The food, fuel and financial crisis of 2008 brought to sharp focus the urgent need for continuous updated information on food and agricultural policies. The agricultural sector plays an instrumental role in economic growth, poverty reduction and food security. According to the World Development Report 2008, the agricultural sector has continued to perform poorly despite its potential to make positive impact, especially on the welfare of the World’s poorest people, particularly in the African Continent.

Monitoring of African Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) project is a joint undertaking between KIPPRA, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). The project intends to help policy-makers and other stakeholders ensure that policies and investments are fully supportive of agricultural development, the sustainable use of natural resources and enhanced food security. The project aims to support decision-making at national, regional and Pan-African levels, and thereby contribute to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) of the New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD).

The project seeks to achieve the following outcomes:
(i)    A monitoring system providing consistent and comparable information on food and agricultural policies, market development gaps and public expenditures
(ii)    Support improved policy dialogue at national, regional and international levels
(iii)    Define a scaling-up strategy to support systematic and sustained monitoring of food and agricultural policies

The project expects to develop:-
(i)    Measures of incentives and disincentives
These indicators will measure the extent of policy interventions in food and agricultural markets, and will be based on price gaps in major commodity chains, as well as in input markets. Explicit policy interventions will be contrasted with implicit disincentives from excessive costs or rents that could be reduced through appropriate investments or institutional reforms.

(ii)    Measures of government expenditures in support of agricultural development
The project will also develop a disaggregated record of national budgetary transfers, with economically meaningful distinctions across areas that affect food, agricultural and rural development, and establish a correspondence between national expenditures and aid inflows.

(iii)    Indicators of development and performance
The project will provide contextual and quantitative information on the setting within which incentives, disincentives and public expenditures are analyzed. This additional information will be provided in the areas of sectoral performance; market structures; costs in output and input markets; poverty, inequality and food security; environment and natural resources; and health and human development.

For more information on the project contact Dr John Omiti (jmomiti@kippra.or.ke) or Ms Nancy Laibuni (nlaibuni@kippra.or.ke)