates, lime and mangopractice agriculture. numbers throughout Sultanates occupy the largest part of cultivatedThe water in each the regions. According land, followed by fodder crops such as falaj distributed to the 2nd Rhodes grass and Alfalfa. Vegetablesbetween village comprehensive and other seasonal crops are alsoinhabitants via a agricultural census grown in many parts of the country.tribal and well in 2005 the total Five and half million feddan (1 feddanrecognised system number of cattle was = 0.42 ha), land is appropriate forto be used for 301,558 heads out of farming in the Sultanate of Oman. The drinking as well as which 57.7 per cent main crops grown in North of Oman irrigation. were in Dhofar are dates, in addition to growing fruits Governorate, 22 per 128 (lemon, banana and mango), cent in Batinah vegetables (tomato, onion etc.), field region and 18.7 per crops (wheat and barley etc). In the cent in the regions South, on the coastal plain around of Dhahirah, Salalah, coconut palms are widely Dhakhliya and grown which are suitable for green Sharqiya and the local climate. Green fodder is remaining in other regions. extensively grown, but there are plans
2 to transfer fodder cultivation to the inland side of the coastal range in the South, in view of increasing pressure on water resources on the coastal plain in the North of Oman.
The total number of camels in the Sultanate is about 117,299 heads out of which 45.6 per cent were in Dhofar Governorate and around 19.5 per cent in Wusta region 13.3 per cent in Dhahirah region 10.9 per per cent in cent in Sharqiya region and 5.7 interior whereas 4.8 per cent in Batinah region.

Agriculture in Oman

2.3

2.2

Water Resources

Summer monsoon brings some 100 mm of rainfall to the coastal plain and 350 mm to the higher mountain areas. mainly The upon Sultanate ground depends water for

survival which is replenished from rainfall on the mountains. Ground water supplies are accessed by both open and artsian wells and falaj. The

The total number of sheep in the

Sultanate was about 351,066 heads Dhahirah and 13 per out of which 31.5 per cent were incent in interior Batinah, 27.1 per cent inregions. Dhahirah,17.1 per cent in Sharquiya, 12.4 per cent in interior regions and3 Rural 4 per cent in Muscat Governorate. Development in

Oman
The total number of goats was about 1,557,148 heads out of which 26.6The Government of per cent was in Batinah, 2.7 per centOman connect the areas with in Sharquiya, 11 per cent in Dhofarrural urban by a network Governorate, 15.6 per cent in of modern roads and

communication services. In addition, hospitals and health centers, schools, markets and electricity service and most of the civil institutions have been evolved to be close to the rural residence assemblage.

Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

The agriculture census results (2004/2005) indicate that total number of family members of the land holding ownership reached about 1.2 million persons, i.e., equivalent to around 67 per cent of total Omani population. So, the revolution of the rural areas will reflect development of the country in general and basically the agriculture development. The Ministrys concern with the rural woman was reflected in the establishment of the rural woman section in 1996 according to the Ministerial Decision No. 33/96. The section was assigned the responsibility of activating the rural woman role in the agricultural area and overcoming the obstacles confronting her and was promoted to a department by the end of 1999 according to the Ministerial Decision No. 87/99. Its areas of competence were drawn within the Ministrys prerogatives in its organisational chart issued by the Royal Decree No.83/99 and included two sections, namely, rural woman awareness section and the studies and programmes section. The department technically supervises seven sections for the rural woman development in various

activities. These programmes include local poultry breeding, chicks production, honey bee keeping and dissemination of improved livestock strains in addition to the training of rural woman in animal rearing and agricultural and livestock processing and the effective regional and international participation of the Ministry in the organisations concerned with the rural and agricultural development. The Ministry represented in the rural woman department carried out a field study titled Horizons of rural Woman role in the Agricultural Development in the Sultanate of Oman with the objective to be acquainted with the living conditions of the woman in the rural community and her role in the farm and obstacles which confront her and the possibility of improving such role in addition to learning her relationship with the development institutions and her response to the extension programmes. The above mentioned study implemented by the Ministry in 1999/2000 throughout the Sultanate indicates that rural woman in several regions of the Sultanate used to participate in the daily work

regions of the Sultanate. The work in the department is carried out by female engineers and guides and rural woman development supervisors in order to avoid male staff contacts with the rural woman according to the prevailing customs and traditions in the Arabian societies in general and Omani rural areas in particular. In order to realise rural woman development as the actual objective, the Ministry of Agriculture implemented several programmes and activities with the aim to encourage the rural woman to become productive and contribute considerably to the Omani family income. The funding of these programmes was arranged by the Ministry, the private sector and the international organisations concerned with such
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

in the field of agriculture and livestock with more contribution than the man in the respective areas. The results of the study show that 65.6 per cent of the total woman covered by the study in the agriculture and livestock activities whereas 12 per cent of the rural women work in agriculture and livestock and handicraft areas. The majority of the rural women are among the category which own limited capabilities in terms of the area of the farm and the equipment and resources and most of them depend on the production of the farm as main and the only source of income. Public-Private and Community based Institutions Partnership

Public-private communitybased institutions partnership for sustainable agriculture and rural 129

development from Oman's prospective ''PublicPrivate Partnership also called PPP or P3 is a system in which a government service or private business venture is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector organisation or companies so that people and organisations have a more realistic chance of controlling their own development. The major objectives of sustainable agriculture and rural development is to increase food production in a sustainable way and enhance food security. This will involve education initiatives, utilisation of economic incentives and development of appropriate and new technologies, thus ensuring stable supplies of nutritionally adequate food. In Oman, the public-private and community based institutions partnership has flown from feeling of responsibility against sustainable agriculture and rural development. The public sector (government institutes), institutes), private sector (financial/industrial institutions community-based

1 2 3 4.2

Putting agriculture policies.


Encouraging investments in agriculture.

Putting the laws and the legislations.

Role of Private Institutes in Agriculture and Rural Development

Take part to meet the requirements of agriculture production.

1 2 3

Contribute in financing of the training and research programmes.


Contribute in agriculture marketing.

Contribute to intensify role of the community based institutions in order to perform its role in serving the rural society.

Giving the financial incentives and loans facilities to the agricultural investors .

4.3 1 2 3

Role of Communitybased Institutes in Agril. and Rural Development

(cooperatives/associations/farmers/ rural people), all play a certain role to enhance sustainable agriculture and rural development.

Contribute in creating awareness of agriculture action in the rural society.


Help in solving the problems between

4.1

Role of Public Institutes in Agriculture and Rural Development


Coordinate between rural farmers, private

farmers.
Contribute in implementing of agriculture

training programmes in the rural areas.

institutes and the community-based institutes.

2 3 4

Contribute in offering technical assistance.

Present the conclusions and recommen-dations to serve the agriculture and rural development. 5 5. 1 Challenges and Opportunities

Doing researches and offering the recommendations. Connecting with world organisations and research centers. 130

Challenges Absence of specialised agriculture training institutes in the rural areas.

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Limi ts cooperative s.

Conducting extensive researches in sanitary drainage water to be used in irrigation. g financial 1 Lack of training for rural women. 1 Conducting institutes to give more intensive and agriculture 2 Lack of awareness of agricultural investment opportunities. extension pro- easy loans. grammes to 3 Unclear of agriculture marketing policy. increase knowledge 4 Promoting 4 Dreadfulness of financial institutes inand skill of farmers awareness of rural granting loans to the rural farmers. in adoption and society on available using of modern investments 5 Scarcity of water resources. technologies. opportunities. 6 Crop disease and pests.

existen ce

o f

agricultu re

7 8 9
5.2

Shifting land holding to urban areas.

Rural society affected by the traditional and legatos habits.


Entery of the foreign labor in agricultural

Encouraging the private sector to invest

process.
Opportunities
Increasing investment in agriculture.

in agriculture projects through easier bank and low interest rate. Encouragi ng cooperative association. evolvi ng

1 2 3 4 5

Improve investment environment.

Intensive training.

Participatin g in the rural Eradication of the illiteracy. society in the Creates work chances in the rural areas. preparing of Agriculture programs ,projects and strategies.

Evolving rural leaders. Encouragin

Intensive cooperation agriculture organisations. 6

wi th

wor ld 6. 2 At Afro-Asian Level

Recommendations to Promote Partnership

6. 1

At Local Level

Conducting extensive researches in soil and water in order to enhance water resources and improve land productivity.
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

Increase cooperation between PublicPrivate institutions in Oman Internatio with nal Agriculture Organisations and research centers, in implementing training programmes, exhibitions and sharing of visitations and participating in studying needs of the rural areas. 131

Increase participation of Omani trainees in the Afro-Asian training programs.

3 (Agenda 21 1992) www.iisd.org/ic/info/ ss9507.htm


4 Ministry of National Economy, The Second

References Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural Census 1 (2004-05)

Population, Housing and Establishments Census 2003.

www.phishare.org/files/43B

Ministry of 5 Statistical Year Book 2007

132
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Annexure 4.2.12

PUBLICPRIVATE COMMUNITY-BASED INSTITUTIONS PARTNERSHIP : AN APPROACH TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN SUDAN : A CASE STUDY
Inam Babiker Mohamed Ahmed
Sudan has different water resources - the River Nile and its 1 Introduction tributaries. The Sudan's geographic Sudan is the largest country in Africa having diversity relating to an area of 2.5 square kilometers, making it variations in rainfall the 9th largest country in the world. Its from less than 100 ml ethnic and cultural diversity where Afro-Arab to 1500 ml in the has mixed, represents the link between south.
Africa north and south of the Sahara. The population of the country is around 38.5 Recurrent

livestock. Furthermore, productivity of the production unit has decreased and migration from rural areas to the town increased.

droughts

million with an annual growth rate of 2.6 reaching a climax in percent in 2006. The total economically the mid-eighties active labour force is 16.8 million, labourresulting in negative force employed in agriculture sector is 9.9 effect including million with an employment rate of 59 perdeterioration of the cent during the year 2006. Thenatural resources; unemployment rate is quite high which soil, exacerbates poverty in the country.

water, natural pasture and

The government has adopted free-trade policies meant to remove the economic Sudan had ills, raising the efficiency of the economic experienced a performance and advancing the protracted period of contribution of the private sector in the insecurity dictated by economic activities and provide for the the war in the south additional resources for development and which continued for improved services. These policies were, half a century however, accompanied by some policies resulting in lack of adverse to the agricultural sector effective production including exchange rate, credit in addition activities in that part to the other effects of the market economy of the country and and the removal of subsidies. These recently war in the adverse policies resulted in the failure of western region. A the produce to compete with the

international subsidised commodities.

substantial sum of the budget expenditure has been directed to finance the war at the expense of agricultural development and other service sectors like health and education, etc.
The production and export of oil may create some negative effects on the agricultural sector. These

Report of the 133

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risks include the transfer of high level management and technical staff from the agricultural sector to the oil sector, rising employment costs, inflation and higher exchange rate of the local currency which will reduce the competitive capacity of the agricultural exports. 2

1 2

Availability of supporting institutions and human resources needed; and

Areas with access to research stations and extension services. Based on these criteria, three areas were selected, namely: Khor Abu Habil, Lower Atbara and West Om Dorman.

Agricultural Revival Programme

To achieve sustainable agricultural and rural development, Government of Sudan formulated plan of more progress that named Agricultural Revival Programme (2008-2011) which have well sound strategic objectives, policies and developmental programmes.

3.1 1

Objectives to be Achieved in Each of These Sites


To improve and boost livestock and crop

production through enhancing and sustaining local technologies and practices that proved successful.

13

2
A Case Study : Partnership between FAO, Federal Ministry of Agri-culture, State Ministries of Agri-culture and Private Sector in some Selected Areas for Rural Development

To eliminate or reduce the large year-to-

year variation in livestock and crop production.

3 4 5 6 7

To improve and/or introduce income-

generating activities for the low-income groups. Identify and analyse the causes of food

The following criteria were adopted for piloting purposes on the special programme for food security :

insecurity and the production constraints.

1 2 3

Good potential for intensification and diversi-fication of the production system.

Identify and quantify the issues concerning poverty levels in each site. Promoting social equity and conservation of natural resources base.
Assessment of accessibility and other

Areas representing wide ecological sones and environmental settings;

Areas with irrigation facilities and infrastructures but lacking efficient irrigation water management;

poverty issues in the process of interventions, implementation and technology transfer.

8 9

4 5 6

Availability of suitable technologies;

Intervention whenever possible would target the poor and be gender sensitive.
To ensure the sustainability participation of of any local

Accessibility; Community willingness; 134

successful

intervention,

farmers, community, and institutions is essential.

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3. 2 3. 2. 1

Implementation of Activities

changing beneficiaries minds; and especially in West Om Durman and Lower Atbara sites. While in North Kordofan, a clear progress in beneficiaries attitude is observed. 3.2 .4 Letters of Agreements

Training

Three types of training are : Farmers Seasonal Planning (FSP)

Most of the projects infrastructures and Farmers Field School training activities were implemented on contract (FFS) basis, which often required development of letters of agreements (LOA) and contracts Staff training (TST) service conditions, etc; 3.2.2 Achievement 1 All the LOA implementation is were signed monitored by the between FAO and Federal unit and Table 1 explains the number of training sessions State units. the implementing and per cent of achievement in the three sites. agencies; and 3.2.3 Findings

The Contr ol Com pone nt Activ ities Progress towards Achievemen ts and Outputs:

schools have a 1 Limited finance for larger training prohibited theimpact in completion of the plantechnology transfer; activities;

3.2.5 Project Component s

The farmer field Cooperative training and cooperatives established in North Kordofan and West Om Durman sites; Women trained in Lower Atbara in food

Wate r 2

3.2 .6

Water Control Component Irrigation techniques have been adopted (low pressures sprinkling irrigation, lining canals,

manufacturing; West Om Durman is the least in farmers training due to many reasons. These are: The beneficiaries are busy with a) gaining income from outside to satisfy their basic needs; Lack of transportation between b) sites; More benefit was gained from training in

gated pipes) in the existing schemes; 40 pumping units were provided to deliver water from the river particularly in sandy soils; These pumping units were supplied to farmer groups to irrigate an additional area of about 80 hectares, benefiting about 160 farmers; Added to that the state Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources provided extra 100 pumping units for beneficiaries for direct 135

Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

delivery from the river; and


Rehabilitation and maintenance of the already existing matters, to increase the water delivery and expand the area under irrigation.

3.2.6.3 Water 1

Harvesting Techniques with Chiseling- North Kordofan

Water harvesting for Gardud land has been implemented by chiseling beginning from season 2004-2005 to 2007-2008;

3.2.6.1 Lower Atbara Area

2
Digging and installation of 20 new matters with networking to group the beneficiaries to create new micro irrigated schemes for 20 farmers group in order to decrease the operating costs of the pumped water.

The improved water management has stabilised the crop yield due to the fact that water harvesting techniques supplemented a large portion of water requirement;

3.2.6.2 Khor Abu Habil Area

The supplementary irrigation technique has been demonstrated on El-Rahad and Smeih scheme;

There was an expansion in the treated area, up to 3118 feddans for 22 villages in Gardud land started from season 2004-2005, 17,000 feddans in 2005-2006 and 37,000 feddans in season 2006-2007 for Gardud and Khor Abu Habil; and

This allowed the whole efficiency of the water supplied by Khor Abu Habil stream to be used for irrigation;

In season 2007-2008, the cultivated area

decreased to reach 22,330 feddans for high rate of rainfall and some areas in El-Rahad and Semeih were not reachable by farmers.

Combining

supplementary

irrigation,

flood irrigation, and water harvesting techniques in the upstream Khor Abu Habil system. The supplementary irrigation was demonstrated by direct pumping of water from the Khor to the irrigated micro-schemes in order to satisfy the crop water requirements during (at least) the last critical period of the plant growth period;

3.2.6.4 West Om Durman Area

The investment consisted rehabilitation

of 8 deep tube wells, procuring pumping units (with electrical and diesel engines);

22 regulators were installed downstream Khor Abu Habil to supplement irrigation in Elrahad project; and

Farmers were grouped and organised for eligibility of pumping sets, where about 40 pump units were procured to them through the programme fund.

Installation of irrigation equipments, networks and structural elements - building for 5 wells by the programme and the work for other 5 well by the State Ministry of Agriculture to command other 175 feddans at the other 5 sites; and

Rehabilitation and maintenance of networks was done in the first five sites.

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3.2.7

Intensification Component Plant Production Systems

of

A package of improved technologies was demonstrated and adopted by farmers, led to increased yield and food production;

A sustainable intensified and diversified

cropping system was established, including both major staple food crops and cash crops;

2 3 4 5

Women farmers were actively involved in all project activities; Farmers organisations were set up and strengthened;
Training was organised for farmers, extension agents and supervisors; and
Improved seeds were demonstrated in

all sites.

3.2.8

Progress and Achievement of Intensification Component

Table 2 shows the development of productive area for 2006-2007, for damera and winter season in Lower Atbara

Findings :

1 2

New crops have been demonstrated to increase the income and improve nutrition.

Increase in area cultivated (from 285 feddans in 2005-2006, to 525 feddans in season 2006-2007). 3.2.8.1 West Om Durman Area

Farm cultivation operations for season 2005-2006 were began by 24 feddans in Um

RECA

Seminar

Harout 1, 22 feddans in Um Harout 2, and 14 feddans in El-Ziraiat, planted by okra, fodders, sorghum and other vegetables. Low production was due to many obstacles:

1 2 3

Damages in the network and lack of

training; Transition of the community from pastoralist to farmers; Damages caused by the animals surrounding the farms, and absence of supervision;

Weak production in 2006-2007 due to water shortages caused by damages in the net work;

Shelter belt were planted with tree seedlings at 3 villages by FRC. The early cultivated trees were damaged by animals;

The situation improved in 2007-2008, to

reach about 210 feddans in winter season. The area cultivated by Abu Sabeen include okra, tomato, onion, melon and water melon; and

7 8

Table 3 shows the development of culti-vated areas and crops. Last season, the cultivated area was 35 feddans, i.e., the area increased to 60 feddans in season 2006-2007;

Two

new

sites

were

cultivated

in

season. Shelter belts were planted with tree seedlings at 3 localities by FRC and early cultivated trees were damaged by animals; and

10

Weak production due to water shortages

because of some damages in the net work and

Report of the 30th 137

shortage in fuel supply.

The number decreased by 0.7 per cent due to drought and shortage of fodder.
4

1 2

The births distributed to new HH;


Increase in animals, increased the number

Constraints Analysis Component

4.1

of beneficiaries by revolving mechanism;

Activities carried out Monitoring and Evaluation

for

An increase of 90 per cent in the herds, compared with the received batch which was 640 hea ds;

Due to this, the number of beneficiaries increased from 90 to 153, i.e., 70 per cent as a percentage of increase; 210 heads have been received by the committees in Goz El-Halag and ElDarosa; The beneficiaries shifted towards restocking to benefit the committees in both sites;

the two other sites. The result s of North Kordo fan surve y are as follow s:

4.2 Summ ary of Result s

1
Produ ctivity increa sed by 160.8 comparabl e nal water harves ting. Produ ctivity increa sed in both pumpi ng irrigati on and irrigati on in of supple mentar y irrigati on d in and Elraha Elsam eeh compa red by the gravity areas to traditio

e per ce nta ge of inc rea se is ab out 1. 3.2. 8.2

Lower

The first batc h was sold and chan ged by resto cked shee p;

reas onab le Atbara com pare 4 The d batch with is inthe good time health facto r; . and

The per

The anima ls are in good healt h; and

centage of increase is about 56 from the received batch according to the revolving mechanism (the third revolved batch).

3
Th

3.2.8.3 West Om Durman The number of births is

A survey to evalua te the impact of trainin g and techn ology adopti on was condu cted in North kordof an and prepar ation is runnin g on for imple menta tion in

with estima tes the agricul tural resear ch of

thatestima

agriculture.

ted as2 58

noticeable kilogra increase ms ofproductivity traditioaccording


nal

the estima tes of crop insurve y towhich reach

ed (196 per cent). This means produ ctivity/

138
Report of the 30th RECA Semina r

feddan improved and this was due to the impact of training of farmers and seasonal training. Increased revenues from crop production in the programme sites compared to the traditional system as the following ratios: An increase in the average revenue by 301 per cent in water harvesting. The average net return of the beneficiaries in the gravity and pumps in Khor Abu Habil, increased despite rising production costs because high productivity had achieved higher returns than traditional. Percentage increase of 214 per cent in average net return of the beneficiaries in the gravity supplementary irrigation compared by the traditional farmers with pumping sets compared by the traditional farmers. The percentage increase of 60.5 per cent of HH with flood compared with traditional. Proportion of the significant increase in revenues in pumping irrigation caused many of the farmers to request for expansion in pumping irrigation.

and training of farmers. Farmers number was 135 trainees, 80 per cent of whom are men, while the rate was not more than 20 per cent for women. Training courses covered the subject of evaluation and follow-up and that targeted staff, which numbered 22 trainees. 55 per cent of whom were men and 45 per cent were women. Harvesting system increased as compared with traditional agriculture by 12 per cent, 16 per cent and 34 per cent in sesame, peanuts and corn, respectively, due to the use of a deep plate andthe use of improved seeds, but this was compensated by the high revenue. Consumption rates of main crops exceeded the standard rate in all programme sites and this shows that the programme had provided food to beneficiaries and therefore contributed to food security and improve nutrition levels. 4.3 Impact of the Programme

Enable the application of agricultural technologies in programme sites.

Recommended research to increase the acreage of the vertical expansion in the programme sites to contribute in increasing the income of farmers has not reached its endsufficiency requirements of their livelihood despite the clear improvement in revenues. Number of farmers field schools were conducted in 35 villages in the region and the number of target audience was 3,326 participants, 59 per cent of whom were men and 49 per cent wom en. Training included the training of trainers

Increasing production and productivity on

the areas of the programme; Increase income due to the remarkable increase in production compared to traditional syste m; Created income-generating activities have contributed to increasing the income of beneficiaries; and Contribution of the programme to achieve food security and improve nutrition by the indicators mentioned earlier. 1 3 9

Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

The training of women beside men is one of the main targets achieved by the programme. Women offered production means to generate reasonable income for them and contributed to improved nutrition for themselves and their families and hence improved livelihoods system allocation of animal husbandry component for women. According to the programme philosophy, the beneficiaries have benefited from the target of animal products to improve nutrition and broadening the base of beneficiaries across recover births.

Build the capacity of the Ministry of

Agriculture and the State Ministries of Agriculture with objective of producing reliable, relevant and timely agricultural statistics. This requires training and procurement of equipment and logistics.

Development of livestock production as

the animal sub-sector aims at raising the standard of living and promoting food security.

Recommendations

Improving Food Markets: Extreme fluctuations in food prices could be reduced effectively if a comprehensive policy package to strengthen the role of private markets is introduced.

Improving the agricultural sector by a substantial increase in productivity and production and hence enhancement of food security could be realised if an agricultural development programme is implemented.

References Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Green

Mobilisation Document (Fifth Plan 2007-2011). Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Agricultural Revival Programme (2008-2009).
2 3

Improving the Irrigated Sub-sector: It is widely believed that the productivity of the Gezira scheme and another agricultural schemes as well as the livelihood of those who depend on it could be substantially improved if farmers had great responsibility.

Statistical Information, Ministry of

Agriculture and Forestry- Planning and Agricultural

Economics Planning General Administration

Agricultural Statistical Department, 2008.


4
FAO Document 2008, Food Security Special

Increasing the Access to Credit: Small farmers

would have substantial potential if it were possible.

Programme.

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Table 1 : Planned and Implemented Training Programmes Training


TOT TST Seasonal Farmers Farmers Field Schools Field Days Exchange Visits

No. of Planned Sessions


16 36 18 468 9 9

Implemented
12 30 15 400 4 18

Achievement (per cent)


75 83

85 44 200

Table 2 : Area and Crops Planted on Programme Sites for Season 20062007 Sites
Goz Halag ELGiziara Sydone Umarab ELShuna ELGilaia Nikhaila UM Dubaih Um Agaga ALAbar ELUmarab north Gersy Abu Sinoon ELDarosa Total

Cultivated Area/feddan
4 1 1 9 2 6 2 1 4 4 2 0 3 1 3 0 1 0 5 4 4 3 5 3 5 3 4 0 5

Crops
Wate r melo n, onio n, sorg hum, whea t Onio n, whea t
T o m a t o , o n i o n , a l f a

alfa Sorghum, onion


Water melon, okra, carrot Water melon, okra, carrot

melo n

Horticultural crops

Sorghum, okra, alfa alfa, carrot, water melon Sorghum, GN Tomato, cucumber, carrot
Fodder, sorghum, tomato, wheat, onion Sorghum, apricot beans, henna, onion Sorghum, onion, water

Onion, sweat pepper, wheat, okra, water melon

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Table 3 : Development of Cultivated Areas in the Three Sites Sit es Season North Kordofan
2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 6944 14065 37500 22336

Per cent of Increase


0 102.5 166.6 -40

Lowe r Atbar a
60 283 525 441.5

Per cent of Increase


0 372 85 -16

West O.
0 35 60 270

Per cent of Increase


0 71.4 350

Statement Showing Existing Situation of Sheep Restocking in Lower Atbara (Total households :153)

Existing Situation R B Mortalit y Birt h RB Mortalit y Receive d Birt h


36 9 24 7 27 0 46 10 0 67 11 8 12 17 34 21 16 0 2 3 1 77 30 2 18 4 21 5 0 34 5 36 77 6 101 84 71 46 68 65 83 518 19 8 13 37 14 24 7 122 27 0 42 35 34 41 47 22 6

Sites

Adul t
93 92 42 48 48 48 43 414 Goz Halag ALIdarosa ALAbar ELGiziara Sydone Bakhitab Um Dubai Total

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Statement Showing Restocking with Goats (Total Households : 90) Existing Situation RB Mortalit y Birt h RB Mortalit y Receive d Birt h
8 1 8 4 9 3 7 5 19 4 6 3 6 4 5 5 5 1 5 8 81 8 0 0 5 14 3 2 1 1 0 0 26 47 47 59 51 12 4 29 31 26 2 15 43 1 34 37 39 38 73 36 34 30 49 43 413 12 9 12 8 14 12 22 16 0 6 111 0 0 5 0 41 2 10 0 3 3 64

Sites

Adul t
46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 46 0 A/Sinoon Gersy Umarab N Umarab S Al-Abar Sydone Nikhaila ELShuna Bakhitab Um Dubai Total

Statement Showing Sheep Restocking (Total Households : 52) Activity Sites Received Number Existing Situation Birth s
16 12 21 8 0 9 9 11 5

Mortality
30 22 2 7 0 2 10 7 7

Remain s
44 48 29 66 65 37 40 34 37

Restocking

Um Haroat 1 Um Haroat 2 Wad Abdu Funga ELZiraiaat Wadi ELMilih Gebrat Saeed Wad omer Fatacha

58 58 10 65 65 30 41 30 39

ELKamonab Total

30 426

13 104

20 107

23 423

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Annexure 4.2.13

PUBLIC PRIVATE COMMUNITYBASED INSTITUTIONS PARTNERSHIP : A CASE STUDY OF TALL RMAH RANGELAND REHABILITATION PROJECT IN JORDAN
Rima A. A. Ras

Introduction

Livestock
(FAO, 1991). The sale of western highlands. watersheds considered essential as part Jordan Badia must be an of

More than 85 per cent of Jordan is arid livestock and livestock rangeland, generally referred to as the Badia 1.products support an The Badia region has an average annual important sector of the rainfall of less than 200 mm. Despite its economy and enables aridity, Jordans Badia makes two vitalmany rural contributions to the life and economy of thecommunities to Kingdom.
maintain a valued and Badia rangelands provide a significant portiontraditional way of life. of the domestically produced forage which sustains the range livestock industry. It was Rangelands watersheds estimated that the Badia is capable of producing receive the rainfall, sufficient natural forage for around 800,000yield the surface water sheep for the whole year (Al-Junaidi, 1996). In and replenish the 1991, it was estimated that the Badia rangelands ground water, had declined in their forage yields to less than throughout the region ten percent of their potential as compared toeast and south of the earlier estimates of 70 to 80 percent of potential

Jordans national water conservation strategy.

In Jordan, sheep and goats are the mostVitally important important livestock resource in thechallenges in the production of red meat followed by cattle anddevelopment of camels (Siam, 1985). The main constraint onJordan's Badia livestock production is the shortage of feedinclude combating from the native rangelands. The only local desertification and breed of sheep is the Awasii. They graze in controlling the the Badia from late autumn till late spring, degradation of its with supplemental feeding. Then they migratenatural resources. To to the rain fed and irrigated areas, feeding on help solve these crop residues (cereal, and summerproblems the Jordan vegetables) before returning again to theBadia Research and Badia. Development Centre (BRDC) was initiated 3 Rangeland Problems by HRH Prince ElHassan Bin Talal. The

goal of BRDC is to achieve sustainable development of the Badia while improving the quality of life for its people without drastically changing their life style. This goal is to be achieved through: Optimising natural resource utilisation through appropriate management systems, so that

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production levels will be sustainable in the long-term,

1 2

Optimising returns from investment already made by people in the region,

Enhancing the returns on future investments in the region through the optimal allocation of resources,

3 4

Transferring appropriate technologies required in the different fields of development,


Human resource development, focusing

on the training of personnel at the highest levels in order to provide specialised research and development staff for the Badia region while training the inhabitants of the region, and

Enhancing teamwork amongst the inhabitants in order to create selfreliant communities.


Although periods of severe drought can be cited as part of the reason for deterioration of rangeland land health, the main cause of range degradation is improper grazing practices. Specifically, this could be attributed to range users putting too many animals on a given area of rangeland, grazing at the wrong time of the year for range conditions, uninformed or unsupervised herders failing to move animals properly over the rangeland, unwise crop farming on range areas unsuited to tillage, or a mixture of all these factors and more. Whatever the causes for deterioration on the range resources, it falls to responsible range users, working with the advice and assistance of trained specialists from the BRDC, the Ministry of Agriculture, universities and other organisations to reserve the unsustainable download trend on the Badia by applying sound range management

methods that fit the needs of the resources as well as the range users.
But what can be done in the Badia with regard to the previously mentioned facts? Improving and developing the Jordan Badia is the general task of the Jordan Badia Research and Development Centre (BRDC). Since the creation of the BRDC in 1992, it has developed in phases. Phase one (1993-1996) was mainly the founding phase of the programme. In addition to establishing the Safawi Field Centre, a number of studies and pieces of research were conducted including a base line socio-economic surveys associated with research on livestock, water, soil, flora and other resources.
In phase two, during the period of 1996-2000 and according to the needs of the target area, a scientific research action plan was formulated to accommodate seven themes: human resources, water resources, environment, energy and geology, livestock, land resources, information technology and management (GIS). In this phase, the aim was to give less emphasis to basic research and more to applied research. The BRDC seeks to ensure that development is appropriate, beneficial and sustainable. Development projects fall under three broad headings: a) beneficial economic change, b) conservation of the environment, and c) improved delivery of services. In 2000, the developmental theme was strongly emphasised and activated through close cooperation between national institutions and BRDC. The cooperation aimed to strengthen links with decision makers and developmental agencies, both at the national and international levels, leading to enhanced cooperation and joint programmes. From those important national agencies, one is the Ministry of Planning and International

RECA Seminar 145 Report of the 30th

Cooperation (MoPIC) which delegated authority to the Centre to formulate an integrated development plan in the northern Badia. For example, implementing a development project in the Tall Rimah area is entirely supported by the Social Productivity Package (SPP). The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) joined efforts with the BRDC in extension and range-land development. The national crediting funds for social development, such as the Development and Employment Fund (DEF) has already activated a unit in Safawi to execute micro credits for small businesses and training.
BRDC recognised from its long field experience and dealing with desertification issues in the Badia that desertification and land degradation are largely caused by poor land management. The main challanges faced in the research area are: water shortage, water depletion and salination; biodiversity and rangelands suffer from the degradation of plant cover; many plant species are vulnerable to extinction due to overgrazing and frequent dry years; and many wild animals have disappeared. Several factors have contributed to these issues. Among them are :

The absence of a clear and well-defined policy governing grazing, land ownership and uncontrolled settlements.
Thus, rangeland deterioration is related to both human and environmental factors. In order to meet ecological goals, and maintain community and social structures, Badia range livestock operators must be self reliant and have a sound economic base. They also need to be resilient and profitable to be able to operate for the long term.

14

Socio-economic Conditions and Contributions

Attabini, et al (2008) stated : in Jordan, rangelands are not only a major element in the livestock industry, but are important in historical discourse, social imagery, and social history. Badia rangelands have an especially significant cultural and heritage value for the Bedu2 people. The rangelands support diverse cultures and social structures at the individual and community level, as well as a wide range of business and economic interests.

The

ability

of

pastoralists

to

survive

has

traditionally been depended on their adoption of opportunistic mobility and adaptive strategies and drought management techniques. Some of the strategies are ecologically based such as the raising of mixed species of livestock with different preferences for the standing vegetation (Sidahmed, 1993) while others depend upon socio-economic relations such to as reciprocal agreements lands for of accessibility communal grazing

1 2

Lack of rational water extraction.

Extensive arid agriculture, especially cereals and vegetables in many areas in the country. Using large areas of rangeland for cultivation limits the amount of rangeland available as well as depleting the soil quality.

3 4 5

The introduction of vehicles and moving

neighbouring tribes or groups in times of drought. The traditional pastoralism of the Bedu has essentially broken down (Blench 1995, Al-Eisa 1996, Al-Sirhan 1998, Campbell and Roe 1998, Dutton 1998, Rowe 1998, Burnett et al, 1999) but has not been replaced by an effective management

animals to remote pastures for grazing.


An increase in the number of animals per

livestock-holder leading to rangeland overcapacity.

The transfer of land ownership from a tribal basis or state lands to individuals.

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system. The Badia of Jordan is home to about 180,000 people, or 25,000 households, of which about 18,000 households are below the poverty line (Dept. of Statistics, 2001). Since about 98 per cent of the households own at least some sheep (10-20 head), this means that there are about 24 500 small businesses involved in animal husbandry. These family businesses are not fully accounted for in agricultural sales or employment statistics, becau se: Most of the animal care (shepherding, shearing, milking, and management of livestock products such as milk and wool) is done by family members, mainly women and children, who do not draw wages or appear in employment statistics but are, nevertheless, employed because their work contributes to the family income; and A substantial portion of the products (33 per cent of the wool and 44 per cent of the milk and yogurt) is consumed in the home and does not enter the commercial market, but is economically significant for the families because these products reduce the families need

4. 1

Geography

The project area is known as Tall Rmah and is located in the northeast sector of the northen Badia in the Mafraq governorate. The area of Tall Rmah extends north and eastwards along the Syrian border and comprises 9 square kilometers. 4. 2 People The total population of Tall Rimah is 2,784 people distributed over 11 villages forming a cluster. The cluster consists of Deir Quinn, Tall ArRimah, Murayjeeb, Medwar Quinn, Khshaa Quinn, Sweelimiyyah, Jadaa, Mansourah, Mathnat Rajil, Deir Al-Kahf, and Jubiyyah. As in many parts of the Jordanian Badia, the distribution of the people in a Bedouin society is built on a tribal foundation. The Tall Rimah area consists of three major tribes or a shira(s) which compose the basic social organisation. These tribes are subdivided into qabila(s) which are then further divided into fakhad(s). The three main tribes are the AlMassayed, Ashrafat and al-Adamat (alOun,1997). Tribal values and norms in the project area

to purchase such products from the open market. Older generations tend to be illiterate in contrast to their children who may have some schooling; thus one may conclude that the level of education among household members is low, but improving. Women provide the main financial support, both directly and indirectly, for many families, especially for those which do not receive a direct monthly cash income. Women in these cases work as wage labourers in the large irrigated farms scattered in the Badia. They receive around JD3 for about 68 hours work; men do not generally take on this type of farm work. In addition to working outside the home, women are responsible for child care, cooking, cleaning, gardening activities and some herding of sheep or goats (Tarawneh, 2004).
Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

are historically very strong. Settled Bedouin keep up strong ties and loyalties to their tribes. Tribal leaders have lost some power, but continue to yield much political influence. Without a doubt, traditional Bedouin pastoralism has been shifting into completely new economic activities such as settled agriculture. Despite this change most of the Bedouin have not lost their indigenous knowledge, skills or abilities to manage livestock. 4. 3 Economic Factors Generally, Bedouin in the Tall Rmah area do not depend on a single source of income, but rather they draw on as many potential economic opportunities as are available to them. So while someone may be viewed as tending livestock for living, they may also cultivate the land when rainfall 147

of household in the project area is about JD142,

and/or other water sources facilitate such activity. In the Tal Rmah project area, nomadic grazing is the dominant form of land use. Outside of agriculture, families look to the military as either a primary or secondary source of income, with pensions of various kinds used to supplement local incomes. Furthermore, trade provides an additional source of income.
The Bedouin of the Tall Rmah area have had to adjust their sheep management systems and cope with the current situation in the livestock industry. Grain subsidy removal in mid 1996 led to increases in feed costs of up to 100 per cent compared to prices in the early eighties, this increased the overall costs of livestock. Since the removal of food subsidies, large scale livestock investments yielded a net loss, rather than a profit. It is estimated that livestock numbers have already been reduced by 25 per cent since the mid-1990s. An equivalent percentage of owners may have moved out of the industry, apart from keeping a few animals for household needs. Hence, the main aim of BRDC projects is to assist Bedouin farmers in making rational, long-term sustainable decisions about their livestock activities which they know best. This leads to helping them choose to intensify current systems, increase economic diversity or indeed leave the industry, depending on which is the best option. The targeted local communities suffer from deep poverty, which is why the goal of the project coincides with the reality of living conditions of local people. Such communities clearly qualify for help in the form of establishing and assessing long term sustainable rangeland development. It is striking that most families in the Badia live under the national absolute poverty line, which is about JD167 monthly for a family of 6 persons, which is the average size. The average monthly income

which means that almost all the population in the two project villages is very poor (Tarawneh, 2004).

This fact provides support to the socioeconomic validity of the project and justifies the humanitarian mission of BRDC in this area (Tarawneh, 2004). Because range livestock production is critical to the lives of so many Bedu in the Badia, the rehabilitation of rangeland in their tribal domain is essential.
In the last decade, BRDC has been working with people for the people to improve their quality of life without changing their life style and enable the Bedouin to continue their traditional practices. This noble partnership is based on mutual benefits and equal share of responsibilities. BRDC has gained over the years the Bedouins trust, respect and friendship. Considering this statement and through a process of common understanding this proposal treats the conservation of the available resources base, to establish a steady state status for the natural resources that can provide economic support to a wide range of the Bedouin population, then present an opportunity of diverse income from the same resources which were described earlier as degraded and virtually depleting.

4.4

Beneficiaries

Improvement in rangeland feed and water supply will benefit directly the livestock keepers in the project area. The rest of the rural population will benefit from increased availability of livestock products for better nutrition as well as from a better-conserved rural environment through rangeland rehabilitation and improved grazing management. Neighbouring villages also will benefit from the experiences which are expected to be gained. The Tall Rmah experience could be as a module and replicated in other areas.

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4.5

Problem Identification

Scarcity of range forage or cheap feed material in the Badia is a major problem facing livestock owners. Deteriorated range vegetation, which is the main feed source in the target area, is common. Although periods of severe drought can be cited as part of the reason for deterioration of rangeland health, the main cause of range degradation is the widespread use of improper grazing practices. Specifically, this could be attributed to range users putting too many animals on a given area of rangeland, grazing at the wrong time of the year for range conditions, uninformed or unsupervised herders failing to move animals properly over the rangeland, unwise crop farming on range areas unsuited to tillage, wood cutting for fuel, or a mixture of all these factors, and more (Al-Tabini et al, 2003). Whatever the causes for deterioration of the range resources, it falls to responsible range users, working with the advice and assistance of trained specialists from BRDC, MOA, universities, and other organisations to reverse the downward trend on the Badia by applying sound range management methods that fit the needs of the resources as well as the range users.

The feasibility of introducing improved land utilisation practices depends on the knowledge of the livestock herders and their attitudes toward changing aspects of their methods of pastoralism. But one of the biggest problems in enlisting community involvement in confronting over-grazing is that few villagers and pastoralists in Jordan believe that their livestock are the cause of the problem (Blench 1995, AlSirhan 1998, Blench and Sommer 1999).

4.6

Project Objectives

The broad framework of Tal Rmah Rangeland project aims to enhance the awareness of the Badia people about the importance of rangeland management to their production of livestock, and at the same time, allow the BRDC and its supporting associates, to work hand in hand with local communities to demonstrate how certain range management practices can be of direct benefit to the Badia people and the resources on which they depend. The potential long-term benefits of this effort could be:

1 2 3 4

Sustainable, productive use of the range resources. Improved socio-economic conditions for livestock owners.
Enhanced local capacity to manage and preserve a productive ecosystem.

Increased biodiversity and stability of rangeland eco-systems. To achieve the above-mentioned longterm benefits, the project has the following detailed objectives:

Demonstrate the feasibility of establishing

a forage shrub reserve under the prevailing soil and climatic conditions of the Tal Rimah area.

Educate the livestock owners and range users of the Tal Rimah area of the importance and implementation of sustainable rangeland management.

Demonstrate water harvesting and forage production techniques.

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Demonstrate livestock systems responses to the above (Phase II: 2007).


4.7

Project Duration

The project was initially proposed for three years starting from December 2002, but as funding fell short it was extended two more years. Moreover, an extra two year period was initially included for assessment purposes in order to produce an extensive manual including lessons learned. It is of vital importance to examine this proposed model to have a proper scientific documentation to publish the results for common use.

4.8

Partners

1 2
Centre

Ministry of Agriculture - Jordan.


Jordan Badia Research and Development

3 4 5

Global Environment Facility (GEF)

Rural populations of Tall Rimah


United States Department of Agriculture

(USDA)
4.9 Implementing Agencies

The major implementer is the Jordan Badia Research and Development Centre (BRDC) in addition to the following:

1 2 3
4.10

Local Community University of Jordan USDA


Risks Lack of rainfall

150

1 2 3

Invasion site/ rangeland

of

the

conservation

Increased soil salinity Availability of irrigation water


Tal Rmah Demonstration Site

4.11

As mentioned before, Tal Rmah area is situated northwest of Safawi (Badia Area; N32 17' 211 E36 53' 916) and about 70 km east of AlMafraq city. One demonstration site has been made available to the BRDC for the Tal Rimah range project. About 50 hectares, situated northeast of the village of Tal Rmah has been selected for demonstration of water harvesting techniques and forage shrub establishment and was referred to as Tal Rmah Shrub Reserve.
The general topography of the Tal Rmah area is gently undulating with scattered hills. As typical of the rest of the Badia, the climate in the Tal Rmah area is classified as arid. The annual rainfall normally varies between 100 and 200 mm. Significant rainfall is not expected to occur outside the period from late October to late March, and its timing and intensity can vary widely from event to event and year to year. Most of the rainfall occurs during January and February. Snowfall is not unknown, but is not expected every year, nor in heavy amounts. Mean maximum and minimum air temperatures during January are 13 0C and 3 0C, respectively. The parallel temperatures are 33 0 C and 17 0C for August, the hottest month in this area (BRDP, 2001). The soil texture varies from clay loam at the surface to clay for the rest of the soil profile. Soil depths also vary from shallow at the north-west part to deep near the eastern part. Vegetation cover is very sparse, with large areas of bare soil. Native herbaceous plant species common to the area

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include: Lolium multiflorum, Lolium rigidum, Phalris canarienses, Medicago scutellata, Lathyrus sativus, Hordeum glucum. 4. 1 2

The Tall Rmah project concentrates on the rehabilitation of rangelands by introducing simple and cheap techniques. Therefore, taking the local community needs in mind, water harvesting techniques were suggested and discussed with outside experts and the targeted group of primary stakeholders working together. The project used the following approaches to ensure that the pastoralists were fully taken into consideration when formulating the projects agen da: Start with broad goals, then refine and narrow them with knowledge of community nee ds. Identify indicators and management options with local community. Essentially find out what indicators local community use to monitor the conditions of their rangeland. Undertake participatory analysis, planning and programming with local institutions.

Water Harvesting Techniques

The project prepared a 50-hectare demonstration site, using a variety of water harvesting configurations and digging holes for shrub planting. Three basic types of land treatments were demonstrated: contour furrows (70 per cent), micro-catchments (crescent-shaped or chevrons) (2 per cent) and low rock walls (on 0 lower portions) (10 per cent). 4. 1 3

Implementation with Community Participation

The BRDC believes strongly that participation of local communities in different project stages reflects the conservation bottom-up approach and the growing recognition of the importance of grassroot groups and local communities in reaching and mobilising people who work on land. It

assures that understanding local community knowledge is a fundamental step towards generating a dialogue between local communities and scientists. Scientists need to understand local communities knowledge if they want to contribute to local communities welfare by providing new information to them, by developing appropriate technologies with them or communicating effectively with them. Otherwise, it must be recognised that the knowledge of a local community may be inadequate when confronted by rapid technical change, since farmers may not have had enough experience with a new technology to have understood all its dimensions. An ideal to strive for is that the farmer and scientist jointly design, manage, and analyse the experiments and field trials.

Hold community meetings to discuss the project from the technical point of view. Promote local community responsibility

to implement and protect the project. Build strong relationships with the

community. Involve range users, the beneficiaries, actively in decision making and in partnership within the management process. Therefore, the BRDC involved the local Bedouin community in rangeland rehabilitation efforts in an area of 50,000 dunums (5000 hectare) of natural rangeland where practical packages 1 5 1

Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

developed and tested by the Badia Centre. Within this area, a local Shiek (community members' leader) donated the use of 1000 dunums to the local community for fodder production. So the local community was involved in the project from the starting point of problem definition, possible solutions, site selection, and selection of plant species suitable to the area and the intended use by livestock owners. This step was carried out by public meetings with landowners, livestock owners and key personnel in the area. The project team consulted with the local community on the following issues: site selection, plant species adapted to the area, land preparation, current grazing systems and management and traditional water management.

to the area and are highly palatable. Therefore, two Atriplex species and one salsola species were introduced for comparison. Rehabilitation of rangelands with appropriate shrubs, forbs or trees can add considerably to feed resources as well as stopping degradation. The Atriplex species represent a group of plants well adapted to salinity and drought stress. Several studies have recommended the cultivation of such forages in saline soils and arid areas as good feed resources (Draz 1987, El Shaer et al, 1990, Ben Salem and Nefazawi 1993, Le Houe'rou 1993, Al-Tabini 2002).

4.16

Water Harvesting Techniques

During the installation of the water harvesting structures and planting of shrubs, the project team concentrated on the involvement of the local community as a labour force. This ensures their familiarity with the technicalities, including building terraces, contour furrows, digging holes, planting, and how to nurture shrub seedlings.

4.14

Site Selection

The site was selected through consultation with the local community and with assistance of project technical experts, so as to ensure that the site is appropriate from both technical and social points of view. The local community has the indigenous knowledge and long experience in the area, which is reflected in our case study by recommending areas that supported suitable vegetation cover and where runoff is expected to occur least annually. Consequently, the project team reviewed the environmental conditions required for the project site with the community, in order to stimulate their views on the selection of the most suitable site and avoid any private agendas.

The design of water harvesting practices has been based on criteria, which take into consideration soil texture, land slope, infiltration rate, average annual rainfall, and water requirements of plants for satisfactory growth.
"More recently, the project team has been in consultation with the community about traditional and current grazing management practices. The pastoralists in the past used an environmentally safe way to manage their rangeland, known as the hema system (Hema grazing system: The term hema derives from the Arabic word for protection); the sustainable management of the rangeland through social regulations to control rangeland use by restricting the timing, frequency and intensity of grazing. It is considered to be one of the most

4.15

Plant Species Adapted to the Area

After several meetings with local community members, Atriplex nummularia, Atriplex halimus, and Salsola vermiculta were chosen to be introduced to the site. Local people were more interested in Salsola species because they are native

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important methods used in the management of local rangelands because of its value for the protection of the rangeland from overgrazing and deterioration. This system, that builds on and enhances the traditional heritage, has been followed by the project, so as to ensure sustainability of the project through relying on indigenous knowledge. In various ways the project also relies on local knowledge for selecting grazing areas and the best time for grazing, as well as for the types of plants preferred for grazing (Al-Tabini et al, 2008).

of new or less common plant species in the biodiversity of the plant cover.
The local community members and project technical people jointly shared counting the shrubs in the project area to determine the survival rates of each species. The local people have learned the basis for determining what was considered to be a living. More, they are gaining a better knowledge of how the introduced shrubs perform at the site. By understanding these matters we hope to increase local communitys interest in conservation and prevent overgrazing.

According to the project team, the local knowledge of water harvesting techniques is limited and has only been employed to construct shallow wells for watering livestock. However, pastoralists use the wadis for grazing in years of drought since the wadis usually collect more rainwater, which enhances the growth of plants compared with other sites.
5

Local community participation in water harvesting techniques is limited. A small group of people participated in checking the water harvest treatment structures after a rainy season. Observations were recorded for structures needing repairs and how designs could be improved.

5.1
Several surveys were

Environmental Impact
with local . project team trained local people survey , creating the potential for -based surveys. The a thed by only local of also, plants more common plant species are known them species that, due to variations in rainfall, about appear less frequently. These steps were designed to enhance the local community awareness and interest in the local the to but providing Thethe names hasthe abut

Follow-up and Observations

community not

conducted in order to measure the changes in the vegetation cover. These surveys were used as training tool. Also, surveys have been used as an opportunit y to participate

also other

number ofmore importantly in, n

the use ofinformatio techniques their uses. soThe results of the plant surveys were reviewed wider community to ensure only the

community with

community not participate that

range vegetation and effect the

Many were plant present on surveys the site (Al have beenSoub et al, conducted 2006). in theThis was reserve. highly The appreciate vegetation d by local cover communit inside they people project because area hasthey have improved seen compared many with areasdifferent outside species the which was reserve. Indisappear 2003, aed for plant long time survey and showed approves that thethat the site hadapplied about 24technique plant s were species successfu but fourl in years laterimproving about 60the natural plant vegetation species cover.

The introduced shrub species were well adapted to soil and climatic conditions at the Tall Rmah demonstra tion site. Shrub seedling survival was 90 per cent. The success of shrub performan ce was, in part, the result of good plant material recommen dations from the local communit y.

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Finally, rangelands provide habitats for many species of wildlife. Therefore, as a result of protecting and improving the range vegetation, there was return of animal species, such as rabbits and birds, which were not common or present on the site before the rehabilitation efforts began.

will ensure that reserve boundaries are respected, as has been the experience in other BDRC reserves and experimental plots.

5.3.3

Awareness

The level of local community involvement in the project was a impressive. high Community of members and displayed degree interest

5.2

Economic Impact

commitment to the project and the work being

The local community benefited from the increase in forage production from the introduction of shrubs and from herbaceous range plants within the reserve compared to that outside project area. Both benefits played a major role in enhancing livestock productivity by providing high quality forage, which reflected positively in animal products, such as milk and wool, animal health and saving 75 per cent of food cost.

carried out to implement the different techniques. Community members were trained in semistructured interview techniques and helped in the collection data. They were also involved in the collection of ecological data in the site, and provided expert assistance with species identification, local plant names and uses. 6

Lessons Learned
Careful planning at each project stage

5.3 5.3.1

Impacts on Social Life of the Local Community Adoption and Explicability of Methods Demonstrated

Several people contacted the project team asking about the possibilities to replicate the same treatments elsewhere, and they showed interest in adopting the management practices. This means that the first test was successful, and people realise the benefits from such interventions.

to ensure: a) appropriate problem definition and establishment of objectives; b) successful generation of applicable information or innovations; and c) appropriate development and use of dissemination mechanisms and their effective implementation, can contribute to the achievement of a successful outcome.

The level of farmers' participation should be determined by their interests and capacities and by the nature of the work.

5.3.2

Protection Attitude

Uncultivated lands or land not fenced are usually open for grazing. However, the local people have their own systems for marking lands prohibited from grazing. Therefore, this project site was protected using no fences or other barriers; instead, rock cairns were used to mark the boundaries of the project. The cooperation of local communities

Technicians and scientists contribute new technological information that may provide options for improvement, and methodologies for testing the various options.

Demonstrations

of

successful

rehabilitation of rangeland areas may convince local herders to cooperate in plans to better utilise

154

Report of the 30th RECA Seminar

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