Agriculture: Promoting Livelihoods in Conflict-Affected Environments Workshop Report

ABOUT THIS EVENT
On March 22-25, 2010, the Center for Stabilization and Reconstruction

Studies held an interactive workshop, Agriculture: Promoting Livelihoods
in Confict-Affected Environments, in Monterey, California, that convened
44 experienced agricultural practitioners to discuss strategies for rebuilding
degraded agriculture sectors in post-confict societies, sharing best practices
and lessons learned. The workshop, which was designed by Dr. John
Mellor, Dr. Sophal Ear, and Mr. Jeff Lewis, provided participants with the
opportunity to learn from practitioners who had been involved in agricultural
redevelopment initiatives in such countries as Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iraq,
Nigeria, the Philippines, and Rwanda, among others.
The Center for Stabilization and Reconstruction Studies (CSRS)
is a teaching institute which develops and conducts educational
programs for stabilization and reconstruction practitioners, including
representatives from US and international nongovernmental organizations,
intergovernmental organizations, government civilian agencies, and the armed
forces. Established by the Naval Postgraduate School in 2004 through the vision and
support of Representative Sam Farr (CA-17), CSRS creates a wide array of programs
to foster dialogue among practitioners, as well as to help them develop new
strategies and refne best practices to improve the effectiveness of their important
global work.

Located at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, CSRS also
contributes to the universitys research and graduate degree programs. For more
information about CSRS, its philosophy, and programs, please visit www.csrs-nps.org.
Workshop design and facilitation by Dr. John Mellor, Dr. Sophal Ear, and Mr. Jeff
Lewis. Program coordination by Graseilah Coolidge. Report writing and publications
development by Holly Larson. Cover design by Jesse Darling. Report layout and
graphics by David Bilotto. Photography by Nico Mavris. Copyright 2010 Center for
Stabilization and Reconstruction Studies. All rights reserved. The opinions, conclusions,
and recommendations expressed or implied herein are those of the contributors and
do not necessarily reect the views of the Naval Postgraduate School, the US Navy,
the US Defense Department, or any other agency or organization.
Promoting Livelihoods
in Conict-Affected
Environments
March 22-25, 2010
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Executive Summary
5 The State of Agriculture in
Post-Confict Societies
11 Moving from Agricultural
Intervention to
Redevelopment
27 Conclusion
29 Workshop Participants
31 Endnotes
1
Hunger and poverty: The two go
hand in hand. Despite decades
of technological progress that
have resulted in large-scale
increases in global agricultural
production, food scarcity
continues to be a daily issue
for much of the worlds poor.
Nearly a quarter of the worlds
population, or some 1.4 billion
individuals, lives on just $1.25
a day, with an astonishing 95
percent concentrated in just
two regions of the globe: Asia
and Sub-Saharan Africa.
1

Food insecurity, already a challenge
for so many of the worlds citizens,
becomes especially acute during
periods of confict. Threatened
by insurgents, farmers may fear
to till the soil, or they may fee,
leaving crops, livestock, and lands
behind. Harvests spoil or are
stolen. Livestock perish. And land
usually passed from generation
to generation of farmers falls
into the hands of illicit owners,
often never to return to its rightful
owners. As a result, input and crop
prices skyrocket, and food shortages
occur. More than a third of all food
emergencies in the period between
1992 and 2003 were caused by
confict and economic issues.
2
The
converse is also true: Food scarcity
can precipitate confict as people
become increasingly frantic over
Executive Summary
1
Despite decades of technological progress
in agricultural production, much of the
worlds poor still struggle with hunger.
Some 1.4 billion individuals, 95 percent of
whom live in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa,
live on just $1.25 a day.
The workshop convened 44 experienced

agriculture practitioners to discuss
strategies for revitalizing the agriculture
sectors of post-confict societies.
skyrocketing prices and shortages of
key foodstuffs. In 2007, rising food
prices caused riots in the cities of
more than 30 different countries.
3

Of equal importance, confict
degrades critical infrastructures and
depletes human and organizational
capacity at the very time the
population is increasing. According to
leading agricultural expert Dr. John
Mellor, extended violence often leads
to a doubling of the population with
no attendant increase in capacity,
straining outmoded agricultural
systems and production methods.
However, population growth is not
just limited to societies in confict:
According to the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO), the worlds population is
slated to grow from 6.1 billion to
9.1 billion by 2050 meaning that
world food production must increase
70 percent just to keep pace.
5
In
the food-insecure region of South
Asia, increases in population have
caused the amount of average
cultivated land to decline to 0.3
hectares per person.
6
While the
West, with its steady investment
into new agricultural methodologies
and technologies, is able to meet
the growing and increasingly
sophisticated consumption of
its expanding population, the
developing world is falling ever-
further behind in its ability to
provide basic nutrition for its
citizenry. Net cereal defcits,
which reached nine percent of
consumption in the 1997 to 1999
timeframe, are expected to
accelerate to 14 percent by 2030,
despite the fact that agriculture
has fgured prominently in hunger
and poverty reduction initiatives
for the past several decades.
7
Other
issues, such as countries use of
biofuels and the diverse impacts of
climate change, will increasingly
strain global food production.
8
Stabilization and reconstruction
(S&R) practitioners know that
rebuilding the agriculture sector
is one of the highest priorities for
a post-confict state. Agriculture
feeds the nation and contributes to
food security: A robust, well-linked,
and modernized agricultural supply
chain can more easily withstand
disruption than the informal, small-
scale, and ineffcient networks that
operate during confict. In addition,
agriculture provides livelihoods for a
vast number of the societys citizens,
including low-skilled workers and
ex-combatants who may not be
absorbed by other sectors: According
to a US Agency for International
Development (USAID) report,
2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Sources: How to Feed the World 2050; Improving the Livelihoods of the Resource-Poor
Smallholder Farmers and Producers in Developing Countries: An Urgent Appeal for
Action; and Feeding the World: Sustainable Management of Natural Resources.
4
Please
see Endnotes for complete references.
AGRICULTURE BY THE NUMBERS
9.1 billion the worlds population by 2050
6.8 billion the worlds current population
2.5 billion individuals involved in rural agriculture
1.5 billion resource-poor smallholders
1.28 billion farm plots of less than two hectares of land
840 million people suffering from chronic food shortages
3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
3
Farmers are the most commonly
found entrepreneurs in low-income
post confict countries.
9
Unlike other
would-be business owners, many of
these entrepreneurs already possess
the tools of their trade, including
land, seed, and equipment. Thus,
they simply require assistance in
increasing production. In addition,
farmers are part of a complex agro-
economic ecosystem, where their
prosperity is inextricably intertwined
with others such as manufacturers,
traders, and local purveyors of
goods and services who buy and
sell to them. As farmers prosper,
their rising incomes help lift their
communities around them. Farmers
serve as employers, partners, and
purchasers of local goods, increasing
the growth of the rural non-farm
sector, which is critical to a healthy
developing economy. According to Dr.
John Mellor, more than 60 percent
of all incremental employment
growth is due to agriculture and its
multipliers, and farmers spend half
of their incremental income gains
on rural non-farm services. Far from
a trickle-down effect, prosperous
farmers have a fow-down effect
on their communities, says Dr. Mellor.
Thus, improving the livelihoods of
this critical group can pay long-
lasting dividends for individual
communities and the nation.
On an aggregate level, agriculture
plays an important role in galvanizing
a countrys economy. Since a societys
economy is generally crippled
after extended violence leading
researchers Paul Collier and Anke
Hoeffer have found it takes a country
21 years to return to its pre-confict
state
10
rebuilding the agriculture
sector can provide an important boost
to a countrys GDP. In fact, improving
farming techniques can demonstrate
results in a single growing season.
Benefts such as greater crop yields,
higher per-farm revenues, and
thriving local markets are visible
to all. Such gains help actors buy
time and citizen goodwill for larger-
scale reforms infrastructure
development, agricultural research
and education, extension services,
and credit among them to take
root and begin making an impact on
the national stage. While seed and
input programs are important short-
term interventions, they represent
just the frst step of agricultural
redevelopment. According to authors
W. Erskine and H. Nesbitt, rebuilding
the agriculture sector in post-
confict countries involves far more
than boosting crop and livestock
production, but also requires
spurring the growth of private sector
industries such as transportation,
marketing, pesticide and fertilizer
production, and irrigation equipment;
and facilitating such public sector
responsibilities as infrastructure and
human resource development, the
formation of farmers cooperatives,
and the provision and protection
of equitable policy and property
rights.
11
This objective, the authors
acknowledge, is a massive task.
By promoting agriculture,
international actors also help
increase the credibility of the
host nation government during
the pivotal decade post-confict
when states are most vulnerable
to returning to violence. Since
nearly 40 percent of states return
to violence in the frst few years
post-confict, states Paul Collier on
his website, this is an important
objective. Post-confict governments
are often seen by their citizens as
weak, ineffectual, and corrupt. If
instead, they provide vital services
supportive policies and funding for
farmers and related businesses, new
technologies and seeds, and farming
expertise in local communities
they can cement their hold on
power by helping their poorest
citizens earn a living wage. In this
model, the government is seen as an
enabler, rather than a hindrance, to
industry and economic development.
For this reason, international actors
must work behind the scenes,
providing funding and technical
support to build the capacity of
Dr. John Mellor, formerly of the International Food Policy Institute and USAID, and
Mr. Jeff Lewis, of the International Disaster Assistance and Response Training
organization, served as two of the workshops three designers and facilitators.
agricultural actors at the national,
regional, and local levels so that
they do not supplant the host
nation as the provider of services
in the eyes of its citizenry. In
addition, actors must help the host
nation provide essential security
services: According to the FAO, A
peaceful and stable environment
in every country is a fundamental
condition for the attainment of
sustainable food security.
12
In
insecure environments, the food
supply is compromised, and women
are often disproportionately
affected: Since they represent the
majority of the worlds cultivators
in Africa, some 80 percent of
all food production is done by
women
13
they risk physical harm
every time they draw water, gather
frewood, or work in the feld in
insecure environments.
To explore these critical issues in
depth, the Center for Stabilization
and Reconstruction Studies (CSRS),
held an interactive workshop
for practitioners in Monterey,
California. The event, Agriculture:
Promoting Livelihoods in Confict-
Affected Environments, held March
22-25, 2010, convened some 44
experienced agricultural actors from
13 different countries to discuss
best practices and lessons learned
from past initiatives and begin
crafting new strategies to meet
the challenges presented in a wide
array of fragile states. Participants,
who represented nongovernmental
organizations, intergovernmental
organizations, government civilian
agencies, the armed forces, think
tanks, and contractors, brought a
wealth of experience to share with
their peers.
Agriculture: Promoting Livelihoods
was designed and facilitated by
three leading practitioners and
theorists on agricultural issues and
post-confict societies: Dr. John
Mellor, the former head of the
International Food Policy Research
Institute and former Chief Economist
for USAID; Dr. Sophal Ear, Assistant
Professor of National Security
Affairs, US Naval Postgraduate
School and former Assistant Resident
Representative for the United
Nations Development Programme
in Timor-Leste; and Mr. Jeff Lewis,
President, International Disaster
Assistance and Response Training.
Other workshop speakers included
representatives from FAO, USAID,
the United Nations Development
Programme, the US Army and state
National Guards, and ACDI/VOCA,
among others. Presenters shared
case studies of both national and
grassroots agricultural projects
in Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iraq,
Nigeria, the Philippines, and
Rwanda. These projects sought
to build vital institutional and
human capacity, implement
new livestock management
and farming techniques, and
provide farmers with the tools
and techniques required to build
sustainable livelihoods. Successes,
both large and small, provided
other practitioners with insights
into strategies they could use in
the future.
CSRS is an education institute that
develops and holds interactive
workshops on a wide array of
cutting-edge S&R topics. CSRS
leverages the experience and
insights of its workshop participants,
who share case studies, best
practices, and lessons learned with
their peers. Participants value the
opportunity to explore complex
topics in-depth, practice new skills
in executing complex simulations,
and interact with practitioners
across diverse communities. By
so doing, actors increase their
cognitive understanding of critical
issues, develop strategies they can
put to use in the feld, and build
professional networks they can
leverage in the future.
4
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
WORKSHOP LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Develop a deeper knowledge of the
diverse factors affecting agriculture
and its governance
Understand the role of agriculture
development in establishing
political stability
Explore a range of policy and
programmatic approaches for
promoting agricultural recovery
and rebuilding livelihoods
Gain familiarity with operational tools
used to design effective programs
Develop cross-community networks
they can leverage in the future
Agriculture:
Promoting
Livelihoods in
Post-Conict
Environments
was designed to
help participants:
Although agriculture is critical to
establishing a secure food supply,
livelihoods, and economic prosperity,
in post-confict countries this vital
sector typically lags decades behind
developed countries. Authors of
a PRISM article detailing lessons
learned from the US Department
of Agriculture interventions in Iraq
and Afghanistan make this argument
quite bluntly: The U.S. Government
should recognize that agriculture in
Iraq is equivalent to U.S. agriculture
in the 1950s, and the agriculture
sector in Afghanistan is even more
primitive by U.S. standards.
14
Why are war-torn countries so far
behind their peers? One key reason
is that they have experienced years
of underinvestment in agricultural
systems and methodologies, which
are widely seen by leading experts
as critical to ensuring the ongoing
development of the sector. For
example, in Sub-Saharan Africa
which has experienced numerous
conficts over the past several
decades, public investments
into the agriculture sector
represent only four percent of
total government spending.
15
In
middle- and high-income countries,
farmers have ready access to
the latest innovations, such as
The State of
Agriculture in
Post-Confict Societies
5
In war-torn countries, the agriculture
sector lags decades behind developed
countries. One key reason why is
that these states have systematically
underinvested in agricultural systems
and methodologies.
Participants gathered in breakout groups

to formulate a strategy for revitalizing
agriculture in a fctitious country beset by
many of the challenges experienced by
post-confict countries.
specially engineered seeds and
high performing inputs, as well
as core infrastructures well-
developed transportation sectors,
pervasive electrifcation and
irrigation, and telecommunications
services, among them that
enable commercial farmers to
continually increase yields, get
goods to market, and obtain
fair prices for their products. In
post-confict countries, which are
typically low-income, primitive
agricultural techniques abound:
Hand cultivation of soil, for
example, is the norm rather
than the exception. Farmers
likely have access to only low-
quality seeds and adulterated
inputs, meaning that their crops
produce a fraction of the yields
achieved elsewhere around the
globe. And large portions of the
world simply do not have access
to water and electricity. At the
CSRS workshop, a speaker showed
a nighttime satellite photo of
Africa, which revealed that the
vast majority of the continent was
still not electrifed. In the area
of telecommunications, however,
the developing world has kept
pace with the rest of the globe:
Farmers across the world now use
mobile phones to obtain critical
agricultural information, ensuring
that they obtain fair market prices
for their crops, thus maximizing
their return on investment.
In post-confict countries, agriculture
contributes disproportionately to
the economy, employing a vast
majority of the nations citizens and
representing a third or more of its
GDP, while constituting very little
of its public sector spending. For
example, in Rwanda, 40 percent
of the population is employed in
agriculture, while only 26 percent
of Egypts citizens are, according to
data presented at the workshop by
Dr. John Mellor.
16
Egypts investments
in rebuilding its agriculture sector
have helped strengthen related
industries, reducing its importance
to the GDP. Currently, agriculture
only contributes 16 percent to
Egypts GDP, and the rural non-farm
sector, which is a key engine of
growth in developing countries, now
contributes another 16 percent to
the countrys GDP. Meanwhile, years
of underinvestment in Rwanda are
refected in the fact that agriculture
still constitutes 40 percent of the
countrys GDP. According to the
World Bank, there is a close link
between public investments and
agricultures importance to the
GDP. In agrarian countries, public
spending on agriculture constituted a
mere four percent of all government
investments in 2000, while the sector
accounted for 29 percent of those
nations GDP. In urbanized countries,
by contrast, public spending on
agriculture represented 12 percent
of government investments, while
the sector only accounted for 10
percent of the GDP.
17
(See both tables
6
Ms. Ritumbra Manuvie, Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, discusses the lack
of key agriculture infrastructures in post-confict societies with Ms. Demetria Arvanitis,
Winrock International.
THE STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN POST-CONFLICT SOCIETIES
7
on page 8.) To galvanize the growth
of both rural farm and non-farm
sectors, post-confict countries
will need to reverse their course
of underinvestment and commit to
long-term investments that build
critical capacity and capabilities.
While developing countries surely
bear culpability for not investing in
agriculture, workshop participants
also said that donors need to
share the responsibility for this
lapse. According to Dr. Mellor,
the US Governments approach to
foreign development has changed
signifcantly over the past several
decades. Instead of funding large-
scale, long-term initiatives that
build national capacity, donors now
prefer to invest in small-scale, quick-
return projects that pay dividends
for local communities, but do not
provide an aggregate impact. And
much of the world has followed suit.
According to the organizers of the
Global Conference on Agriculture
Research for Development 2010,
offcial development assistance
to agriculture has plunged from a
peak of 17 percent in 1979 to 3.5
percent in 2004.
18
Part of this historic
shift may be attributable to the
dearth of agronomists and technical
experts in the senior ranks of donor
organizations such as USAID, stated
a workshop speaker. In the past,
technical leaders who possessed a
deep understanding of the sector and
farmers needs were able to present
a convincing business case for making
ongoing investments and waiting
years or even decades for capacity-
building initiatives to show results.
Now, funding decisions are made by
program managers who have a much
shorter-term focus, he said.
However, the trend of donor
underinvestment is one that most
actors believe needs to change.
According to the authors of an
FAO report:
Many more countries could
beneft from development
through the engine of agriculture,
provided governments and
international development
partners reversed years of
policy neglect, underinvestment
and ill-advised investment, as
agriculture uniquely contributes
to development as an activity
and livelihood, [and] also [serves]
as a provider of a range of
environmental services.
19

In addition to favoring smaller-
scale initiatives, donors and host
nations have frequently missed
opportunities to revitalize the
agricultural industries of the worlds
poorest countries, either by under-
investing in this sector or investing
in the wrong things. Workshop
speakers singled out donor funding
fads as one key issue that short-
circuits actors attempts to partner
with host nations in building long-
term capacity. As examples, they
cited investing in unsustainable
infrastructures, subsidizing
private enterprise instead of
public agencies, emphasizing
local capacity development at the
expense of national structures, and
building niche markets rather than
supporting established, large-scale
production agriculture.
Donor funding processes can
also affect program design and
implementation. Workshop
participants discussed the diffculty
of costing programs that are
dependent on inputs seed,
fertilizer, and pesticides among
them whose prices change on a
weekly basis, when funding approval
cycles often take a month or more.
That time lag places NGOs and
contractors in a diffcult bind: Either
they wait for approval and absorb
the impact of raw material infation
or they make fnancial commitments
in advance of receiving approval.
Moving in advance of donor
approval can have multiple negative
consequences: Not only does it
subject implementing partners to
fnancial risk, but it can also lead
7
Pictured from left to right: Mr. David Speidel, US Department of Agricultures Foreign
Agriculture Service, discusses donor funding trends with Ms. Adele Negro, Monterey
Institute of International Studies.
8
DEMONSTRATING THE LINK BETWEEN AGRICULTURAL INVESTMENT

AND THE SECTORS CONTRIBUTION TO COUNTRIES GDP
Public spending on agriculture is lowest in agriculture-based
countries, while their share of agriculture in GDP is highest.
Public Spending on Agriculture/Agricultural GDP
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
1980 / 2000 1980 / 2000 1980 / 2000
Agriculture-based Transforming Urbanized
17%
10%
4%
12%
11%
4%
Agriculture GDP/GDP
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
1980 / 2000 1980 / 2000 1980 / 2000
Agriculture-based Transforming Urbanized
24%
29%
10%
16%
29%
14%
Source for both graphs: World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development. Top graph based
on data from Shenggen Fan, forthcoming. Please see Endnotes for complete publication reference.
9
GDP growth originating in agriculture benets the poorest
half of the population substantially more.
Objectives of the Agriculture-for-Development Agenda
GDP Growth Across Sectors
8
6
4
2
0
-2
EXPENDITURE DECILES
EXPENDITURE GAINS INDUCED BY 1% GDP GROWTH, %
AGRICULTURE
NON-AGRICULTURE
LOWEST 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HIGHEST
PRECONDITIONS MACROECONOMIC FUNDAMENTALS
GOVERNANCE SOCIOPOLITICAL CONTEXT
Improve market access; establish
efcient value chains
Improve livelihoods in subsistence
agriculture and low-skill rural
occupations
Enhance smallholder
competitiveness;
facilitate market entry
Demand for
agricultural
products
Transition
to market
Demand for
agricultural and
nonfarm products
Transition
to market
Increase employment
in agriculture and the
rural nonfarm economy;
enhance skills
World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development, based on Ligon and Sadoulet, 2007.
Based on data from 42 countries during the period 1981-2003. Gains are signicantly different for the
lower half of expenditure deciles. Please see Endnotes for complete publication reference.
Source: World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development.
u
v x
w
Pathways
out of poverty:
farming, labor,
migration
INCOME
EFFECTS
INCOME
EFFECTS
to substandard decision making. A
contractor stated that he had seen
NGO representatives unintentionally
purchase adulterated inputs in their
desire to still make a difference while
waiting for funding. The NGOs may
have had good motivations, but they
ended up giving farmers something
worse than they already had.
In addition, funding does not always
align with growing seasons. While
one NGO member stated that
she was successful in obtaining
funding extensions, thus avoiding
any impact to her organizations
initiatives, others said that delays
were commonplace and sometimes
had devastating impacts. The
powers that be dont have a good
understanding of the issue of timing
with agriculture. With wheat, if
the funding for seed and fertilizer
is a week late, youre done. If its
grapes, it may not be as important,
said a think tank member.
Understanding the local context is
also critical, as countries needs
necessarily vary. An NGO member
offered an example: While most
countries have two growing seasons,
Nigeria has but one. If you cant
get funding in time for the growing
season, youve missed the entire
year, he said.
Funding constraints are not the sole
province of actors. Most agricultural
producers in developing countries
do not have the option of obtaining
fnancing, either because it is
unavailable, granting organizations
are riddled by corruption and
ineffciency, or credit terms are too
onerous. More than 10 years after
the confict in Rwanda, less than
10 percent of its rural population
had access to banking services.
20

An NGO member working in Nigeria
stated, There are some farmers in
Nigeria who have been in business
for more than 30 years and have not
had access to credit once. Without
credit and fexible loan terms,
farmers have diffculty purchasing
key inputs; improving or expanding
operations; and surviving the crises
that regularly affict their industry,
such as weather conditions that
ravage harvests.
In addition, land tenure issues may
negatively impact a countrys ability
to revitalize its agriculture sector.
According to the FAO, A crucial
priority in overall development
strategies is securing access to land
and other natural resources for the
rural poor. Rural landlessness is
often the best predictor of poverty
and hunger; the poorest are usually
landless or have limited access.
21

Actors should work with the host
nation to develop policies that
protect farmers property rights and
provide a clear chain of title.
10
Pictured at right: Ms. Erin Means, US Department of Agricultures Foreign
Agriculture Service.
In the aftermath of confict,
actors often focus on short-term
projects such as food aid, cash for
work, and seed programs, to solve
the immediate problem of food
insecurity. As an example of how
confict can affect food supplies, an
NGO member provided a case study
on how the effects of just two
months of confict in Kenyas Rift
Valley, considered to be the grain
basket of the country, negatively
compromised production of its
maize crop, a primary staple for 96
percent of Kenyans. The confict in
late 2007 led to the displacement
of 180,000 residents, a third of
whom were farming families; the
loss and theft of 20 percent of
the countrys maize harvest; and
skyrocketing prices for key inputs
and foodstuffs. As a consequence,
vulnerable communities reduced
the number and size of their daily
meals, with adults choosing to
do without so that their children
could eat. The NGO projects that
it will take 10 years to rebuild
core infrastructures and that the
country will suffer from maize
shortages for some time to come.
In scenarios like this one, food aid
is often an essential frst step to
helping a country begin the journey
of agricultural recovery.
Moving from Agricultural
Intervention to
Redevelopment
11
In Kenya, just two months of conict
led to the displacement of 180,000
residents, the loss and theft of 20
percent of the countrys maize harvest,
and skyrocketing prices for key inputs
and foodstuffs.
Practitioners, who represented an array of

diverse communities, shared perspectives
from initiatives they had been involved with
in Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iraq, Nigeria, the
Philippines, and Rwanda.
While short-term interventions can
meet immediate needs feeding a
hungry populace, employing low-
skilled workers, and increasing
harvests they do little to combat
the larger-scale problems caused by
years of underinvestment. Workshop
participants singled out four major
initiatives agricultural research,
extension services, credit, and
infrastructure development as
especially critical to revitalizing
the sector. Whats key, said one
speaker, is for actors to begin long-
term projects at the same time
they tackle immediate needs, as
development initiatives will take
years to bear fruit.
FOOD AID
So what are some of the short-
term initiatives that actors should
pursue? To combat the problem of
food insecurity in the aftermath of
confict, many donors offer food aid,
either in the form of direct relief
or food for work programs. While
such programs can alleviate hunger
or starvation, they also can have
unintended negative consequences,
demotivating farmers and crushing
local markets. In addition, they may
create a sense of entitlement in the
minds of benefciaries. Food trucks
are like heroin. Theyre really easy to
start, but hard to stop, said an NGO
member. One participant proposed
that actors offer cash for work
instead, allowing citizens to purchase
goods directly from local markets.
As an example of an effective food
aid program, a government civilian
agency representative cited USAIDs
Food for Progress program, which
purchases and donates foodstuffs to
a host nation, which the government
can then sell to citizens. Programs
like this can provide much-needed
supplies four and food grain among
them while minimizing competition
with local purveyors of goods.
CAPACITY
While capacity building is no longer
a primary focus of international
donors, it remains one of the
single most important needs of
host nations. Unlike many other
industries, agriculture is driven by
the public sector, rather than by
private enterprise. The government
funds large-scale research into new
farming techniques and technologies
that beneft individual farmers
rather than corporate entities;
delivers extension services to
train and equip agricultural value
chain participants; and provides
credit that commercial banks will
not offer. As such, it is essential
that practitioners work with
REVITALIZING AGRICULTURE IN
POST-CONFLICT SOCIETIES
Workshop participants stated that fragile
states must invest in four key areas to
rebuild their agriculture sector:
Agricultural research
Extension services
Credit
Infrastructure development
12
MOVING FROM AGRICULTURAL INTERVENTION TO REDEVELOPMENT
host governments to develop the
national and regional capacity they
require to deliver critical services
and drive reform efforts forward
in the absence of international
actors. In this model, practitioners
provide technical assistance, but
the host nation assumes ownership
of all programs. Effective capacity
development programs involve
key stakeholders in the design,
implementation, and evaluation
of new initiatives; are grounded in
a frm understanding of the host
countrys needs; seek to create
an enabling environment where
reforms can fourish; and build
vital expertise and capabilities in
institutions and individuals at the
national, regional, and local levels.
Organizations working to build
the capacity of developing
countries include the FAO,
USAID, and US Department of
Agricultures Foreign Agriculture
Service. These organizations
are increasingly joined in their
efforts by the US armed forces. In
Afghanistan, state National Guards
have committed to deploying
Agribusiness Development Teams
for fve consecutive rotations to
the same provinces to work with
regional offcials on improving
agricultural education, capacity,
and farming techniques. The
initiative, which began with a
single team from Missouri, has
expanded to a dozen or so state
teams. In addition, teams have
implemented the concept of
sister cities where they link
small cities in Afghanistan with
US counterparts, providing host
nation agricultural practitioners
with access to vital expertise
and research support from land
grant universities. By providing
provinces with longer-term
support and consistent services,
the National Guard is helping
build regional capacity in a wide
array of areas, including improved
farming techniques.
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
Practitioners must work closely with
host nation governments to design
supportive policies and incentives
that enable the development of the
agriculture sector. These policies
range from protecting the property
rights of landowners to removing
restrictive business requirements
or price controls that impede the
growth of key markets.
While land is one of the most
valuable resources a farmer can
have, farmers around the world do
not always possess clear title to the
lands they till. In Africa, for example,
urban property, constituting only
two to 10 percent of countries total
land holdings, is often registered,
while rural land is not.
22
Farmers
who own their land are motivated
to invest their labor and fnancial
resources in improving it. Not only
do they seek to improve yields and
increase their incomes, but they are
also maintaining and improving a
valuable asset they can pass down
for generations. However, in a
post-confict society, the rural poor
may have lost access to their land
13
Workshop presenters offered case studies on both small-scale and regional agricultural
interventions around the world.
While land is one of the most
valuable resources a farmer can
have, growers around the world do
not always possess clear title to the
land they till. In Africa, for example,
urban property is often registered
while rural land is not.

if they ever possessed it in the
frst place. Workshop participants
discussed Iraq as a case in point:
During his 24-year rule, Saddam
Hussein seized land and destroyed
property records in Iraq, making it
impossible for individuals to lay
claim to their property, even
after his overthrow. Meanwhile, in
many African countries, communal
ownership holds sway. In countries
where land can be individually
owned, women, who represent the
majority of the worlds cultivators,
may be disenfranchised. Even
in progressive countries such as
Namibia, Rwanda, and Uganda,
which have enacted civil laws to
protect womens property laws,
customary law often predominates.
As a consequence, women who live
in these countries often lose access
to their land when their spouse dies
23

a major concern in this continent
where HIV/AIDS has felled so much of
the adult population.
In other cases, land tenure issues
may be due to the remnants
of colonialism or its modern
replacement, globalism. A workshop
speaker discussed the challenges of
working with farmers in Mindanao.
Since much of that areas land is
concentrated in the hands of a
few large-scale land barons, most
farmers either work small plots or
serve as hired hands on the ruling
elites plantations. As a consequence,
corruption and oppression are
rampant, with few options available
for assisting the rural poor. However,
in the modern era, countries and
global companies are increasingly
replacing wealthy individuals as
large-scale land owners. Indigent host
nation governments may sell or lease
property assets to drive revenues
for their state or enrich the ruling
elite. Some 20 countries have leased
tens of millions of acres in African
countries such as Sudan, Ethiopia,
Congo, and Nigeria to combat food
insecurity and produce resources such
as biofuels.
24
Such actions may push
farmers off arable lands into areas
where poor soil, drought, and other
issues make it diffcult to earn a
living wage from growing crops.
Some donors have sought to shore
up property rights with reform
programs or new infrastructures.
In Afghanistan, USAID trained
personnel in maintaining more than
six million legal documents.
25
Such
efforts can prove costly and time-
consuming, with one workshop
speaker questioning their effcacy.
People generally know who owns
land in their communities. That
knowledge and good relationships
is the source of their security,
he said. However, he acknowledged
14
Mr. David Odigie, MARKETS, shares his insights on land tenure issues with
Mr. Chukwuemeka Mbah, Institute for Peace and Confict Resolution.
that countries that had pervasive
land tenure issues would have
diffculty using agriculture as a tool
for combating poverty and hunger.
In such countries, he said, only
a large-scale land redistribution
program would address the economic
and social ills caused by inequitable
resource allocation.
In addition to addressing land tenure
issues, host nation governments must
reconsider business policies that
constrain growth. A USAID report
states: Short-term gains in new
cash-crop production can be lost
rapidly if the business environment is
not conducive to success. Frequently
in the case of private sector
enterprises, regulatory constraints
such as licensing or restriction of
imported inputs may be important to
address
26
Several examples suffce
to illustrate this point: The rise of
GMO seeds has led to a split in the
global agriculture community, with
some nations adopting new seeds and
others refusing to do so. Zambia has
even gone so far as to outlaw all GMO
crops, because such crops are not
marketable in Europe. That decision,
said a workshop presenter, is short-
sighted. If European markets open
to GMO goods, Zambia will be years
behind its peers.
However, governments can also
reverse restrictive regulations,
clearing the way for market forces
to take effect. In the 1980s,
Mozambiques use of price controls
eradicated farmers incentives to
supply the Maputo market and led
to chronic shortages. The USAID
Mission worked with the government
to remove price controls, providing
monies for seeds and tools; this
combination of incentives helped to
recharge both the vegetable market
and the growth of input markets.
27

Similarly, eliminating warehouse
ownership requirements for cashew
exports in Guinea-Bissau helped
create market competition, leading
to signifcantly higher prices and
increased investment.
28
MARKET INCENTIVES
Workshop participants discussed
the tension between government
intervention and market forces.
While regulations can help foster an
enabling environment for agriculture
to fourish, some cautioned against
creating overly restrictive policies
that might have unintended
negative impacts, such as promoting
corruption. However, actors often
face a conundrum in instances
where they hope to implement new
production procedures, but lack a
regulatory stick to force compliance.
In these cases, workshop participants
said, it was important to fnd
market incentives that rewarded
the adoption of new practices.
Speakers offered two compelling case
studies. In the frst example, an IGO
member shared his organizations
15
Lieutenant Colonel North Charles, US Army, is serving on one of the dozen-plus state
National Guard teams working on multi-year agriculture programs in Afghan provinces.
Actors working with livestock
producers shared their struggles to
motivate farmers to adopt sanitary
handling and slaughtering procedures.
What worked: Finding market
incentives, such as higher revenues
and prot margins, that rewarded
their adoption of new practices.

work to motivate small-scale
poultry farmers in Southeast Asia,
who typically raised focks in their
homes, to adopt better food safety
procedures. Even though the recent
outbreak of avian fu required the
culling of 250 million birds across the
region, demonstrating the worlds
vulnerability to a global pandemic,
farmers had no motivation to adopt
new practices because they feared
they would negatively affect their
bottom line. Hence, the organization
conducted a market study and
demonstrated that buyers would be
willing to pay 30 to 40 percent more
per bird, providing farmers with a
compelling business rationale for
adopting new practices.
On a national scale, the US
government has been working
with Afghan farmers to stamp out
illicit poppy production, which
is used in opium. Until 2002, the
Nangarhar province was the second
largest producer of opium in the
country. An NGO member shared
his organizations work to provide
farmers with assistance to transition
to licit crops. The NGOs program,
which targeted 226,000 households
in the region, provided partially
subsidized inputs such as high
quality seeds, technical assistance
to build capacity, market linkages,
and substantial investments in
roads and infrastructure projects.
The region was declared poppy-
free six years later, as a result of
the organizations successful work
to upgrade production of 118,000
hectares, increasing productivity
by 72 percent. As a result of this
organizations intensive support,
farmers realized that they were
able to obtain comparable revenues
from licit crops, thus motivating the
desired behavior change.
THE LOCAL CONTEXT
It is a truism that actors must
consider the local context and
involve stakeholders in the design and
implementation of programs. Issues
for practitioners to assess include:
land ownership, regional crops and
prevailing dietary preferences,
imports and exports, the availability
of critical infrastructures, and
distribution and logistics processes.
Donor aid has often targeted
the rural poor, also called
smallholders, or those farmers
tilling less than two hectares
of land, who represent some
85 percent of all farmers in the
developing world.
29
Such farms are
typically run by families who lack
the fnancial resources and technical
knowledge to purchase quality
inputs and increase production on
their small plots of land and as such,
require assistance.
16
Workshop participants discussed the need to tailor agricultural initiatives to the local context.
Smallholder farming or the
(sic) family farming remains
the most common form of
organization in agriculture, and
it should be understood that
following the local integrated
farming system, using locally
adapted species and varieties,
substantially increases the net
farm productivity of small farms
and [their] contribution to the
GDP of countries, agriculture
growth, development and
poverty reduction.
30

However, Dr. Mellor added a caveat
to this commonly held wisdom,
stating that improving yields on
plots of land smaller than one
hectare benefted no one save the
farmers themselves. Individuals
tilling property of one hectare or
less are subsistence farmers who
often pursue additional forms of
employment to augment their farm
earnings, he said. Farmers who till
larger plots of soil are motivated
to take risks and adopt agricultural
innovations; any crop increases they
achieve are taken to market rather
than consumed by their families.
Not only do women serve as the
majority of the worlds farmers,
but they also represent an outsize
number of its poorest agricultural
households.
31
As a consequence,
their needs should be incorporated
into the design of any intervention
program. Women should participate
in agricultural decision making and
should have equitable access to all
services, including research, credit,
and extension services.
The sustainability of post-confict
agricultural efforts also hinges on
their relevance to a regions native
crops or dietary preferences. Regions
in Sub-Saharan Africa that are largely
dependent on cereal grains such as
sorghum, millet, and maize (and tef
in Ethiopia and Eritrea) are unlikely
to be well-served by seeds from a
donor country more tailored to a
Western diet. A USAID report affrms
the importance of obtaining seeds in
the local context or from the market
where the crops will ultimately be
transported and sold: Donors can
easily provide seeds from the surplus
in their home countries, but such
seeds may not be suitable to local
conditions or to local market tastes
and requirements.
32

Other issues that actors should
consider include the availability
of key inputs and systems; the
sustainability of new processes;
and the need to balance local food
crops with perennial crops. An NGO
working in Nigeria has developed a
Commercial Innovation Fund to spur
the development of context-specifc
tools such as a harvesting tool for
cassava, processing equipment to
convert discarded cassava peels into
animal feed, and rice parboilers
to reduce product breakage during
milling. Such processes, which
require limited skills on the part of
users, are more likely to be adopted
and maintained than those which
are dependent on complex systems
or require wholesale changes to
customary ways of working.
17
Pictured at right: Ms. Sharon Akanyana, National University of Rwanda.
Improving agriculture yields on plots
of less than one hectare benets only
farmers. Actors should target mid-tier
farmers who are motivated to take risks
and will sell, rather than consume, any
crop increases they achieve.

Perennial crops, such as coffee
and cocoa, can also serve as vital
catalysts of economic growth in
low-income countries. According
to a report developed for the
Global Conference on Agricultural
Research and Development,
coffee is the second most valuable
globally traded commodity,
outstripped only by oil, and cocoa
provides more revenues to Ghanas
rural areas than the countrys
largest export, gold.
33
Helping
countries add value to these cash
crops can increase the margins
farmers are able to command.
One of the most well-known
examples of this phenomenon is
coffee washing. In 2000, Rwanda
possessed just a single coffee
washing station, as evidenced by
its exports: Although the country
exported 14,000 tons of semi-
washed coffee, only 18 tons were
fully washed. With USAID funding
and technical expertise, Rwanda
coffee farmers installed 72 more
coffee washing stations over a four-
year period. As a consequence,
when exports grew, farmers were
able to wash a greater number
of beans and command higher
prices for their goods: In 2006,
the country exported 26,000 tons
of coffee;10 to 15 percent of this
product was fully washed.
34

While actors must work closely with
key stakeholders, they often discover
that it is not always possible or
desirable to grant stakeholders
wishes. In Afghanistan and Iraq,
practitioners found that farmers
unions competed against each other;
thus, advisors chose to work through
councils, rather than sheikhs and
leaders, to reduce some of the
ethnically motivated maneuvering.
35

Meanwhile, workshop participants
stated that obtaining a wish list of
desired changes from local farmers
did not always yield desired results.
A contractor said that when actors
asked local farmers in the Nangarhar
province what trees they wanted
planted in their region, they obtained
a list of 50 different varietals, many
of which were more suited for home
gardens than large-scale production.
Instead, the contractor provided
farmers with three types of trees that
PRIORITY AND SEQUENCING OF
AGRICULTURAL INITIATIVES
Assist returnees; provide food
aid, seeds, and tools using
market-restoring approaches
Strengthen markets for
agricultural services, inputs,
and outputs
Restore rural roads, market
information systems, and other key
rural economic infrastructures
Reform agriculture sector policies
and improve the agribusiness
enabling environment
Reestablish herds;
build agricultural
value chains
Strengthen agriculture
sector instructions and
regulatory capacity
Strengthen agricultural training,
education, outreach, and
adaptive research
A
C
T
IV
IT
Y
U
R
G
E
N
T
IM
M
E
D
IA
T
E
IN
T
E
R
M
E
D
IA
T
E
C
O
N
S
O
L
ID
A
T
IN
G
Source: A Guide to Economic Growth in Post-Confict Countries, 67. See Endnotes for
complete publication reference.
High intensity level of assistance
Lower intensity level of assistance
Typically very little assistance
18
had commercial viability. Similarly, a
military vet working in an Afghanistan
province denied farmers requests
for assistance when an oversupply of
animals resulted in feed shortages.
Instead, he recommended culling
herds to bring supply back in line
with local demand.
SEED AID
Drawing on years of research,
actors know that increasing the
production of staple crops and
systems is the most critical strategy
for combating food insecurity and
poverty in post-confict countries.
According to the FAO:
Overall, it is estimated that
about 80 percent of future
increases in crop production in
developing countries will have
to come from intensifcation:
higher crop yields through
appropriate use of fertilizers,
improved germplasm and
water management, increased
multiple cropping and shorter
fallow periods, improved land
and livestock husbandry and
pest and disease management.
36

Decades of underinvestment
in new farming techniques and
specially engineered seeds mean
that agricultural producers
typically have yields that are
signifcantly lower than their more
technologically sophisticated
peers. While growers often tinker
with their own farming methods
in an attempt to drive crop
yields, such efforts are unlikely
to increase yields by more than
a half percent, said Dr. Mellor.
Farmers need access to critical,
high quality inputs, such as high
performing seeds, fertilizer, and
pesticides. According to authors W.
Erskine and H. Nesbitt, the most
common agricultural intervention
in post-confict countries is
delivering seeds ensuring the
immediate availability, access,
and the subsequent continuity of
supply of appropriate seeds
37

which is typically accomplished
by providing imported inputs.
the diffculty of using imported
seeds, which may not meet local
tastes or perform as desired in
the new context. Actors should
perform market studies, conduct
feld research, and test seeds
before distributing them to make
sure that they are high quality and
context-appropriate and produce
desired yields. In Rwanda, Uganda,
Afghanistan, and Cambodia, actors
used their historical knowledge
of past practices to guide seed
development: choosing and testing
quality seeds and using them to
increase local stocks.
38
In addition,
practitioners often use fnancial
incentives to encourage adoption
of new seeds, providing vouchers
that subsidize farmers purchases
and gradually phase out over time.
19
Seed aid providing immediate,
full, and continuous access to high
quality, locally appropriate seeds
is one of actors rst strategies for
revitalizing agriculture.

Pictured in foreground: Dr. Sophal Ear, US Naval Postgraduate School, one of the
workshops designers and co-facilitators.
OTHER INPUTS
In addition to high performing
seeds, farmers need access to other
key inputs, such as fertilizer and
pesticides. While farmers typically
obtain such inputs locally, they
are often substandard or even
toxic. The World Bank website
provides numerous case studies of
how unchecked use of banned or
restricted substances has led to
a signifcant number of pesticide
poisonings in Bangladesh, Brazil,
and Vietnam. According to an FAO
report, pesticide issues are a major
concern for the developing world,
due to the lack of nationally enforced
legislation, the widespread sale of
substandard and hazardous products,
and lack of safe handling practices.
As a consequence, soil and water
contamination of rural areas is a
major issue in such countries.
39

In a similar vein, a military offcer
shared the example of how General
Petraeus ban on ammonium
nitrate, a key component used in
the manufacture of improvised
explosive devices (IEDs), has led
to the large-scale dumping of
fertilizers. Since military personnel
cannot differentiate between those
fertilizers that possess ammonium
nitrate and those that contain urea
and ammonium forms that were not
banned, they destroy both. Not only
is this causing ecological damage,
but it is also preventing farmers from
accessing vital inputs.
whether the host nation should
implement policies that regulate
key inputs. While numerous
international actors have called for
stricter regulation, one speaker took
a contrarian view, stating that in
developing countries, such regulation
invariably led to further corruption.
He cited an anecdote of a large-scale
fertilizer producer in Afghanistan who
adulterated his goods by 10 percent
to stay competitive with other
suppliers. When questioned about
the possibility of regulation, the
supplier said that he would then need
to adulterate his product by another
10 percent to cover the bribes
he would need to pay inspectors.
Regardless of whether countries
choose to regulate these products,
farmers need training in how to
20
Pictured from left to right: Dr. John Mellor; Ms. Siti Ismah Afwan, UN Development Programme
Indonesia; and Ms. Demetria Arvantis, Winrock International.
assess input quality and use products
safely and in the right quantities,
as numerous research studies have
exposed the deleterious effects of
improper handling.
LIVESTOCK
INTERVENTIONS
In addition to providing farmers
with high quality inputs, donors
often fund livestock interventions,
such as training veterinarians and
farmers in techniques like animal
inoculation and the treatment of
vitamin defciencies. Two military
veterinary offcers shared their
strategies for helping farmers in the
developing world adopt livestock
best practices. A military vet
working in the Philippines said that
he conducts vet demonstrations
with local farmers to train them on
how to conduct physical exams of
animals and do inoculations. While
it is initially diffcult to convince
farmers to adopt new practices,
they become convinced of the
effcacy of these methods once their
animals gain weight and ticks fall
off their hides, he said. Ultimately,
they realize that healthier animals
command higher prices in the
marketplace. Vet demonstrations are
augmented with extension training
services for agriculture offcials
and university staff and livelihood
programs for ex-combatants.
National Guard teams experienced
similar breakthroughs working with
livestock owners in Afghanistan:
While farmers were resistant to
using new slaughterhouses and
implementing sanitary animal
processing techniques, they did so
once they realized that they could
achieve higher margins by selling
certifed meats to US military forces.
In both instances, market incentives
drove desired behavior change where
veterinary best practices could not.
AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH
Agricultural research has often
focused on driving yields of staple
crops. And it has achieved amazing
results in this regard. Drawing on
Norman Borlaugs intensive research
to produce high-yielding, disease-
resistant seed varieties, countries
around the world have driven yields
of staple crops, even as populations
exploded. In 1950, the worlds
countries produced 692 million tons
of grain for 2.2 billion people. By
1992, after Borlaugs techniques had
been adopted, countries produced
1.9 billion tons for 5.6 billion people
using only one percent more land.
40

Norman Borlaug is widely credited
with helping India and Pakistan
achieve agricultural self-suffciency
and saving as many as a billion people
globally from starvation, efforts for
which he was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize.
41

NGOs and contractors working in
the developing world typically
seek to involve the rural poor
in designing and implementing
programs that will achieve a
sustained growth rate of four
21
Participants discussed strategies for working with the host nation to create an enabling
environment for long-term agriculture reforms to take root.
With the introduction of high-yielding,
disease-resistant seeds, the worlds
countries were able to drive grain yields
from 692 million tons to 1.9 billion tons
in just four decades. This fertile phase
of agricultural research has been justly
dubbed the green revolution.

to fve percent annually. Such
programs, which combine both
traditional knowledge and cutting-
edge technology, seek to produce
more food and agricultural
products from the same overall
resources (e.g., land, labor and
water) while reducing the negative
environmental impacts and at the
same time increasing contributions
to natural capital and the fow
of environmental services.
42
In
Nigeria, for example, an NGO
working in multiple regions has
helped local farmers implement
a system of rice intensifcation:
Efforts to date have helped double
yields from a low of two tons per
hectare to four tons still far
short of the 12 tons achieved by
Asian countries, but an important
step on the path to progress.
Yield-focused programs, while
important, are just one component
of a broader research platform.
The global author team of
Transforming Agriculture Research
for Development recommends that
developing countries increase funding
for agricultural research to 1.0 or 1.5
percent of agricultural GDP and focus
research on the following themes:
developing agricultural systems for
the poor and vulnerable; enabling
agricultural incomes for the poor;
optimizing productivity of global
food security crops; agriculture,
nutrition, and health; water, soils,
and ecosystems; forests and trees;
climate change and agriculture;
and agricultural biodiversity.
43

In addition, actors should work to
promote higher education, so that
post-confict countries can develop
their own human capacity to execute
context-specifc research.
REBUILDING CORE
INFRASTRUCTURES
Beyond immediate interventions,
one of the most critical things
actors can do is rebuild critical
infrastructures. While such systems
as irrigation, electrifcation,
and cold storage are important,
participants singled out all-
weather roads as the number-one
infrastructure issue facing most
post-confict societies. Simply put,
farmers need traversable roads to
get goods to market. While costly to
underwrite, road projects also serve
as a vital source of employment
22
Participants, who hailed from 13 different countries, brought a wealth of insights to share
with peers.
for low-skilled populations such
as ex-combatants and youth,
easily withstand the departure
of actors, and provide benefts
for area communities for years to
come. Beyond roads, irrigation
continues to be a major concern
for drought-afficted countries,
especially those in Africa. Only four
percent of countries in Sub-Saharan
Africa are irrigated although this
region uses less than three percent
of total water resources.
44
Since
Sub-Saharan Africa constitutes
one of the two regions where the
greatest proportion of the worlds
malnourished reside, improving
irrigation and increasing the
amount of farmable land could
have a considerable role in
strengthening productivity and
alleviating hunger worldwide.
Improving electrifcation and
cold storage can help increase
farmers revenues by protecting
crops from spoilage. Multiple
workshop participants spoke about
the challenges facing Afghan
farmers who lack cold storage for
fragile crops such as apples and
grapes that would enable them
to store produce and increase
sales to the domestic market. As
a consequence, they are locked
in a counterproductive and proft-
draining market cycle: They sell
their produce to neighboring
Pakistan, whose enterprising
traders refrigerate purchased
goods, and then sell them right
back to Afghan citizens.
Actors can also work with local
agricultural practitioners to
streamline the supply chain. A USAID
factsheet details the work of an
NGO to improve the availability of
Nigerian cassava, which constitutes
50 to 60 percent of citizens
diets.
45
Despite its nutritional
importance to the country, cassava
is not typically used for large-scale
industrial applications because
its roots must be processed
within 48 hours. An NGO teamed
with an Akure-based food mill to
demonstrate that implementing a
computer logistics program and GPS
technology to modernize collection,
transportation, and logistics
processes could improve cassava
availability. If the mill expanded its
outgrowers network and updated
its truck feet, it could achieve
80 percent of processing capacity
in just fve years. Demonstration
programs such as this one could
have an aggregate impact on the
countrys economy if funded for
implementation on a national scale.
However, actors should take care
to ensure that new systems and
methodologies can be sustained
without expensive, imported inputs
or wholesale disruption to commonly
accepted practices. In the words of
practitioners involved with Provincial
Reconstruction Team initiatives in
Iraq and Afghanistan: All agricultural
actors (particularly contractors and
USAID personnel) need to tailor
their projects to local conditions,
and provide tools and technologies
that are appropriate to local skill
23
Dr. Juan Estrada, Development Alternatives, Inc., discusses farmers needs for such
infrastructures as irrigation, electrifcation, and all-weather roads with another participant.
Afghan farmers, who lack cold
storage, often sell their produce
to neighboring Pakistan only to
purchase refrigerated goods back
again at higher prices.

levels and traditions.
46
They cite
US-funded agricultural programs
that provided John Deere tractors
and heavy machinery to farmers in
Afghanistan that either went unused
or were stripped for parts the frst
time they required maintenance.
47

The articles authors suggested that
oxen, and tools like hoes and shovels,
would have been more appropriate
given the context. Similarly, a team
from the Norman Borlaug Institute for
International Agriculture interviewed
a sheikh who had been given a tractor
but no supplemental equipment
or fuel by the US military. Said
the sheikh: Giving a big tractor to
an Iraqi farmer is like giving a black
walnut to a man with no teeth.
48
MARKETING
Workshop participants discussed the
role of marketing, which has received
considerable donor attention and
funding. A speaker questioned the
wisdom of involving the public sector
in a sphere that has traditionally
been the province of private
enterprise. Traders are good at what
they do, he said, while the public
sector is notoriously ineffcient at
these types of activities. It is far
better, he said, for the government
to develop supportive policies that
encourage growers, traders, and
suppliers to join the formal economy,
where their tax revenues can be
used to provide vital services.
Participants also discussed donors
efforts to grow markets of niche
products, such as rosewater and
saffron in Afghanistan. Such efforts,
said one, contribute nothing to
the countrys aggregate growth. A
better use of resources would be to
help growers increase production
or add value to established crops.
As an example, trellising grapes
can help Afghan farmers improve
yields by 50 percent, by preventing
mold and rot.
49
EXTENSION SERVICES
To take root, agricultural
innovations need to be
disseminated. The US is a model
for many in this regard. Congress
creation of the Cooperative
Extension System more than
a century ago enabled an
agricultural revolution in the US,
with dramatic increases in farm
productivity and crop yields.
Thousands of county and regional
24
Workshop breaks afforded participants with the opportunity to meet other practitioners
and strengthen cross-community networks.
extension offces provide access
to teaching and research from the
countrys more than 100 land grant
universities. The program, which
is funded by the US Department
of Agricultures National Institute
of Food and Agriculture, as well
as state and county monies, now
provides broad-based services
that not only help farmers learn
new productivity, marketing,
and management techniques,
but also assist landowners,
youth, and families, according
to the Institutes website. In the
developing world, organizations
such as the FAO and World Bank
have supported efforts to develop
local capacity, disseminate new
research and methodologies,
equip agricultural value chain
participants with new skills, and
link farmers to markets.
the diffculty of building effective
extension services, when such
programs have typically been
starved of resources. Agents, they
said, rarely make a livable wage
due to corruption and diversion of
funds. As a consequence, actors
seek to develop agents skills by
providing them with targeted
training and resources. A contractor
shared his organizations work to
train agents and provide them with
manuals, backpacks, and bicycles
rather than cars and computers
which require both resources and
inputs to operate. In addition,
he stated that his organization
used technical criteria to select
demonstration farms, avoiding the
risk of possible cronyism that could
occur if agents were allowed to
choose the farms themselves.
Involving local stakeholders in
agricultural decision making is a key
tenet of the FAOs Strategic Extension
Campaign, which seeks to involve
them in the planning, management,
and implementation of agriculture
extension and training programs.
Actors have used Strategic Extension
Campaign methodologies to work
with stakeholders on such issues
as the line sowing of rice, maize
production and cocoa cultivation to
tick-borne disease control, contour
tillage, population education and
ploughing with draught-animal
power in multiple countries
throughout Asia, Africa, the Near
East, and the Caribbean.
50
CREDIT
With its dependence on external
factors, agriculture is seen as a
risky lending enterprise. Farmers
ability to repay loans is dependent
on a wide array of inherently
uncontrollable issues, such as
area security, temperate weather,
ready access to quality inputs, and
healthy, abundant harvests. Since
most commercial banks refuse
25
Participants considered the challenges involved with building effective extension services
and ensuring that agents are paid a livable wage.
With its dependence on external
factors, agriculture is seen as a risky
lending enterprise. Farmers ability to
repay loans is based on a wide array of
inherently uncontrollable issues such as
area security, temperate weather, ready
access to quality inputs, and healthy,
abundant harvests.

to lend to farmers, agricultural
lending has typically been the
province of the public sector. In
the US, the Farm Credit System
has provided farmers with fexible
lending terms for decades, with
Congress occasionally bailing out
agriculture producers in times of
need. However, very few countries
in the developing world provide
farmers with access to federally
guaranteed credit. And those
national agribanks that do exist
are often riddled with corruption
and ineffciency, meaning that
only a privileged few obtain
access to vital credit while
depleting loan reservoirs by failing
to make payments.
Microfnance has been hailed
by many as a tool for helping
entrepreneurs obtain the fnancing
they need to launch and grow
businesses. The Grameen Bank, in
particular, has helped create this
important lending industry which
offers small loans without collateral
to the rural poor. As of April 2010,
the bank had served some 8.1
million borrowers in Bangladesh,
97 percent of whom were women,
according to its website. However,
this model simply is not applicable
to agriculture. With its high interest
rates and small loans, microfnance
does not provide farmers with ready
access to the ample, affordable
credit they need to buy costly
inputs and harvest crops before
repaying loans. Said an NGO
member: Microfnance is not the
right approach, because the loans
can have interest rates of as much
as fve percent a month. You cant
fnance agriculture with that.
Actors should work with host nation
governments to develop federal
agribanks that provide farmers with
the full set of banking and lending
services they require. But such
institutions should be nationally
operated. As a case in point, a
workshop speaker shared a recent
example of a US government civilian
agencys efforts to create a national
agribank in Afghanistan. Although his
group submitted a proposal seeking
to build an organization staffed solely
with Afghans (except for a few senior
managers charged with providing
technical assistance), the agency
opted instead to contract with a frm
staffng the institution solely with
external actors. While the agribank
may provide funding to farmers over
the short-term, it will do nothing
to build human or institutional
capacity within the country. Thus,
when the contracting frm operating
the institution departs the country,
the organization will likely fold.
Donors need to consider the long-
term consequences of their funding
decisions, the presenter stated.
26
During the opening presentation, CSRS Program Director Matthew Vaccaro asked participants to
identify which communities they represented.
Agricultures importance to a
post-confict states economy
cannot be overstated. A healthy
agriculture industry provides food
and sustainable livelihoods for
its citizens, while contributing to
a states security and economic
recovery. As a consequence, actors
know that helping a host nation
revitalize this important sector
and build the capacity to offer
critical services is essential to
preventing a return to violence
and creating a peace dividend all
can share in. Many practitioners
also feel a sense of urgency to
help post-confict societies
which are typically low-income
acquire the capabilities they
need to prepare for such issues
as population growth, economic
volatility, and climate change, to
name just a few of the challenges
that will confront countries both
today and in the future. Improving
agricultural self-suffciency can
help a country create an economic
and social buffer against some of
the impacts of globalization, while
combating the twin scourges of
hunger and poverty.
Many of the issues confronting
a post-confict society offer no
easy resolution. However, the
Conclusion
27
Improving agricultural self-sufciency
can help a country prevent a return to
violence, combat hunger and poverty,
and revitalize the economy.
Pictured at right: Mr. Zerihun Getachew

Kelbore, University of Trento.
path to progress in agriculture is
actually quite straightforward.
Practitioners have more than
a half-century of agricultural
research, best practices, and
lessons learned to draw upon
as they work with host nation
actors to design and implement
successful redevelopment
strategies. While programs
necessarily vary depending on the
local context, actors know that
developing core infrastructures,
agricultural research programs,
extension services, and agribanks
are critical to ensuring a healthy
agriculture sector and maximizing
its growth. However, despite the
fact that the developed world
has followed this prescription
for revitalizing agriculture and
has achieved dramatic gains in
agricultural productivity, post-
confict countries lag decades
behind their higher income peers.
One of the principal reasons
for this is that host nations and
donors have failed to invest in
developing critical capabilities
and capacity.
Practitioners at the CSRS workshop
shared their strategies for helping
post-confict countries move
forward and lay the foundation
for redeveloping their agriculture
industries to drive production
and employment and reduce
the sectors contribution to the
GDP, a key sign of increasing
economic health. From working
with national ministries to
develop supportive policies and
institutions, to helping agriculture
educators and farmers acquire
new skills and implement new
systems, to expanding harvests
of staple crops, workshop
participants have been involved
in important agricultural
redevelopment initiatives around
the world.
Programs such as Agriculture:
Promoting Livelihoods in
Confict-Affected Environments
afforded S&R practitioners
with the opportunity to discuss
cutting-edge issues that are
of critical importance to their
global work, share insights and
strategies, and refne skills by
executing complex scenarios
that model real-world conditions
actors face in post-confict
environments. In addition,
actors had the opportunity to
hear from agricultural theorists
and practitioners who offered a
wealth of lessons learned from
past initiatives and were able
to develop cross-community
networks they could leverage in
the future. Said a contractor:
We all work together in the
feld, but we are under pressure
to deliver all the time. It was
extremely useful to learn from
each other and share in such
an informal environment. The
knowledge and best practices
practitioners acquired at the
workshop will thus pay dividends
in the years to come.
28
Meals, such as the group dinner pictured here in Carmel, gave participants time to build
relationships with other practitioners and share perspectives gained from years of feldwork.
CONCLUSION
29 29
Ms. Siti Ismah Afwan*
Former Programme Offcer
Crisis Prevention and Recovery Unit
UN Development Programme Indonesia
Ms. Sharon Akanyana*
Student, Agriculture Department
National University of Rwanda
Ms. Aishe Allen
Iraq Desk Offcer
Foreign Agricultural Service
US Department of Agriculture
Ms. Demetria Arvanitis
Managing Director
Winrock International
Dr. Sigfrido Burgos*
Coordinator, Animal Production and Health
Division
UN Food and Agriculture Organization
Lieutenant Colonel North Charles,
US Army*
Agribusiness Development Team Project
Offcer
Offce of the Chief of Staff
Missouri National Guard

Dr. Juan Estrada*
Chief of Party, Economic Growth Group
Development Alternatives, Inc.
Major Anthony Flood, US Army
Agribusiness Development Team
Texas National Guard
Lieutenant Stephen Goldsmith,
US Army*
Task Force Veterinarian
Joint Special Operations Task Force
Philippines
Mr. Said Shah Habib Habib
Senior Executive Secretary
United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees
Major Ethan Harding,
US Marine Corps
Civil Affairs Offcer / Detachment 10.2
11th Marine Regiment
Lieutenant Colonel Michael Hartzell,
US Air Force
Chief, Irregular Warfare/Healthcare
Engagement Division
Air Force Special Operations Command
Lieutenant Colonel Lynn Heng,
US Army
Agribusiness Development Team Commander
Nebraska Army National Guard
Mr. Zerihun Getachew Kelbore
Doctoral Student, Department of Economics
University of Trento
Major Paula Kelly,
US Air Force
Student
US Naval Postgraduate School
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Kyle,
US Army
Global Health Veterinarian
Joint Forces Command
Dr. Ritumbra Manuvie*
Assistant Professor of Law
Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law
Mr. Chukwuemeka Mbah
Senior Research Offcer
External Confict Prevention and Resolution
Institute for Peace and Confict Resolution
Workshop Participants
Ms. Erin Means
Program Analyst, Food Assistance Division
Mr. Justin Mitchell
Agricultural/Veterinary Specialist
Texas Army National Guard
Ms. Nadejda Mocanu
Country Director, Farmer to Farmer Program
CNFA, Inc.
Ms. Essra Mostafavi
Intern
Global Majority
Major Daniel Munter
Student
US Naval Postgraduate School
Ms. Emily Mushen
All-Source Afghan Analyst
Afghanistan Branch
Marine Corps Intelligence Activity
Ms. Adele Negro
Adjunct Professor and Program Director
Monterey Institute of International Studies
Mr. Bertrand Ngama Gne-Kamba
Vice President
Centre dExploitation et de Formation
Agricole
Mr. Peter OFarrell
Senior Program Offcer, Afghanistan and
Pakistan
Mercy Corps
Mr. Caleb OKray
International Economist
Western Hemisphere/Country and Regional
Affairs
Mr. David Odigie*
Program Offcer/Financial Services Specialist
Field Operations
MARKETS
Dr. Catherine Phiri*
Senior Project Coordinator, Agribusiness
ACDI/VOCA
Lieutenant Commander William Poage,
US Navy
Action Offcer, Agriculture and Industry
Development
Interagency Action Group
US Central Command
Captain Dina Poma
Agriculture Offcer, Civil Affairs Group
Socio-economic Development, Marine
Expeditionary Force (Forward)
Lieutenant Colonel Benny Richardson
Agriculture Specialist
Kentucky Army National Guard
Mr. William Simpson
Afghanistan
Texas Army National Guard
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Sindler,
US Army*
Veterinary Offcer
Army Reserve Medical Command
Mr. Mark Smith*
Program Director, Middle East
Borlaug Institute for International
Agriculture
Texas A&M University
Major Kurt Soholt,
US Army
Information Operations Chief
1st Battalion, 1st Information Operations
Command
Mr. David Speidel
Offce of Capacity Building and Development
Lieutenant Colonel Brian Stevens
Texas National Guard
Colonel Earl Wood
364th Civil Affairs Brigade
Ms. Calita Woods
UN World Food Programme
CSRS TEAM
Ms. Graseilah Coolidge**
Program Coordinator
Mr. Jesse Darling
Multimedia Designer
Dr. Sophal Ear*
Workshop Co-facilitator
Ms. Roseann Johnson
Program Coordinator
Ms. Holly Larson
Report Writer
Mr. Jeff Lewis*
Mr. Nico Mavris
Event Photographer
Dr. John Mellor*
Mr. Nicholas Tomb
Program Coordinator
Ms. Miriam Turlington
Program Assistant
Mr. Matthew Vaccaro*
Program Director
* Workshop speaker
** Workshop coordinator
30

1 Uma Lele, Jules Pretty, Eugene Terry
and Eduardo Trigo, Transforming
Agricultural Research for Development,
The Global Forum for Agriculture
Research, (Report for the Global
Conference on Agricultural Research
for Development, Montpellier,
France, 28-31 March 2010), xv, 24.
http://gcardblog.fles.wordpress.
com/2010/03/gat-report-for-gcard-
2010-version-11-0.pdf.
2 W. Erskine and H. Nesbitt, How Can
Agriculture Research Make a Difference
in Countries Emerging from Confict?
Experimental Agriculture 45 (24 March
2009): 1. http://journals.cambridge.
org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=o
nline&aid=5856120#.
3 Lele et al., 17.
4 Figures 1 and 2: How to Feed the World
2050, (Rome: United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization 2008,
October 8, 2009), 1. http://www.fao.
org/fleadmin/templates/wsfs/docs/
Issues_papers/HLEF2050_Investment.
pdf. Figures 3, 4, and 5: Subhash
Mehta, Om Rupela, Sonali Bisht, Amar
KJR Nayak and Narain G. Hegde,
Improving the Livelihoods of the
Resource-Poor Smallholder Farmers
and Producers in Developing Countries:
An Urgent Appeal for Action by GCARD,
(Report for the Global Conference on
Agricultural Research for Development,
Montpellier, France, submitted March
4 2010), 2. 7. http://www.fao.org/
docs/eims/upload/273459/White%20
Paper%205Mar2k10.pdf. Figure 6:
Feeding the World: Sustainable
Management of Natural Resources,
(Rome: United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization Environmental
Assessment and Management Unit, April
2008), 1. ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/
fao/010/ai549e/ai549e00.pdf.
5 How to Feed the World 2050, 1.
6 Lele et al., 2.
7 How to Feed the World 2050, ibid.
8 Implementing Agriculture for
Development: World Bank Group
Agriculture Action Plan: 2010-2012,
(Washington, DC: The World Bank and
the International Finance Corporation,
July 2009), xiv. http://siteresources.
worldbank.org/INTARD/Resources/
Agriculture_Action_Plan_web.pdf.
9 A Guide to Economic Growth in Post-
Confict Countries, (Washington, DC: US
Agency for International Development,
Offce of Economic Growth, Bureau
for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and
Trade, January 2009), 35. http://pdf.
usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADO408.pdf.
10 Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffer, Civil
War (Oxford, England: University of
Oxford, March 2006), 24.
11 Erskine and Nesbitt, 314.
12 World Food Summit Plan of Action,
quoted in Erskine and Nesbitt, 314.
13 Historic Dialogue Between Agricultural
Scientists, Farmers, Policymakers, and
Other Key Development Actors Charts
New Path Towards Ending Hunger
and Poverty, Global Conference on
Agricultural Research and Development
press release, March 31, 2010. http://
gcardblog.wordpress.com/2010/03/31/
fnal-press-release/.
14 Bernard Carreau, ed., Lessons from
USDA in Iraq and Afghanistan, PRISM
1 no. 3 (in production): 141, http://
www.ndu.edu/press/lib/images/
prism1-3/Prism_139-150_Carreau.
pdf.
15 World Bank Calls for Renewed
Emphasis on Agriculture for
Development, World Bank press
release, October 19, 2007, on the
World Bank website. http://web.
worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/
NEWS/0,,contentMDK:21513382~pag
ePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSite
PK:4607,00.html.
16 Data drawn from a table presented
by Dr. John W. Mellor. For more
information, please see: Dr. John
W. Mellor and Paul Dorosh, The
Economic Transformation of Agriculture
in Ethiopia (Washington, DC:
International Food Policy Research
Institute paper, 2010). http://
www.ifpri.org/sites/default/fles/
publications/esspwp010.pdf.
17 World Bank, World Development
Report 2008: Agriculture for
Development online graphs and fgures,
http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/
EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/
EXTWDRS/EXTWDR2008/0,,contentMD
K:21509993~pagePK:64167689~piPK:6
4167673~theSitePK:2795143,00.html.
(October 19, 2007).
Endnotes
31
All online resources were accessed between April 1 and May 30, 2010, during the development of this report.
18 Historic Dialogue Between
Agricultural Scientists.
19 Feeding the World, 3.
20 A Guide to Economic Growth, 69.
22 Ibid.
23 Elaine Zuckerman and Marcia
Greenberg, The Gender Dimension
of Post-Confict Reconstruction:
An Analytical Framework for
Policymakers, Gender and
Development, 12, No. 3 (2004): 3.
http://www.genderaction.org/
images/ez-mg%20oxfam%20g&d%20
gender-pcr.pdf.
24 African Farmland Deals Need
Rules, Grass-roots Warn, Reuters
press release, March 30, 2010, on
the AlertNet website, http://www.
alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/
LDE62T0YO.htm.
26 Ibid, 69.
27 Ibid, 15.
28 Ibid, 53-54.
29 Mehta et al., 7.
30 Ibid, 8.
31 Lele et al., 17.
33 Lele et al., 6.
35 Lessons from USDA in Iraq and
Afghanistan, 147.
37 Erskine and Nesbitt, 315.
38 Ibid, 316.
40 Gregg Easterbrook, Forgotten
Benefactor of Humanity, The
Atlantic Monthly (January 2007): 7-8.
http://www.theatlantic.com/past/
issues/97jan/borlaug/borlaug.htm.
41 Ibid, 1-2, 7.
42 Lele et al., 19.
43 Ibid, xviii.
45 Nigerias Harvest, MARKETS AgBiz
Update, USAID Markets for the
American People Fact Sheet,
US Agency for International
Development, February 1, 2010.
Not available online.
46 Lessons from USDA in Iraq and
Afghanistan, 141.
47 Ibid.
48 Glen C. Shinn and Gary E. Briers,
Agriculture Development in Post-
Confict Environments: Building
Capacity to Beat Swords into
Ploughshares in Eight Provinces of
Southern Iraq, chapter in H. Young
and L. Goldman, Strengthening
Post-Confict Peacebuilding through
Natural Resource Management,
Livelihoods, Volume 4. 13 (Word fle).
Not available online.
49 Agribusiness Teams Help Afghan
Farmers Find Simple Solutions,
National Guard press release,
October 6, 2009, on the National
Guard website, http://www.ng.mil/
features/ADT/default.aspx.
50 Ronny Adhikarya, Strategic Extension
Campaign: a Participatory-Oriented
Method of Agriculture Extension, UN
Food and Agriculture Organization
(Rome, Italy: 1994), Chapter 10, 2 of
online version, posted in 1996.
http://www.fao.org/SD/EXdirect/
EXan0003.htm.
32
For more information about CSRS, its philosophy, and programs, please visit
www.csrs-nps.org

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ABOUT THIS EVENT

On March 22-25, 2010, the Center for Stabilization and Reconstruction

The workshop convened 44 experienced

Participants gathered in breakout groups

DEMONSTRATING THE LINK BETWEEN AGRICULTURAL INVESTMENT

Practitioners, who represented an array of

MOVING FROM AGRICULTURAL INTERVENTION TO REDEVELOPMENT

MOVING FROM AGRICULTURAL INTERVENTION TO REDEVELOPMENT

MOVING FROM AGRICULTURAL INTERVENTION TO REDEVELOPMENT

MOVING FROM AGRICULTURAL INTERVENTION TO REDEVELOPMENT

MOVING FROM AGRICULTURAL INTERVENTION TO REDEVELOPMENT

MOVING FROM AGRICULTURAL INTERVENTION TO REDEVELOPMENT

MOVING FROM AGRICULTURAL INTERVENTION TO REDEVELOPMENT

Pictured at right: Mr. Zerihun Getachew

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