ASSESSMENT OF THE QUALITY OF AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY POLICY PROCESSES AND INSTITUTIONAL ARCHITECTURE IN TANZANIA: RESULTS OF THE 2016 STAKEHOLDER SURVEY

The successful implementation of any agricultural and food security policy hinges upon the effectiveness of an existing system used to formulate, implement and monitor policies. A policy that is inclusive in its formulation and established through the use of reliable evidence, and effectively implemented and monitored, is likely to promote sector transformation. In recognition of the importance of the quality of the policy formulation processes and the supporting institutional architecture, the Tanzania ASPIRES project under the Food Security Policy Innovation Lab (FSP) funded by the United State Agency for International Development (USAID) was established in 2016 with the main objective of accelerating the adoption of more effective policies and programs, to drive a broad based agricultural sector growth, improve food security and nutrition, and reduce poverty. This paper reports on the perceived quality and institutional architecture of agriculture and food security policy processes as it existed in 2015, to serve as a baseline qualitative indicators of the policy environment in Tanzania. The assessment is based on a survey involving 89 stakeholders from the government, NGO, private sector, donor, and research communities that are active in the agriculture and food security policy space in Tanzania. The overall results indicate that while there are positive aspects of the policy processes that are in place, there is scope for improvements. There is need to ensure that Tanzania’s policy process is better informed by effectively utilizing available empirical evidence and enabling the availability and accessibility of reliable sector performance data. This will in turn enable a consistent assessment of the performance of the sector and appropriate allocation of resources for policy implementation