A vibrant market economy and effective economic policies are essential in making poor families income and food secure. If a market-driven agricultural productivity recovery is to be successful, improved governance, market access, information, communications, and transport will be vital complements to the science and technology thus far described. Creating an effective policy environment - one that is capable of exploiting the potential that science and technology offer - will require innovative ways to engage small farmers so that they become better informed and more active participants in markets, policy processes, and priority setting in agricultural research and development.

African countries need an increased capability to address product quality and to comply with bio-safety standards and other regulatory regimes. They also need the skills to negotiate effectively with the member nations of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Only then will the private sector express its unrealized potential to contribute to the agricultural productivity recovery.

Governments need to increase investments in infrastructure such as roads, information and communications technologies, storage, and post-harvest technologies. Appropriate grading standards for agricultural products, as well as sufficient sanitary and phytosanitary regulations, must be in place and enforced. Unless this is done, the private sector will continue to languish. Regional cooperation is required to remove formal and informal barriers to trade, strengthen the contract system, establish food quality and food safety standards and regulations, and increase research capacity in all these areas. Such cooperation can promote interregional trade within Africa and widen international market opportunities, which can provide a floor to commodity prices as agricultural productivity and marketable surpluses increase. National, regional, continental, and international markets should be competitive, free and fair for African farmers and consumers.

There is a need in Africa to institute appropriate intellectual property systems that optimize access to external intellectual property and incentives to attract foreign investment, while creating and protecting both incentives for local innovation and the value of local resources.

The IAC Panel recommends the following actions for enhancing the role of markets and policies in making poor families income and food secure:

Near-term impact

• Increase investments in rural infrastructure. Governments must increase investments in roads, information and communications technology, storage and post-harvest technology, and ensure that appropriate standards and regulations are in place and enforced.
• Strengthen capacity to expand market opportunities. Regional cooperation is required to remove formal and informal barriers to trade, strengthen the contract system, establish food quality and food safety standards, and increase research capacity in all these areas.
• Reduce barriers to increased African trade with OECD countries. Improved international market access will be a key ingredient in translating increases in African agricultural productivity into improved food security. OECD countries should assist developing countries in meeting quality and safety standards and in helping to improve their decision-making abilities through collaborative research.
• Improve data generation and analysis related to agriculture, food, and nutrition security and vulnerability. Without good data, there are major constraints to the analysis of productivity trends and the design of appropriate strategies and policies for science and technology. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, with the World Health Organization and UNICEF, should take the leadership in this endeavour and design strategies to ensure that in the future, the needed data are free of political influences.

Intermediate-term impact

• Institute effective intellectual property rights regimes to encourage the private sector and facilitate public-private partnerships. If the benefits of modern science and technology are to reach small African farmers, it will be important to pay attention to issues of intellectual property rights. Resource-poor farmers will be excluded from the benefits of modern science, including biotechnology, if measures are not taken to avoid social exclusion in the dissemination of new technologies.

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