Agricultural Policy Action Plan (APAP) 2015-2019.

The Agricultural Policy Action Plan (APAP) is a strategic planning instrument applicable at the national level during the 2015-2019 period. Aligning itself with the New Growth Path (NGP), the National Development Plan (NDP) and Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP), APAP seeks to assist in the achievement of Outcome 4 (Decent Employment through Inclusive Growth) and that of Outcome 7 ( Comprehensive Rural Development and Food Security). The Plan lays down sectoral and transversal interventions in order to attain the four broad sector goals outlined under the IDGP, namely: Equitable growth and competitiveness; Equity and transformation; Environmental sustainability; and Governance.
The APAP is composed of seven Chapters. Chapters 5 and 6 present the main actions of the Agricultural Policy Action Plan: Chapter 5 focuses on the sectoral interventions that concern selected subsectors/value chains, while Chapter 6 covers APAP’s initial transversal interventions, meaning those actions which will support multiple subsectors, e.g. by means of addressing common constraints or addressing core competencies. Sectoral interventions are laid down for the following value chains: poultry/soya beans/maize; red meat; wheat; fruit and vegetables; wine industry; sugar; biofuels; forestry; small-scale fisheries. An Aquaculture Competitiveness Improvement Programme (ACIP) is included. Transversal interventions are laid down in the following areas: Fetsa Tlala (an integrated government initiative that seeks to promote food security and address structural causes of food insecurity); Research and innovation; Promoting Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA); Trade, agri business development and support; Biosecurity.
One of the strategic objectives of the APAPis to help eliminate hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity. Fetsa Tlala Integrated Food Production Intervention focuses on supporting subsistence and smallholder farmers to increase the area under production, with particular attention to bringing underutilised arable land in the former homelands into production. The intervention rests on five pillars, namely: 1) land capability; 2) mechanisation support services; 3) production inputs and infrastructure; 4) agro-processing and market development; and 5) capacity building.
The document seeks to make agriculture more productive and sustainable.
Another strategic objective is to make agricultural systems more integrated and efficient. To attain this objective, specific interventions are envisaged as regards job creation; value of production ; growth potential, and potential contribution to trade balance (including via export expansion and import substitution).
Concerning the National Climate Smart Agriculture Research and Development Programme, the aim is to promote improved conservation agriculture systems developed with focus on: climate-smart agricultural production systems and technologies; improved irrigation practices and techniques; earth observation technologies for climate observations and disaster events; management of alien invasive species; forecasting and early warning systems for extreme climatic events; design and test green technologies and processes to mitigate the impact of agriculture on the environment.