Agricultural policy in sub-Saharan Africa and its relevance for smallholder farmers, women and youth: a policy baseline report for sub-Saharan Africa at the continental, regional and national level

Abstract

This report aims to give an overview of the agricultural policies in place in Sub-Saharan Africa, based on a review of key regional and national policy documents, with a special focus on the four African countries that have been identified as focus countries for Theme 1 of AgriFose2030: Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia. The purpose of the report is twofold, on the one hand to compile information on agricultural policies at the regional and country level and on the other to document if and how such policies address the three target groups of AgriFose2030, namely smallholders, women and youth.

While the pan-African ambitions with respect to the three cross-cutting areas of AgriFose2030 – sustainable intensification, gender and youth and commercialization - have increased since the signing of the Maputo Declaration, figures on public expenditure cast doubt on the national commitment to the CAADP process. Nonetheless, it is heartening to note that an early focus on smallholders in general, has been followed by a recognition of the importance of the role of women and youth in achieving the twin goals of commercialization and intensification.

All of the country level policies documented in this report contain focus areas on smallholders, sustainable intensification and commercialization, while many also focus on both women and youth, but the variations of challenges at the national level need to be recognized.

Keywords

agricultural policy; africa; smallholder farmers

Published in

AgriFoSe2030 Report
2017, number: 1eISBN: 978-91-576-9530-7Publisher: SLU Global, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

UKÄ Subject classification

Gender Studies
Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/103560