Editor's Note: As part of our new blog series, The Next Generation, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs is inviting a diverse group of experts to explore topics related to youth employement and agriculture in advance of  the 2018 Global Food Security Symposium.  Join the discussion using #GlobalAg, and tune in to the symposium live stream on March 21 and 22.

By Madeleine Nicholson

A farmer harvests wheat at a field on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan. REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood
 

Executing successful and sustainable agricultural development initiatives can be expensive - demanding not only high levels of financial investment but human capital as well, especially when different sectors tackle the venture alone. Indeed, limited public budgets in developing countries tasked with offsetting the immediate needs of public health, infrastructure, and poverty alleviation can find themselves with few funds left to devote to the often turbulent temperament of agribusiness projects.

In response to the risks associated with these enterprises, public-private partnerships (PPPs) have emerged as a popular solution. By pooling financial and human resources from for-profit businesses, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations, agricultural PPPs establish a collaborative system in which sustainable agricultural development can be pursued with the investments, risks, and benefits shared among many actors.

Direct Benefits

For smallholder farmers, agricultural PPPs offer the opportunity for increased productivity and incomes through the introduction of new technologies, capacity building training, and improved market access. By offering Ugandan sunflower farmers formal training, for example, one value chain development PPP increased annual incomes by 138 percent. The skills development also provided farmers the agency to take on more leadership roles within the partnership.

While farmers profit from cultivation, the public sector reaps benefits from improved employment rates, environmental stability, and food security. A pilot program for drought-resistant wheat seeds in Pakistan, for example, brought together public-private partners in a near 50-50 collaboration. Within the program’s two-year lifespan, farmers increased yields by 46 percent in drought-prone areas and increased irrigation by 76 percent. The resulting crops ensured national food security, poverty reduction, and reduced soil erosion.

For their benefit, private businesses often receive an influx of marketable products, new customers, increased sales, and booming market shares if projects are successful. By investing in a public-private partnership with the Colombian government in 2004, Nepresso secured half of its raw material needs to produce high-quality coffee. At the same time, Colombian farmers received 75 percent of their product’s selling price, drastically increasing their earnings, while the government benefitted from reduced water consumption, protected forests for future cultivation, and increased quality of life for its farmers.

Indirect Benefits

Indirect benefits abound beyond the actors involved. Agricultural PPPs offer the opportunity to improve the quality and relevancy of research and innovation in the field. In particular, the development of agri-technology and adoption of mechanization can make agriculture as a profession more attractive to the next generation of young farmers off-put by inefficiencies and labor demands in the sector. By improving livelihoods and social stability of workers and their communities, civil unrest and crime rates decline. The strengthening of infrastructure for agricultural development also lays the foundation for further growth.

Agricultural PPPs can also play a role in addressing human rights issues. In particular, formal training or the administration of land grants to women can serve as a catalyst for female empowerment. More than 400 million women worldwide contribute to food production; yet women own less than 20 percent of the world’s land. Property ownership provides women the economic agency to support their families, prevent food insecurity, and to contribute to the local economy. Involving women in agribusiness and decision-making has lasting impacts on their health and security and the outcomes of their children.

Challenges & Concerns

While the collaborative model of PPPs is promising and has shown to be effective in many case studies, it is highly variable to funding, management strategies, enabling government policies, and the cooperation and commitment by all involved. The most glaring challenge of PPPs may be that there lacks best-practice analysis to inform partners how to design, support, and execute initiatives. The loose definition of public-private partnerships itself allows for wide interpretations of models and methods for success.

Despite some of the world’s biggest companies investing in their own corporate social responsibility projects and cultures of shared value, critics question the intentions of businesses in collaborating with the not-for-profit public sector. One partnership in Maharashtra, India between agrochemical companies and local farmers seemed like an efficient way to improve production and save water. But upon closer inspection of the contract, the private sector dictated the prices smallholder farmers were to accept from their products’ sales.

This sort of exploitation is not uncommon. A lack of transparency in these partnerships – particularly in the preferential selection of specific farmers or firms and the land usage and grant allocations that follow – poses a real threat to progress. For true success, multisector partners need to ensure that proper foundational research informs the design of the venture, the initiative meets the needs and demands of all involved, and corruption and exploitation are not tolerated.

While there is clear evidence that PPPs in agriculture can produce largely positive effects for multisector partners and their development goals, these partnerships are highly dependent on resources, management, national policies, and ultimately, the cooperation of the agencies and actors involved. Public-private partnership research notably lacks best-practice analysis, but the potential for community transformation and improved efficiency cannot be ignored. Altogether PPPs hold the potential for wide-ranging benefits as well as a unique opportunity for investment in agri-technology, the advancement of gender equity and empowerment, and the recruitment of creative rural youths to the sector.