Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Business Plan.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Business Plan is a sectoral national plan on agriculture and fisheries to be implemented during the 2014-2017 period. The Plan identifies and describes the policies and actions to be pursued in order to address issues of food safety and food security, import substitution, facilitation of markets, improvement of the agricultural infrastructure, increased agricultural output and value-added. The priorities of the Plan are in line with the Vision 2030 – Agriculture Sector Plan, specifically: efficient, competitive and diversified value-added agricultural production; strong marketing systems for domestic and export markets; competent and adequate human resources; enabling and facilitating framework, infrastructure and support services; contributor to long term rural development; an environmentally sustainable sector; and national food security and food safety.
The Plan aims at ensuring national food and nutrition security and safety in alignment with international standards. In particular, the Plan seeks to provide an enabling planning and policy framework to ensure food security.
Further the Plan promotes agro-industrial development by increasing output of diversified agricultural and value-added production that meets international standards; strengthen agricultural research and development through the development of appropriate technology and ensuring the transfer of technology to farmers; design and implement development and business plans for key agricultural sub-sectors; establish programmes to strenghten the participation of youth and women in agriculture; strenghten the capacity of the Ministry to facilitate the on-going development of the agricultural sector; establish sustainable policy and planning frameworks to protect and develop suitable agricultural lands and fisheries resources; promote good agricultural practices that support sustainable development.
The Plans also aims to contribute to the reduction of rural poverty. In particular, it will promote rural development through the provision and expansion of adequate agricultural infrastructure and services, and rural development projects and programmes.
Strenghtening agricultural marketing frameworks, including structures, services, policies, linkages, value chain, standards, regional and international trade, is among the objectives of the Plan. The implementation of projects and programmes aimed at making the sector more inclusive and efficient is envisaged, in particular by enhancing the participation in the sector of women and the youth.
Further the document seeks to increase the resilience of livelihoods to disasters and improve food security. It will develop and implement a climate change adaptation strategy and action plan for the agricultural sector. In particular, the Plan seeks to increase awareness and resilience of farmers to climate change impacts on agriculture. Governance – The implementation of the Plan will be led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries with support from relevant stakeholders. The Plan details the responsibilities of the different Ministry departments and agencies. In addition, the Plan outlines various strategies, outputs, performance indicators, and timeframes for the responsible departments and agencies.