National Agriculture Policy 2012 - 2030.

This National Agriculture Policy is a review of the NAP 2004 - 2015. It is a nationwide sectoral document aiming at facilitating the development of a competitive, diversified, equitable and sustainable agriculture sector, in order to achieve by 2030 the national economic Vision for the agricultural sector of a competitive and diversified sector driven by equitable and sustainable agricultural development. The NAP envisages the achievement of the following objectives (i) promote sustainable increase in agricultural productivity of major crops with comparative advantage; (ii) improve agricultural input and product markets so as to reduce marketing costs of agribusiness, including small-scale farmers and farmer groups; (iii) increase agricultural exports to preferential markets at regional and international levels; (iv) improve access to productive resources and services for small-scale farmers, especially women and young farmers, in outlying areas to enable them to increase production of staple foods, including fruits and vegetables, for own consumption and the surplus for income generation; and (v) strengthen public and private sector institutional capabilities to improve agricultural policy implementation, resource mobilization, agriculture research, technology dissemination, and implementation of regulatory services. In summary, agriculture sector goals are (1) increase the annual growth rate of the real crop GDP; (2) increase the value and growth rate of crop exports; and (3) contribute to reduction of poverty and food insecurity.
To help eliminate hunger and food insecurity, the NAP proposes (i) expansion of production of oil seed crops in rotation with food grains to increase consumption of protein rich food crops; (ii) production of fruits and vegetables as a way of encouraging consumption of balanced diet, increasing incomes and diversifying income sources; (iii) environmentally friendly farming systems such as conservation farming, afforestation, and the use of organic manure to ensure long-term productivity and viability; (iv) appropriate farm mechanization hire services for small scale farmers as way to increase cropped area; and (v) increasing the area under irrigation as a way of increasing yields, promoting intensification and reducing rainfall-related production variations.
In order to make agriculture more productive and sustainable, the interventions are (i) an environmentally friendly farming systems such as conservation farming, afforestation, and the use of green manure and lime; (ii) capacity building for small scale farmers on the appropriate crop husbandry practices; (iii) adoption of efficient use of available water resources for irrigation; (iv) expansion of production of oil seed crops in rotation with food grains as a way to reduce fertilizer costs on the one hand and increase farm yield and incomes on the other; (v) improvement of rural storage and strengthening capacity of small scale farmers to reduce post-harvest losses; and (vi) strengthening institutional capacity to provide appropriate research, extension services and phytosanitary regulations for major crops to increase the productivity.
Rural poverty can be tackled through (i) the improvement of rural roads in order to reduce the cost of providing agricultural services; (ii) ensuring that agriculture sector growth benefits reach small scale farmers to enable them to raise their incomes and standard of living; (iii) granting access to productive resources and services, such as subsidies, access to markets; and (iv) promoting increased use of relatively cheaper sources of soil nutrients, including organic fertilizers, fertilizer blends and liquid fertilizers as a way to reduce production costs.
To enable more inclusive ed efficient agricultural and food systems, the Policy proposes a number of interventions as follows (i) strengthen the capacity of farmer organisations, including cooperatives, to provide appropriate and efficient services in production, marketing and processing to their members; (ii) working with the Ministry of Lands to increase the number of farmers with title deeds as an incentive for them to adopt sustainable land management practices and enhance the collateral value to enable them to access credit; (iii) strengthen market information, including ICT (Information and Communication Technology), to enable the market to function efficiently; (iv) promote agro-processing and value addition for major food and industrial crops with consistent surplus as a means of expanding market opportunities; (v) encourage decentralized production and marketing of alternative sources of soil nutrients, such as fertilizer blends, liquid fertilizer and inorganic fertilizer; (vi) strengthen capacity of farmer groups to meet preferential market requirements; (vii) enhance the capacity of small scale farmers to understand operations of contract farming and the benefits of selling at a relatively lower price to large and stable markets; (viii) increase diversification to other crops and product lines, especially those products with rising demand on domestic and international markets; (ix) strengthen relationship with agriculture cooperating partners, NGOs, private sector and other stakeholders so as to increase their support to the sector; (x) integrate gender issues at all levels of agricultural development; and (xi) strengthen farmer groups so that they can assist in the transfer of new technologies and reduction of the production and marketing costs.
The resilience of livelihoods to disasters can be increased by (i) strengthening early warning information and crop forecasting data and analysis to enhance emergency preparedness and management of strategic food reserves; (ii) strengthening institutional capacity to provide appropriate research, extension services and phytosanitary regulations for major crops as a way of reducing weather related risks; and (iii) facilitating continuous review of the regulatory framework for research and adaptation of potential technologies, including biotechnology.