Political Leadership and Agricultural Transformation in Taiwan, China; the Philippines; Ethiopia; and Malawi

This chapter discusses the main findings of the exploration of political leadership and agricultural transformation in the four country case studies. It finds that the one case of successful agricultural transformation—Taiwan, China—has seen a vision embracing the centrality of agriculture anchored in the national development plans (long timeframe), the steering of APS toward areas most conducive for agricultural transformation (commitment), and efforts to share the fruits of the agricultural transformation broadly among the population (inclusiveness). In contrast, the leadership in the Philippines and Malawi did not demonstrate such a stability of vision, nor committed resources in a long-term and inclusive fashion toward the sector—leading to a lack of agricultural transformation. The Ethiopian case represents a more mixed result.