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Abstract
Governance problems are a major challenge to agricultural development in lowincome
countries. Market failures caused by problems such as information
asymmetries and externalities are widespread, and government agencies set up to
address these problems are prone to governance challenges, such as political capture,
corruption and staff absenteeism. Recent governance reforms have potential to
address these problems, but attention to governance in the agricultural sector has
been limited. The panelists will discuss governance reforms in the areas of
agricultural research and extension; agricultural input supply; agricultural output
markets; land administration; and agricultural regulation. The panel will also deal
with the role of decentralization and community-driven development as a strategy to
improve agricultural governance. The panelists will also discuss questions, such as:
What have been particularly interesting cases of success and failure? What roles have
information and communication technologies played in improving governance in the
different areas? Which innovative research approaches have been applied to assess
the impact of such governance reforms? Where are the knowledge gaps and the
opportunities for future research? The audience will participate in the symposium
through discussion contributions and through “digi-voting”, e.g., on the relevance of
different governance problems and on research gaps and priorities.