The Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS) is an Africa-wide network of regional nodes supporting the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Africa-based centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), to facilitate the implementation of AU/NEPAD’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). The ReSAKSS nodes offer high-quality analyses to improve policymaking, track progress, document success, and derive lessons for the implementation of the CAADP agenda. The goal of the ReSAKSS Working Paper series is to provide timely access to results of preliminary research and data analysis that relate directly to strengthening ongoing discussions and critical commentaries on the future direction of African agriculture and rural development.
Public spending is one of the most effective instruments in promoting agricultural growth and reducing poverty in developing countries. Thus, monitoring public spending in agriculture is crucial. Agricultural growth also depends upon non-agriculture expenditures such as rural infrastructure, health and education. Since these investments may have differential productivity and poverty reduction effects, it is important to monitor spending in these sectors as well. This paper has two main objectives. The first objective is to define, measure and review the trends of government expenditures and their composition across different world regions over time with a particular focus on Africa. Aid for agriculture is also reviewed as it often accounts for a large share of government spending in agriculture and it reflects donors’ priority in supporting agriculture in Africa. The second objective is to track progress of the commitment made by African governments at the African Union Summit in Maputo, Mozambique in 2003 to increase public spending in agriculture to at least 10 percent of total government budgetary resources.