Strengthening Agricultural Governance in an Interconnected World

Governance problems are a major challenge to agricultural development in lowincome countries. Market failures caused by problems such as information asymmetries and externalities are widespread, and government agencies set up to address these problems are prone to governance challenges, such as political capture, corruption and staff absenteeism. Recent governance reforms have potential to address these problems, but attention to governance in the agricultural sector has been limited. The panelists will discuss governance reforms in the areas of agricultural research and extension; agricultural input supply; agricultural output markets; land administration; and agricultural regulation. The panel will also deal with the role of decentralization and community-driven development as a strategy to improve agricultural governance. The panelists will also discuss questions, such as: What have been particularly interesting cases of success and failure? What roles have information and communication technologies played in improving governance in the different areas? Which innovative research approaches have been applied to assess the impact of such governance reforms? Where are the knowledge gaps and the opportunities for future research? The audience will participate in the symposium through discussion contributions and through “digi-voting”, e.g., on the relevance of different governance problems and on research gaps and priorities.