UN Division for Sustainable Development

Case Study Detail Record

Organization type:	Government

Name of Ministry/Agency:	Department of State

Country:	United States of America

Name of Focal Point:	Hiram Larew

Initiative Title:	Ending Hunger by Transforming African Agriculture

Internet links:	http://www.usaid.gov/locations/sub-saharan_africa/initiatives/ieha.html

Scope:	Regional: - Africa

Status:	Ongoing

Timeframe:	Start: End:

Lead Institution:	U.S. Agency for International Development

Stakeholders/Partners:	African farmers and agribusinesses.

Relevent issues:	- Food security and sustainable agriculture - Enhancing agricultural productivity through adequate and sustainable inputs - Diversifying agricultural production systems - Poverty reduction strategies and policies - Reducing rural poverty - Empowering the poor, including women and indigenous people

Objectives/Challenges:

The U.S. Presidential Initiative to End Hunger in Africa (IEHA), which began in 2002, focuses on improving smallholders’ productivity and increasing rural incomes in order to alleviate hunger and poverty. This goal is the same as the first Millennium Development Goal – cutting hunger and poverty by half by 2015. IEHA operates in Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Uganda, and Zambia, and recently (in 2007) added Malawi and Niger as highly food-insecure countries. IEHA also finances sub-regional activities through its regional offices in West Africa, East Africa, and Southern Africa. IEHA is the vehicle through which the United States meets its commitments made at G-8 Summit and other international fora to support the AU/NEPAD Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP).

IEHA works with African farmers, agribusinesses, and their associations to improve their productivity and their ability to access domestic, regional, and international markets. It supports policy reform to improve the enabling environment for production and trade. A key feature of IEHA is dissemination of new technology, an essential requirement for transforming subsistence farming into commercial operations. Since its inception, IEHA has strived to foster strategic business practices by supporting public-private partnerships that link farmers to technology, markets and finance.

Lessons Learned:

An integrated and comprehensive approach to investments in agriculture (i.e., improved policy, technology and links to markets) can increase productivity and trade. This, in turn, can have a direct impact on rural incomes and reduction in hunger and poverty. Increasing agricultural productivity and incomes requires focusing on critical policies and priority areas of investment. Raising agricultural productivity is very feasible in Africa, helping to reduce poverty and hunger. Solving the problem of hunger and poverty requires the commitment of host government leaders.

Summary:

Key Results: Improved agricultural productivity and access to markets have been achieved. According to a recent evaluation, IEHA activities are succeeding in raising beneficiary productivity of targeted commodities. Notable achievements in 2007 include:

• Over 17 million rural individuals directly benefited from IEHA programs and activities; over 1.7 million vulnerable households directly benefited.

• More than 12,000 producer and trade associations and 1,500 women’s organizations received technical assistance; over 3,800 agriculture-related firms benefited from IEHA interventions.

• Over 910,000 million farmers adopted new technologies on about 890,000 hectares.

• IEHA programs pursued 95 key policy reforms and achieved 125 milestones on the reform pathway, from analysis through approval and implementation.

• Intra-regional trade of targeted agricultural products increased from $228 million in 2006 to $368 million in 2007 (61 percent increase), while international trade increased from $794 million to $969 million (22 percent increase), thanks in part to IEHA programs.

• Improvements in maize productivity resulted in higher profits for smallholders in Kenya, Mozambique and Uganda in 2007.

Next Steps: IEHA will continue to support CAADP at the continent, regional, and country levels by strengthening African organizations managing CAADP, providing significant financing for agriculture development, and supporting new donor harmonization and coordination mechanisms.