Rural Development Strategy 2001.

The overall objective of the Rural Development Strategy is to provide a strategic framework that will facilitate the co-coordinated implementation of sector policies and strategies concerned with the development of rural communities. In particular, the RDS will support the implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy and create a development environment that will contribute to enabling rural communities and households achieving sustainable livelihoods. In this respect the Rural Development Strategy will identify short and medium term priorities that will support the goal of sustainable livelihoods, and contribute to the longterm goal, outlined in Vision 2025, of sustained economic growth. To strengthen efforts at improving food security the Government has deregulated markets and prices, making various administrative structural changes. With the enactment of the Food Security Act of 1991, functions related to food crops were transferred to the Food Security Department (FSD) in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS). In addition, the private sector is being supported to undertake production, input supply and crop market functions.