Cablegate: Rwandan Agriculture Investment Plan Based On Caadp

VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLGB #0781 3281124
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 241124Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY KIGALI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6441
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUZEFAA/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0312

UNCLAS KIGALI 000781

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EAID EAGR SENV RW
SUBJECT: RWANDAN AGRICULTURE INVESTMENT PLAN BASED ON CAADP
PILLARS

REF: KIGALI 747

1. (U) Summary: Rwanda's second overall Strategic Plan for
the Transformation of Agriculture (PSTA II) is the basis for
the Government of Rwanda's (GOR) draft Agriculture Investment
Plan (see reftel). This draft investment plan addresses each
of the four Comprehensive African Agricultural Development
Program (CAADP) pillars. Without adequate investment in
agriculture, the GOR will struggle to maintain or exceed the
targeted agriculture growth rate of six percent per year. End
Summary.

2. (U) PSTA II (like its predecessor, which ran from
2004-2008) is a component of the GOR's EDPRS (Economic
Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy). The PSTA II
outlines the GOR's national agriculture strategies, details
programs to achieve these strategies, and estimates
implementation costs. The cost of the PSTA II is the basis
for the GOR's Agriculture Investment Plan. This plan will
guide the proposed December 7-8 high-level meeting hosted by
the GOR.

3. (U) The GOR's CAADP Compact, signed in March 2007, aligned
the PSTA II strategy with CAADP commitments: six percent
annual growth in agriculture and ten percent of national
spending allocated to the agriculture sector. The PSTA II's
four programs are loosely aligned with the four CAADP
pillars. Each program in the PSTA II addresses one or more of
the CAADP pillars.

4. (U) The draft GOR Agriculture Investment Plan estimates
that PSTA II implementation will cost $848 million. The draft
Investment Plan projects GOR contribution will be $117
million, development partners' contribution will be $263
million, and private sector contribution will be $25 million,
leaving an investment gap of $441 million. An On The Frontier
(OTF) report commissioned by USAID to evaluate PSTA II-CAADP
alignment concluded that although Rwanda's agricultural
growth exceeded CAADP's goal of six percent agricultural
growth, the GOR has not allocated the resources required
under the Maputo Declaration, thus falling short of a second
high-level CAADP goal to invest ten percent of the national
budget in agriculture. The OTF report concludes that without
adequate investment in agriculture, the GOR will struggle to
maintain CAADP's targeted growth rate of six percent.

5. (SBU) Comment: In the draft Agriculture Investment Plan,
the GOR asserts that even though CAADP's agricultural growth
goal is six percent, Rwanda will need to exceed that and
sustain a growth rate of eight percent in order to achieve
Millennium Development Goal 1--to eradicate extreme poverty
and hunger. Although CAADP's second high level goal targets
allocating ten percent of national expenditure to
agriculture, post does not expect the GOR to achieve this
based on current GOR Ministry of Finance projections. USAID
and other development partners will continue to encourage the
GOR to allocate more of its scarce resources to agriculture.
End Comment.

SYMINGTON

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