Towards strengthening Public-Private Partnerships in agriculture

13 August 2019, Lusaka—The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in partnership with the Government of Zambia, the African Union Commission (AUC), The African Union Development Agency (NEPAD), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Civil Society Organizations (CSO’s), other development partners, and the private sector held a round table dialogue to discuss the country context and opportunities to improve the design, implementation and impact of Public-Private Partnerships (agri-PPPs) in Zambia’s agricultural sector.

This follows the work by FAO and AUC to improve understanding about the design, implementation and impact of agri-PPPs, which involved an analysis of 24 agri-PPP case studies from eight African countries (Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Zambia and South Africa) and which informed the development of  Guidelines  to support African Union Member States in designing and implementing effective, sustainable and inclusive agri-PPPs, with specific consideration given to the enabling environment for agricultural investment and agribusiness development.

Speaking at the event, Country Representative, George Okech highlighted the important role  of dialogue in sharing experiences and gathering the views and insights of a broad range of public and private stakeholders on the key elements essential for the successful design, implementation and impact of public private partnerships for a sustainable transformation of the agricultural sector.

Okech highlighted the importance of the collaboration, “In response to continuing growth in food and feed demand, population growth, rising incomes and urbanization for agricultural products, agriculture and agribusiness should be at the top of the agenda for Africa.”

Mr. Mark Kofi Fynn, speaking on behalf of the African Union Commission, stated that the 2014 Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods, calls for increased investment finance, from both the public and private sectors, in agriculture.

“To bring about the increased levels of investment, and the associated  transformation in agriculture, it is important to define clear roles for the public and private sectors. The public sector should undertake key reforms and catalytic investments that create a conducive envirionment for business. The private sector in African agriculture, on its part, should be better organized, engage in the policy-making processes and invest in priority value chains to take advantage of opportunities”, said Mr Fynn

In Zambia, agriculture contributes about 19 percent to GDP and employs three quarters of the population. Cases of highly successful agri-PPPs  have been observed in Zambia but need to be scaled-up and replicated to achieve impact at scale.

Permenant Secretary for the Ministry of Agriculure, Mr. Songowayo Zyambo, stressed that, “The success or failure of agriculture PPP’s is highly dependant on having clear policies and guidelines to help all players to articulate issues common in agriculture PPP’s such as land access and ownership, enforceability of contracts, protection of intellectual property (IP), natural resource manangement, food security, agriculture risk management, arbitration, investment ownership and benefits.”

Agricultural Public Private Partnerships (agri-PPPs)

From 2011 to 2013, FAO initiated a series of appraisals of agricultural Public Private Partnerships (agri-PPPs) in 15 African, Asian and Latin American countries.

Experiences from these appraisals formed the basis of a synthesis report, launched in 2016, with the primary objective to draw lessons that could provide guidance to FAO member countries on how to partner effectively with the private sector to mobilize resources for agribusiness development.

In 2016, during the 29th FAO Africa Regional Conference, member states requested documentation of additional case studies to improve understanding of agri-PPPs on the African continent and inform their agri-PPP policies, given that the 2025 CAADP growth goals aim to establish PPPs for at least five priority agricultural commodity value chains in each country.

It is within this context that the AUC partnered with FAO to work on improving understanding about the design, implementation and impact of agri-PPPs. The work involved an analysis of 24 agri-PPP case studies from eight African countries (Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Zambia and South Africa).

Knowledge from this exercise will inform policy-makers to design and implement effective agri-PPPs in Zambia and Africa at large whilst advancing the resolution by AU Member States in the Malabo Declaration “to establish and/or strengthen inclusive public-private partnerships for at least five priority agricultural commodity value chains with strong linkage to smallholder agriculture.”