VZCZCXRO5133
PP RUEHIK
DE RUEHRN #0087/01 3581222
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 241222Z DEC 09
FM USMISSION UN ROME
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1239
INFO RUEHC/USAID WASHDC
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES
RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM PRIORITY 0019
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 0079
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 0136
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE USD FAS WASHINGTON DC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY 0282
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0339
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0440
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRN/USMISSION UN ROME 1316

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 UN ROME 000087 
 
SIPDIS 
 
USAID FOR DCHA, OFDA, FFP, EGAT AND AFRICA BUREAU 
USDA FAS FOR PHILBROOK AND SHEIKH 
TREASURY FOR MORRIS AND GANDHI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: WFP AORC EAID EAGR
SUBJECT: WORLD FOOD PROGRAM'S PURCHASE FOR PROGRESS (P4P) ANNUAL 
REVIEW 
 
UN ROME 00000087  001.3 OF 002 
 
 
----------------------------- 
Summary 
----------------------------- 
 
¶1.  From December 9-10, USG representatives from USAID, USDA and 
MCC attended the first Annual Review of the UN World Food 
Program (WFP) Purchase for Progress (P4P) program, an initiative 
to promote the development of agricultural markets capitalizing 
on WFP's purchasing power.  Over 150 participants gathered in 
Rome to exchange experiences, challenge assumptions, set 
priorities and make improvements for moving P4P forward, which 
has generated great interest and support among stakeholders. 
Participants agreed that there is a need to:  broaden and deepen 
partnerships in particular with the private sector; strengthen 
national and regional market information systems to better 
monitor the impact of P4P; make gender empowerment a specific 
goal of programs; ensure programs are led, designed and 
implemented at the country/community level.  End summary. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Purchase for Progress (P4P) 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  Inspired by the potential of WFP's purchasing power -- 80 
percent of WFP's $1.2 billion commodity budget is spent in the 
developing world each year -- Purchase for Progress (P4P) began 
in 2008with the aim of taking local procurement a step further. 
The key objective is to help poor small-holder farmers organize 
to meet WFP demand, thereby increasing the income of those in 
need while at the same time developing lasting market 
structures.   The P4P vision is to promote the development of 
agricultural markets in such a way that by 2013 at least 500,000 
low-income smallholder farmers (mostly women) will produce food 
surpluses and sell them at a fair price to increase their 
incomes.  Most importantly, P4P activities complement broader 
national and regional economic development strategies, including 
the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program 
(CAADP). 
 
¶3.  P4P is a five-year, $115 million pilot program built on 
three pillars:  WFP's demand (in 2008, while assisting 103 
million people, WFP bought $1.1 billion worth of food 
commodities) , supply side partnerships (WFP links its demand 
with the expertise, knowledge and resources of supply side 
partners that support farmers to increase and improve quality of 
their production)  and learning and sharing (P4P gathers and 
shares lessons about effective approaches to help smallholder 
farmers benefit from the sale of their agriculture produce) . 
Implementation is underway in 19 of 21 target countries, with 
25,000 metric tons already contracted out of the expected total 
of 40,000 metric tons by the end of CY 2009.  Nearly 10,000 
farmers and 58 warehouse operators have received training, and 
about 50 supply side partners are working with farmer 
organizations on P4P.  A comprehensive monitoring and evaluation 
system, including baselines, is being rolled out in the pilot 
countries. 
 
---------------------------------- 
Annual Review Process 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  The 150 representatives in attendance included P4P 
coordinators, key staff from WFP headquarters and the field, 
partner organizations and other global stakeholders.  The USG 
was represented by USAID, USDA, and the MCC.  Other donors such 
as Canada and Belgium and the Gates and Buffet Foundations also 
participated. 
 
¶5.  Working group sessions were held on the following topics: 
competitive and non-competitive procurement, processing/food 
safety and quality, partnership models, capacity building, 
monitoring and evaluation and gender issues.  Groups also met by 
region, with one dedicated to conflict and post-conflict 
countries.  Recurring issues coming out of these sessions 
included the importance of an enabling policy environment 
(limited market interference by host government), farmer access 
 
UN ROME 00000087  002.3 OF 002 
 
 
to credit, providing support to small to medium-scale traders 
and food processors, a need for more flexible procurement 
modalities, promoting the expansion of warehouse receipts 
systems and commodity exchanges, the critical issue of defining 
commodity prices, monitoring and evaluation challenges, quality 
standards, and the selection of adequate partners.  In a session 
highlighting donor perspectives, USAID presented an overview of 
the USG Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative 
(http://www.state.gov/s/globalfoodsecurity), and noted an 
anticipated scale-up in funding for focus countries as an 
opportunity for partnership, encouraging contact between local 
WFP offices and U.S. Missions to identify shared objectives. 
 
¶6.  Observations/concerns:  Several participants noted the 
developmental nature of this program, expressing concern that 
programming in this area (with gender issues as an example) 
would be substandard due to it not being WFP's area of 
expertise.  The impact of P4P activities on local markets was 
also raised:  WFP's Director of Procurement recognized 
difficulties in market results measurement due to P4P's 
small-scale pilot status presently, and reiterated WFP's 
committed attention to market sensitivities. 
 
¶7.  Comment:   While it is still too early to gauge the full 
impact of this program, it does appear to provide a platform to 
test new procurement approaches and support those best suited to 
help small holder farmers.  Only time will tell if the program 
can raise small subsistence farmers up to the level of 
surplus-producing commercial farmers.  Similarly, it is too 
early to judge whether P4P will substantially and sustainably 
raise levels of production in targeted areas or if it will save 
money compared to other forms of procurement.  End comment. 
 
¶8.  For further information on P4P, please contact Michelle Snow 
(Snowms@state.gov) at USUN-Rome, or Rachel Grant 
(ragrant@usaid.gov) in FFP/Washington.   Additional information 
may be found at:  http://www.wfp.org/purchase-progress; as well 
as at: 
http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/publ ic/documents/n 
ewsroom/wfp209354.pdf. 
 
¶9.  Minimize considered. 
GLOVER