The purpose of this programme, which was previously named Trade Promotion and Market Access is to promote economic development, trade and market access for agriculture, forestry and fisheries products and to foster international relations for the sector. This programme saw a budgetary decrease of 2.5 per cent in real terms, due to decreases of 3.6 per cent and 10 per cent (in real terms) in the Cooperatives and Rural Business Development and Agroprocessing and Marketing sub-programmes, respectively. The budgetary reduction in both sub-programmes does not make sense given the Department's mandate of job creation through agroprocessing under the NGP and the IPAP2; its strategic outcome of rural job creation and promoting economic livelihoods and supporting smallholder producers and rural communities with market access . In addition, the Department plans to establish 12 commodity associations, 378 rural 'sustainable' cooperatives (108 in agriculture, 126 in forestry and 144 in fisheries) and value chain networks for all the three sectors in the medium term. Yet, the programme's budget allocation does not speak to these activities.