Neoliberal policies, initiated by the Bretton Woods institutions in the 1980's, led to a drastic reduction of public sector investment in the agricultural sector, the assumption being that the market would provide the necessary incentives to improve the performance of producers and agribusiness operators and increase access to markets.
As a result, Dutch development cooperation investments in agriculture decreased significantly.
At the same time, based on insights from the previous period, many donors, including the Netherlands, launched large scale multi-sector integrated rural development programs (IRDP's). These were often insufficiently embedded in government institutions and therefore ultimately not sustainable and could not be scaled up to the national level. IRDP’s also tended to focus more on the social sectors and infrastructure rather than providing direct support for agriculture[2].
Later, District Rural Development programs were launched to counteract the lack of (local) ownership perceived in the IRDP's. These multi-sectoral programs were implemented in close collaboration with local district authorities.
In an attempt to coordinate initiatives to promote rural development in partner countries, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs created a Rural Development Program at Headquarters in The Hague in 1985. The program was terminated in 1991[3]
Dutch policies also emphasized responsible utilization of natural resources and research, extension and education, with special attention for small scale farmers. Alignment of trade policies, development cooperation, structural economic policy and foreign policy were addressed (policy coherence). A ‘landbouwpool’ (agricultural expert pool) was created to support agricultural development efforts and align with specific country level situations and dynamics.
Following the UN Earth Summit of 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, where a conclusion was reached that both poor and rich countries needed far reaching change in order to work towards a sustainable global development, the Dutch government took the initiative to enter into experimental Sustainable Development Agreements (SDAs) with Costa Rica, Bhutan and Benin, based on equality, participation and reciprocity. Sustainable agriculture was an important component in this innovative international cooperation model. Despite some degree of success, and a strong commitment on the part of the partner countries, these agreements were ultimately considered to be too ambitious[4].
Food for work programs complemented the efforts of the rural development programs focusing mainly on infrastructure and environmental protection. Food for work programs gradually shifted from a reliance on imported food donations from developed countries to local purchasing thereby contributing to the incomes of local farming households.
37 https://www.britannica.com/money/Washington-consensus.
https://drodrik.scholar.harvard.edu/files/dani-rodrik/files/goodbye_washington_consensus_.pdf
[2] the same shortcoming was mentioned by IOB in their evaluation of District Development programs in Tanzania.
[3] IOV, Sector Programma Plattelandsontwikkeling, evaluatie rapport 1991
[4] See a.o. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-'successful-failure'-of-the-sustainable-between-Rinzin-Velthuis/ced532190833abbde7f3ccdb175d4c506fe7e2b7