A commentary on international agriculture

Uma Lele reviews John Shaw's recent book Global Food and Agricultural Institutions and among her conclusions has this to say,

The institutions Shaw reviews includes multi-lateral organisations such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the World Bank, the World Food
Programme, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. His book does not include bi-lateral organisations such as USAID, US Foundations and Land Grant Universities. Despite a largely common membership there is a lack of coordination among the organisations he reviews.

Can true and effective global cooperation in food and agriculture materialise? Uma Lele argues that the challenges are great and the topic is complex and mired in the larger issues of the aid architecture. This reality has three dimensions, only one of which is mentioned in the book:

1. Vast changes in the international aid architecture in the Post World War II period, particularly in the last 15 years, combined with a decline in long term assistance to food and agriculture, imbalanced allocation withinand across sectors, misallocation, and decline of capacity of bilateral aid agencies concomitant with increased bilateralisation of multilateral aid.

2. Growth in the number of international organisations and programmes, mission creep in the mandates, and changing legitimacy of traditional international organisations with overlaps, gaps, competition as well as cooperation in the ever growing galaxy of aid agencies and programmes, and,

3. The dynamics between and among developed and developing countries influencing global policy and strategy.

Realistically speaking developing countries cannot wait for the international organisations to get their act together, or to be led by them, she concludes.

Read more here.