What is an Agricultural Sector Investment Program (ASIP)?

The Agricultural Sector investment (ASIP) was a project that started in March 1995 and ended in 2001. It was developed by the World Bank Group and 50% of its funds was primarily directed at agricultural extension, research, and other support activities. It is basically focused on the development of agriculture in Africa.

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A Little More on What is the Agricultural Sector Investment Program (ASIP)

To fund the Agricultural Sector Investment Program (ASIP), approximately $60 million was provided as funds for the program. ASIP primary goals were creating policies and institutional improvements in critical areas of trade and pricing, land tenure and use, food security, agricultural marketing and others. It also aimed at the creation of a rural investment fund of small-scale capital investments in rural areas and also matching grant basis to support the privatization of government farms. Other core priorities included encouraging that public investment transactions are in accordance with policy and institutional improvements and also the development of the private sector so as to be profitable and risk-free for foreign investment.

ASIP Failure in Zambia

African countries like Zambia, Angola, Benin, and Senegal once participated in the ASIP program. This program experienced failure as a result of its focus on Zambia. Asides this, institutional development (ID) measures if the program had reached its stipulated goals or not. ID reported that the original objectives were not achieved. It made mention of quite a number of challenges and complications that contributed to the failure of the program. These challenges were as a result of proposed plans and expectations that were beyond realities and lacked resources to maintain. Also, the time taken to restructure or implement the beneficial policies contributed to the failure of this program.

ASIP as a World Bank program

The World Bank Group, founded in 1944, It is made up of 189 member countries and regarded as a cooperative entity. Its Board of Governors are its members and they serve as the actual policymaker. The World Bank performs various supports such as providing low-interest loans, zero-interest credit, and a variety of grants to developing countries. The Bank has a quite a number of programs designed to assists these member nations achieve important, attainable results in critical areas such as health, education, economic development, infrastructure building and maintenance, and agriculture. One of these is the ASIP and the Millennium Development Goals project. These are primary programs on the group agenda. ASIP is basically a subset under World Banks Corporate Advocacy Priorities and Global Public Goods Priorities programs

Academics research on Agricultural Sector Investment Program (ASIP)

• Raising the Productivity of Public Investments in Zambia's Agricultural Sector., Govereh, J., Shawa, J. J., Malawo, E., & Jayne, T. S. (2006). Raising the Productivity of Public Investments in Zambias Agricultural Sector (No. 1093-2016-87997).
• Prioritizing infrastructure investments in Afghanistan with multiagency stakeholders and deep uncertainty of emergent conditions, Lambert, J. H., Karvetski, C. W., Spencer, D. K., Sotirin, B. J., Liberi, D. M., Zaghloul, H. H., ... & Linkov, I. (2011). Prioritizing infrastructure investments in Afghanistan with multiagency stakeholders and deep uncertainty of emergent conditions. Journal of infrastructure systems, 18(2), 155-166.
• Zambia: Sustaining agricultural diversification, Bonaglia, F. (2009). Zambia: Sustaining agricultural diversification. OECD Journal: General Papers, 2009(2), 103-131.
• Agricultural commercialization and women farmers in Kenya, Spring, A. (2000). Agricultural commercialization and women farmers in Kenya. Women Farmers and Commercial Ventures: Increasing Food Security in Developing Countries, 317-341.
• Sector approaches, sustainable livelihoods and rural poverty reduction, Gilling, J., Jones, S., & Duncan, A. (2001). Sector approaches, sustainable livelihoods and rural poverty reduction. Development Policy Review, 19(3), 303-319. This article examines the relationship between sectorwide approaches (SWAps), sustainable livelihoods approaches (SLAs) and rural poverty reduction. The authors suggest that SLAs provide one means by which SWAps can focus more effectively on poverty reduction, whilst SWAps provide an entry point via which government and donor initiatives can be made supportive of the livelihoods of the poor. The article puts forward guidelines indicating the core issues upon which donors should focus to enhance the poverty impact of sectorwide approaches.