Critical choices must now be made ifgrowth is to be sustained. Significant potential exists forfuture growth, but bringing out this potential poses a majorchallenge for government policy. Agricultural strategy mustshift its focus towards support for continuous productivitygrowth by peasant farms in a conducive marketingenvironment. Key priorities include completion of landreforms (especially in the North); fundamental restructuringand reorientation of public agricultural services, withgreater emphasis on private service delivery and costrecovery; and a shift in agricultural public expenditurestoward support for private commodity markets andprivate-sector based systems for technology transfer. Inaddition, irrigation rehabilitation, operation andmaintenance, and cost recovery should continue to receiveattention and support. These measures will need to becomplemented by broader rural development measures - mostimportantly the rehabilitation of basic infrastructure inrural areas - in a manner that supports theGovernment's policy of fiscal and administrativedecentralization. Development of rural infrastructure thatis locally planned, financed, and maintained, willcontribute to both farm and rural non-farm development overthe medium and long-term. This report notes discusses theunfinished agenda that must be completed, and is organizedas follows: Chapter 1 provides the background and sums upthe issues to be fleshed out. Chapter 2 describes thestructural changes that have occurred in agriculture and inrural households since 1995, the sources of agriculturalgrowth, and constraints to future growth. Chapter 3discusses agriculture in the broader context of ruralhousehold incomes and livelihoods. The final chapteridentifies policies and sector strategies conducive topro-poor growth, and evaluates the role of publicexpenditures in advancing the growth agenda.
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