Ghana Agriculture DPL

closed

The objective of the Ghana Agriculture SWAP (AGSSIP) is to support the Government's efforts to encourage agriculture led growth to achieve the objectives of the Ghana's Second Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II). In harmony with other development partners, the proposed Development Policy Operation (DPO) will support the implementation of Ghana's Food and Agriculture Sector Development Policy (FASDEP). This operation will support planning and budgeting processes that take into account the multi-sector and economy wide linkages that support agricultural growth. By linking lending to the implementation of the revised FASDEP and the evolution of the sector wide approach, this operation will support the sector's objective of supporting broad based growth and increased private sector investments. Using the Government's budget procedures, the proposed operation will also help strengthen the decentralization process, especially as related to agriculture. The main risks are: (i) political risk associated with the 2008 election campaign (low); (ii) continued delays in decentralization process (low); (iii) delays in the completion of the SWAP framework (moderate); and (iv) delays in budget allocations and releases (moderate). This risk could be mitigated by deepening the dialogue on expenditure frameworks and the budget process, including GPRS II financing discussions held at the Poverty Reduction Support Credit (PRSC)/ Multi-Donor Budget Support (MDBS) level.