Briefing Papers Number 13, December 2011 | Page 12

Feed the Future Focus Countries
Africa: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Malawi,
Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and
Zambia
Asia: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal, and Tajikistan
Latin America: Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua

Feed the Future in Sub-Saharan Africa
The combined annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of
the 12 African Feed the Future focus countries in 2009
was estimated to be about $122 billion. Total net official
development assistance (ODA) to these countries in 2009 was
$20 billion, of which an estimated $1.1 billion, or 5.5 percent,
was directed to agricultural development. While the global
economic recession in 2009 brought GDP growth rates in subSaharan Africa down to 2 percent from the 5-7 percent rates
of growth experienced from 2003-2008, recovery took hold in
2010. Many African countries have been able to move forward
on the implementation of economic growth strategies that
prioritized agricultural sector growth in line with commitments
made when CAADP was endorsed by heads of state in 2003.
Eleven of the 12 African focus countries have signed CAADP
compacts and have committed to investing significant national
public resources in agricultural development (although not
all have reached the target of 10 percent of national budget
expenditures) as well as to mobilizing additional resources both
from private sources and other development partners. Most
have developed national agricultural investment strategies or
plans that provide a framework for the government, private
investors, and development partners to align their resources
for more effective action.
Five of the focus countries (Ghana, Mali, Mozambique,
Senegal, and Tanzania) are also implementing Millennium
Challenge Corporation (MCC) compacts; together, the
compacts have a resource commitment of $2.8 billion. MCC
compacts, which aim to support economic growth in these
countries, have confirmed the feasibility of achieving growth
through agriculture. MCC funding also increases the resources
available for activities that complement Feed the Future; $1.6
billion of the total MCC funding is estimated to be directed to
agriculture and rural development programs.
Source: The Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa

12  Briefing Paper, December 2011

Progress and Challenges in Feed the Future
• All Feed the Future countries have developed countryowned plans that can, potentially, support results-based
programs and partnerships. However, there is great
diversity among these plans. Some are very comprehensive, based on extensive consultations, and closely
reviewed by the community of development partners.
Others are more general, and not yet articulated at the
level needed for implementation. Some are very clear in
requesting development partners to provide resources
through the public budget within the context of sectorwide approaches, while others are not.
• The U.S. government will need to sustain engagement
with those responsible for national processes and develop ways to adapt its programs to evolving local conditions. In most countries, there are formal mechanisms
to strengthen strategic coordination among bilateral donors, international development agencies, and relevant
government entities. While joint funding mechanisms
provide the most robust mechanism for strategic coordination, few of the Feed the Future programs envision participating substantially in such mechanisms.
However, “development assistance groups” and related
thematic working groups on agriculture, nutrition, food
security, and private sector development provide opportunities for U.S. technical personnel to exchange information on their programs, to coordinate independently-managed (or parallel) projects, and, in some cases, to
pool resources for collective action in ways that support
strategic coordination (e.g., for supporting the coordination mechanisms themselves).
• Most countries—as evidenced in the initial strategic
plans prepared for Feed the Future—are still struggling
to ensure a comprehensive approach that accelerates inclusive and sustainable agricultural-led growth while improving maternal and child nutrition in the country. In
general, strategic planning for nutrition remains more
closely allied with planning for health than for agriculture, although many countries are making greater efforts to adopt a “food security” focus and link nutrition
with programming in both sectors.
• Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program provides the
richest base of U.S. government experience to date.
Feed the Future plans in X