SIMO CONSULTING SERVICES
The Role of Private Sector In Agricultural Development.

Introduction
Our company has worked in different Government Programs e.g. Community Based Public Works Program, Working For Water Program to mention but a few. All these programs are meant for poverty alleviation. The main problem is that as soon as they are being implemented people start enjoying the results and after completion nothing happens, people go back to their original poverty levels. These problems occur because people were given money to fight poverty but they were not given ways in which they can fight their own poverty. We believe that rural people can produce food for themselves through food production activities that are linked with the private sector.

Development of Communities for better Agricultural Development.
Our rural communities need a lot of help from the private sector in order to develop themselves and fight poverty. The following activities can be utilized.
Institutional development: Establishing communities to a single unit. This structure should represent the whole community in terms of organizational development. It is the duty of private sector organizations to use their skills in developing those community organizations that are well trained and effective in their self-reliance.
Institutional Training: The established structures should be trained in order to be able to perform each activity according to the required method. Training will also help in Skills development of various communities in the agricultural sector.
Implementation: During implementation of this food production process the private sector provides on going monitoring in order for the communities to produce agricultural products that are of market standards.
Results: After a good implementation it is the duty of the private sector to buy the agricultural products that are being produced by the communities. It is important that the communities must keep what they estimate as their consumption per certain period of time.

PARTICIPANTS IN THE FOOD PRODUCTION PROCESS

The Department of Agriculture: The Department should provide the on going support of the program by providing the start up capital where possible.
Communities: The program is designed for communities, as they are the beneficiaries. They will also provide organized structures that will be formed through greater involvement of the private sector.
The Private Sector: It is the duty of the private sector to provide support to the agricultural development through buying the final products. Private sector can also provide access to various markets and/or even invest in the agricultural development in general.
The Local Municipalities: The municipality will be the provider of monitoring and evaluation systems. This food production process should also form part of Municipal Integrated Development Plan.

Conclusion

The role of private sector in Agricultural Development is an open discussion that can be approached in various ways. Some can consider private sector as organizations that can provide financial support only. There are many ways in which Private Sector can help but it all depends on what each organization wants to achieve.