A report by Mathematica has revealed that AGRA’s activity, which was carried out under the banner, Partnership for Inclusive Agricultural Transformation in Africa (PIATA), has failed to meet its ‘headline goal’ to improve Africa’s food security as intended.
An independent evaluation of an Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has found “mixed” outcomes on inclusive finance, output markets, and farmer outcomes.
While noting the range of “mixed results” reported in the evaluation, the report showed that AGRA has successfully leveraged private partnerships and accelerated policy programs, only that it did not prioritize building policy capacity.
“AGRA successfully stewarded agriculture reforms through development and enactment, largely through consultants and seconded staff who helped public officials develop, enact, and implement modern and inclusive agriculture policies. Some AGRA-supported reforms had an outsized role in improving the policy environment and stimulating private investment, particularly seed system reforms in Rwanda, Ghana, and Nigeria. However, AGRA did not prioritize building public capacity for policy analysis and convening.”
PIATA report
Loopholes in AGRA’s implementation activities
The evaluation is clear that “AGRA did not meet its headline goal of increasing incomes and food security for 9 million smallholders regarding impacts on African farmers.”
According to the report, despite PIATA’s investments in inclusive finance, nearly all market actors, including seed companies, agro-dealers, buyers, and farmers, reported acute credit constraints in interviews and surveys. PIATA also had limited success stimulating output markets across focus countries, despite some notable achievements in a subset of governments and consortia conferring to the evaluation.
“Rigorous analysis of household-level data from several countries suggests that PIATA increased farmers’ access to the extension. However, PIATA’s impact on farmer-level outcomes, the adoption of inputs, yields, sales, food security, and resilience—was mixed. PIATA improved maize yields in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Nigeria, but not in Tanzania, Burkina Faso, or Kenya. Across these six countries, only farmers in Burkina Faso experienced improved maize sales due to PIATA.
“These mixed results likely reflect remaining farmer constraints in access to affordable inputs and output markets and low per-farmer investment levels. These findings suggest that AGRA did not meet its headline goal of increased incomes and food security for 9 million smallholders, despite reaching over 10 million smallholders through its systems development work.”
PIATA-report
The report documented that AGRA’s next strategy should articulate these acute challenges and make more direct investments in improving farmers’ livelihood while positively impacting the environment.
Undertaken by the consulting firm Mathematica, the evaluation examines only the last five years of AGRA’s activity, which was carried out under the banner, Partnership for Inclusive Agricultural Transformation in Africa (PIATA). The evaluation was funded by AGRA’s lead donor, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), on behalf of all five PIATA donors, including the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office; the Rockefeller Foundation; the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); and Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
PIATA program to transform agriculture
The Partnership for Inclusive Agricultural Transformation in Africa (PIATA), launched in 2017, aims to catalyze country-led inclusive agricultural transformation by increasing smallholders’ productivity, strengthening output markets, and enhancing the agricultural sector’s resilience to shocks and stresses, and improving coordination and accountability. Through its implementing partner, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), PIATA seeks to transform agriculture from a source of subsistence into a driver of inclusive economic growth.
As implemented by AGRA, PIATA set an ambitious goal of increased incomes and improved food security for 30 million farmers across 11 focus countries by 2021. This includes increasing incomes and food security for 9 million farmers through direct assistance and increasing incomes and food security of an additional 21 million indirectly through strengthened public and private sector capacities.
READ ALSO: US, UK & Australia to Cooperate on Hypersonic Weapons
