Evaluating the Bilateral Agricultural Cooperation and Partnership Agreement between Türkiye and Sudan in the Framework of Policy Success

Abstract

Today, many countries use other nations' agricultural land through land grabbing by using food security as an excuse. This term refers to the large-scale land acquisition by purchasing or leasing vast tracts of land by domestic and transnational companies, governments, and individuals following the world food price crisis of 2007-08. Türkiye signed an agreement with Sudan to increase agricultural production and trade in 2014. The objectives of the agreement were to establish a partnership company between TIGEM and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Sudan, to create a model farm on 12,500 hectares of land through a partner company in Sudan, and to encourage Turkish private sector companies to invest in agriculture on 780,500 hectares of land in five regions of Sudan. Following this agreement, the Turkish Sudanese International Agriculture and Livestock Joint Stock Company was established with an 80 percent shareholding of TİGEM and 20 percent of Sudan.

In this context, there is a need to evaluate the success of this agreement, which represents a new initiative in Turkish agricultural policies. Indeed, policy evaluation assesses the reasons for policy success or failure and helps to improve the links between policy formulation, implementation, and outcomes. This paper analyzes the Agricultural Cooperation and Partnership Agreement between Türkiye and Sudan using Marsh and McConnell's framework for policy success. Marsh and McConnell (2010) proposed a three-dimensional framework for evaluating policy success, which includes the process, programme, and policy dimensions. (1) The process dimension covers all aspects leading up to the implementation stage, with criteria such as protecting the goals, ensuring legitimacy, building a sustainable coalition, and supporting the process. (2) The programme dimension involves achieving policy objectives, attaining desired results, and providing benefits for target groups. (3) The policy dimension includes criteria such as facilitating administration, gaining political support for the government, and increasing prospects of re-election.

The results show that policy success was adversely affected by limited participation, failure to meet objectives, and inability to increase the government's popularity. Additionally, the study sheds light on the factors that could be considered when making agricultural policy in Türkiye: It is recommended that agricultural policies should not be designed by trial and error. It may be beneficial to tailor agricultural policies to the social dimension, unique conditions, and structural problems of the country's agriculture. It is crucial to engage stakeholders effectively in agricultural policy-making. Regular and objective policy evaluations can help ensure the efficient use of labour and resources allocated to agriculture. However, there are few studies on the success or failure of policies in Türkiye. Marsh and McConnell's policy success framework offers a valuable tool for the scientific evaluation of public policies. Therefore, further empirical studies on this topic may be beneficial.