Strategic Plan for Agriculture Transformation 2018-2024.

The Strategic Plan for Agriculture Transformation was adopted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources for implementing the National Agricultural Policy (NAP). As such it shares the NAP vision: a nation that enjoys food security, nutritional health, and sustainable agricultural growth from a productive, green and market‐led agriculture sector.
The plan seeks to help eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. Increasing incomes and improving nutritional outcomes will address a wide range of diet‐related malnutrition, especially micronutrients and the prevalence of stunting in children. Impacts to food security and nutrition will be addressed and measured by combining supply side and demand side actions using the four pillars of food security: availability, accessibility, stability and utilization. The plan adopts the «food systems approach» for enhanced nutrition and household food security. Resilience and risk mitigation strategies for food production systems will continue to be developed, particularly at the household level. The documents states that making agriculture and food systems nutrition‐sensitive necessitates acting to ensure the nutrient quality of each commodity is preserved and or enhanced throughout the entire value chain. Key issues addressed include input quality (catering to food preferences and needs), improved production practices, post‐harvest handling, storage and processing (to increase safety and nutrition quality), increased value added (greater income and employment resulting in greater food security), retailing (catering also to an increasing urban population) and consumption (awareness raising and hence demand for nutritious diversified food) to deliver safe, healthy, and nutritious foods all year round to both rural and urban consumers.
In addition, the plan seeks to make agriculture more productive and sustainable. The document is focused on diversified higher value agricultural products (horticulture, vegetable, poultry, pork, fisheries). Special attention is given to private sector investment in fruit and vegetable production though upgrading the provision of quality standards as well as supporting the demonstration of better technologies such as greenhouses, hydroponics, and other small‐scale irrigation solutions. Solving specific micronutrient malnutrition through the production of nutrient dense fruits and vegetables within a value chain framework will be prioritized. The plan furthermore focuses on productivity per animal ratios to close the country’s large protein dietary gap. This will be done by addressing the feed deficit (both quality and quantity), animal health, genetics, and markets. While interventions in the milk value‐chain will be continued, there will be increased focus on poultry and pork as well as fisheries and aquaculture where there is increasing private sector interest.
The instrument aims to enable more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems. It emphasises the provision of public goods while diminishing direct government involvement in production, processing, and marketing. Moreover, the Government will explore new models to engage private sector investment in transformational activities such as infrastructure provision and management, innovation and improved agricultural markets. Innovation and extension shall be strenghtened.
Increasing productivity and diversification and generating off‐farm income will increase household resilience to production risks. This needs to be matched by reducing weather‐related losses, adaptation to climate change and mainstreaming climate smart practices in all activities, coupled with adoption of sustainable land and husbandry management to increase ecosystem and household resilience, reduce climate risks, and further enhance productivity. Resilience to market risks for food crops in domestic markets is addressed through better insurance and financial services and other risk management and transfer tools, increased diversification at the household level, improved market information and strengthened contract farming models. These activities need to be complemented by a more decentralized, better managed grain reserve to mitigate large hikes in local food prices. Focus is given to farm profitability and commercialization: economic land productivity and incomes will increase by the introduction of land‐saving technologies aiming to increase yields, improve logistics, diminish post‐harvest losses, access new markets and adopt crops and animal products generating higher returns on investment and labour.