While national agricultural policies and budgets in Southern Africa are moving toward agroecology, they are still largely focused on support for conventional, industrial farming practices, says a new report shared today by the Partnership for Social Accountability (PSA) Alliance* at a Regional Agroecology Conference in Zimbabwe.
The briefing, Agroecology in Southern Africa: Financing the Transition, assesses the extent to which national agricultural policies, and budgeted programmes and projects in four countries―Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe―support agroecology.
The findings indicate that while existing national policies across sectors are somewhat synchronised with the elements of agroecology, they are situated within an overall framing that primarily promotes export orientation, commercialisation (especially irrigation infrastructure and farm blocks), and the provision of conventional farm inputs as a core support strategy.
Additionally, programme content and budgets in the fiscal year 2023-2024 show uneven correlation with agroecology. Generally, less than 50% of agricultural budgets in the four countries are supportive of agroecological practices.
In all four countries, there is a gap between policy support for elements of agroecology and budgetary support for these elements. Policy “hierarchies” exist in all countries, with environmental concerns tending to be downplayed and dominant financial and economic issues taking precedence. Selected elements of policies are implemented, while others are ignored.
Input subsidy programmes dominate agricultural budgets, with provision of synthetic fertiliser and hybrid maize remaining dominant. These harmful subsidies reduce allocations to public goods such as investment in research and development (R&D), education and training, and extension services.
The analysis uses the Agroecology Financing Analysis Tool (AFAT), a methodology developed and piloted by the PSA Alliance, which is based on 13 agroecology principles as defined by the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food and Nutrition Security (HLPE) of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), under the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
The policy brief makes the following recommendations:
National governments
- Prioritise food sovereignty and agroecology over “business as usual” in policy and financial investments.
- Develop national agroecology strategies to integrate actions across numerous sectors.
- Balance budget allocations between seasonal input support and public goods such as R&D, extension services, and bulk infrastructure.
- Ensure greater transparency in budgeting and expenditure reviews to enable civil society and parliamentarians to conduct deeper analysis and prioritisation.
- Differentiate support to smallholder farmers according to context-specific need, rather than a “one size fits all” model.
- Diversify input subsidy programmes to enable and support the production and distribution of farmer-led ecological inputs, in line with national, regional, and global commitments.
- Tap into related funding sources including global biodiversity and climate funds and contribute toward the establishment of the SADC Agricultural Development Fund to support agroecological food systems transitions.
SADC
- Develop regional agroecology support programmes, including research, guidelines, learning exchanges, and cross-country projects.
- Integrate fuller support for agroecology into the CAADP Post-Malabo agenda and the SADC RAIP 2025-2030.
- Operationalise and fund the SADC Agricultural Development Fund, including through accessing regional and international funding sources, such as global biodiversity and climate funds, to support agroecological food systems transitions.
*The Partnership for Social Accountability (PSA) Alliance is a consortium of organisations working to strengthen social accountability in health and agriculture across Southern Africa. The consortium consists of ActionAid; PSAM – Public Service Accountability Monitor of Rhodes University; SAfAIDS; and ESAFF – Eastern and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers’ Forum. The PSA Alliance is supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
For more information visit PSA – Partnership for Social Accountability Alliance (copsam.com), or email psaalliance@actionaid.org. To follow the PSA Alliance on Twitter or Facebook – see @PSAAlliance.