Contribution of the collaborative master of science in agricultural and applied economics (CMAAE-AERC) program in building capacity for land policy analysis and administration
Oluoch-Kosura, Willis
The CMAAE is a home-grown program designed for relevant skill development and application to contribute towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals as well as addressing the current and emerging problems in Africa. The overall goal of the program is to strengthen capacity for agricultural policy analysis and research through training to facilitate evidence based policy formulation and implementation in the Eastern, Central and Southern Africa region to begin with. Improved policies are required in the region to achieve efficient, productive, equitable and sustainable use of the human and natural resource endowment. Land is the dominant factor of production, providing direct source of livelihood for over 80 per cent of the population of the continent. Efficient and effective land policies and administration is therefore critical in achieving overall sustainable growth and development in the region. The World Development Report (World Bank 2008) re-emphasized the critical importance of Agricultural Productivity and Competitiveness in achieving the first MDG. Paradoxically, Africa is the only region where agricultural productivity has consistently been declining, poverty depth and breadth increasing and poverty traps rampant over the last four decades. This sorry state of affairs is currently being exacerbated by the recurrent Global Financial and Food crisis whose impact is likely to be felt more in Africa than any other part of the world. In spite of all these, there still is a growing appreciation among African leaders of the relationship between policy and agricultural production, with agricultural growth noted as being fundamental to overall economic growth, development and poverty reduction.
Event: Annual Bank Conference on Land Policy and Administration
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