Resource information
This policy note examines the policy and
investment framework between 2003 and 2010, resulting sector
performance and the priorities for future development. It
draws attention to the need to refocus on completing the
fundamental reforms and investments on which
Kyrgyzstan's early successes were built. These include
further development of land market, building rural finance
markets, further public investment and institutional
development in the irrigation sector, encouraging greater
private investment in the seeds sector and machinery
services, public-private partnerships for advisory service
provision, completion of ongoing reforms in pasture
management, development of veterinary services and improving
the business environment for private investment in
agro-processing. The policy Note discusses the
government's approach to achieving greater food
security, which centers on food self-sufficiency and
discusses why this is not the best route to raising low
rural incomes - the root cause of food insecurity. The
report discusses some of the policies conceived after the
food price crisis, including intervention in output markets,
and argues that these are likely to be unaffordable,
ineffective and will divert limited resources away from more
important reforms. The policy note describes possible
approaches to development of the sector, including minimal
government intervention in markets, promoting responsibility
for management of natural resources with communities,
facilitating user contributions to infrastructure
investments and the cost of services and provision of public
services through private providers. These were the
foundation of many of Kyrgyzstan's earlier successes
but also respond to the new imperatives brought about by the
2010 political crisis, including the renewed urgency for
growth and stability in the agricultural sector to rebuild
rural communities, fiscal discipline to address the budget
deficit and improved governance to restore confidence in
government. The strategic objectives could more usefully
emphasize the need to: a) raise rural incomes; b) protect
vulnerable consumers from price and supply shocks; c)
increase agricultural profitability and reduce risk; d)
protect consumers from public health risks; and e) arrest
environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity.
