Public Private Partnership (PPP) refers to collaboration between the Public Sector (Government) and the Private Sector (both local and foreign) with a view to achieving a public good. This collaboration entails that both the public and private sector partners share the benefits, responsibilities and risks in undertaking specific projects and service provisions to the public. A contractual arrangement whereby, the Private Sector performs Government functions of service delivery, management, infrastructure development, or uses State property, and assumes associated risks for the property on behalf of the Government.
A PPP is a mechanism for improving the delivery of public goods and services by partnering with the private sector while retaining an active role for Government to ensure that national socio-economic objectives are achieved. PPPs are thus defined as a framework that engages the private sector, while acknowledging that the role of Government involves ensuring that social obligations are met, and successful sector reforms and public sector investment achieved.
Against a background of limited government resources and expertise, innovative partnerships that bring together business, government, smallholder farmers and civil society actors are increasingly being promoted as a mechanism to improve productivity and drive growth in the agriculture and food sectors around the world. Commonly referred to as Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), these initiatives are broadly promoted as having the potential to help transform the agriculture sector and deliver multiple benefits that can contribute towards the pursuit of sustainable agricultural development that is inclusive of smallholder farmers.
In the context of agriculture development, PPPs respond to food security, wealth creation and the viability of rural areas. Agri-PPPs also have potential to leverage finances, share risk fairly, develop innovations and create market access for the players.
The prevailing institutional set ups for PPPs are often focused on infrastructure projects, which are characterised by a larger scale of capital investments, commercial risk and contractual arrangements which are different from most common types of Agri-PPPs (FAO 2016). This has influenced some of the bottlenecks and constraints in the implementation of Agri-PPPs due to lack of clear guidelines and regulations to direct contracting authorities and the private sector.
The African Union Commission (AUC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), organized a High-Level Roundtable to improve the design, implementation and impact of Public Private Partnerships in Zambia’s agriculture sector – (Agri- PPPs). The event took place at the Taj Pamodzi Hotel in Lusaka Zambia on 13th and 14th August 2019 bringing together other key line Ministries and stakeholders. The Roundtable was held under the auspices of the African Union (AU)’s 2003 Maputo Declaration and the 2014 Malabo Declaration on ‘Accelerated African Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods. This dialogue was also organized with a view to contributing to the attainment of the Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In line with the recommendations resulting from the above-mentioned Roundtable, including the need for Zambia to develop and strengthen a set of National Agri-PPP Guidelines and to launch an Agri-PPP Platform, the Government of Zambia, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, other line Ministries and in collaboration with FAO and the AUC, organized a workshop on 18th and 19th November 2019 to discuss the formulation of guidelines for strengthening the design, implementation and impact Public Private Partnerships in Zambia’s agriculture sector. The launch of the Agri-PPP Platform took place on the 2nd Day of the workshop.