Structural Dimensions of Liberalization in Agriculture and Rural Development Presentation The RuralStruc Program is a two-year cross-regional Economic and Sector Work (ESW) placed under the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Department (SD), involving the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Africa (AFR) regions, and managed by the ESSD Department of the Africa region (AFTSD). The Program is currently sponsored by the World Bank and the French Cooperation (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Agence Française de Développement -AFD- and Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement -CIRAD). The purpose of the RuralStruc Program is to contribute to the analytical knowledge base on the implications of liberalization and economic integration on agriculture and rural development in developing countries. The program adopts a broad approach and is not limited to trade liberalization but it also includes domestic reform, state withdrawal, privatization, and decentralization in order to explore the trajectories of structural change and to identify factors of convergence and divergence between countries through comparative analyses. Seven countries are involved in the program, corresponding to different stages in the process of liberalization and economic integration: Mexico on one side, serves as a reference with the experience of NAFTA; Sub-Saharan Africa on the other side, with Senegal, Mali, Kenya and Madagascar. Morocco and Nicaragua represent two additional cases and examples of integration processes in progress through the implementation of trade agreements. The main themes of this work are: (i) vertical and horizontal integration, their impacts on the segmentation in the production and marketing structures; (ii) the demographic and economic transitions (particularly the shift of the economically active population between economic sectors) and the risks of transition impasses (which foster international migrations); and (iii) the reshaping of the rural economies with relation to the non-farm activities and the development of private and public transfers (remittances and social safety nets when they exist). The results are expected to improve the debate within the donor community, the dialogue with national partners, and will provide guidelines for policy making. ImplementationCalendar The RuralStruc Program consists of two main phases with four knowledge sharing workshops. (i) the first phase (April 2006 to December 2006) is based on the existing information with comparative desk reviews, which intended to offer a country brief on the trajectory of structural change in agriculture, and the consequences on the rural economy; (ii) the second phase is based on more detailed case studies with field work that will explore relevant issues brought up on the first phase. It will extend until March 2008. (iii) the second and third quarters of 2008 will be devoted to the global synthesis of the results of the program. The launching workshop was held in M’Bour, Senegal, in April 2006. The second workshop (end of phase 1) took place in Marrakech, Morocco, in November 2006. Local partners Institutional counterparts of participated countries are: Ministries of Agriculture in Mexico, Nicaragua, Mali, and Kenya Conseil Général du Développement Agricole (CGDA) in Morocco Programme National de Développement Rural (PNDR) in Madagascar, and Initiative Prospective Agricole et Rurale (I-PAR) in Senegal.
Contributing partners for the first phase are: Governance structure 1. A Steering Committee, including all donors, is responsible for the follow-up of the activities and budget execution. Its schedule is as follow: 1st Steering Committee was in June 2006 after the launching 2nd meeting will be at the end of March 2007 (before the second phase) 3rd meeting will be at the end of the program which will review the global process.
2. An Advisory Committee, consisting of academics and researchers from six countries provides guidance on the orientation of the program. Its schedule is as follow: After the 1st phase (March 2007) After the 2nd phase (April 2008) After the draft synthesis – as a peer review - (July 2008).
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