Push for food secure Africa now turns to addressing bottlenecks in agriculture transformation
The over two decades old Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) enters its third decade with renewed hope of finally getting the right matrix toward a food-secure continent.
Launched in 2003, during the Heads of State Summit in Maputo, Mozambique, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), or the Maputo Declaration, has been a key driver of agricultural transformation across Africa.
The main objective at its inception was “to increase food security and nutrition, reduce rural poverty, create employment and contribute toward economic development while protecting the environment,” says Dr. Godfrey Bahiigwa, Director of Agriculture and Rural Development at the African Union Commission(AUC).
The Heads of State meeting in Maputo in 2003 envisaged a continent whose member states would aim at an annual economic growth of 6% in agriculture if they committed at least 10% of their budgets to agriculture.
Targeting the agriculture sector also targets improving the livelihoods of rural populations who make up 70 percent of Africa’s population.
In an interview during the recently concluded Validation Workshop for Post Malabo Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) agenda Technical Working Groups, in Lusaka, Zambia, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (ARBE) Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, argued that while Africa’s rural population is 70% and hence the majority, they have been left to their own devises, yet this would have been a sure way of dealing with the socio-economic challenges facing Africa’s rural poor.
“You can’t say you want to solve the issue of poverty and end poverty, yet at the same time you are leaving 70% of the population in poverty, then you did not achieve anything,” said Josefa Sacko, and trained Agronomist.
The Director of Agriculture, Food Security and Environmental Sustainability at AUDA-NEPAD, Estherine Fotabong says the next ten years of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) “ought to be impactful,” she adds that while much has been done, a lot more needs to be done under the framework that has been domesticated by over 49 member states.
“The next ten years should be impactful,” she said at the Validation Workshop for Post Malabo Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) agenda Technical Working Groups, held recently in Lusaka, Zambia. She adds that Africa needs to look beyond the aspirational goals of the Africa we want, and begin to look at transforming the vision to the Africa we want to build.
Successes under the CAADP program have seen member states signing CAADP Compacts as well as initiating CAADP-compliant National Agricultural Investment Plans (NAIPs) which have been completed by 31 countries, and four regional plans were finalized.
These challenges such as national and regional policy burdens, resource constraints, and a lack of cross-sectoral cooperation are hampering progress. However, building on the successes of the Maputo Declaration, the 2014 Malabo CAADP Declaration that was held in Malabo in Equatorial Guinea, recommitted to CAADP and set ambitious goals for 2025, these included; eradicating hunger, reducing malnutrition, and tripling intra-African trade.
The Malabo Declaration emphasized accountability through Biennial Reviews and recognized the importance of related sectors like infrastructure and rural development, it focused mainly on agriculture, livestock, forestry, and fisheries, while at the same time, acknowledging the crucial role of infrastructure, trade, and other sectors in agricultural growth.
Recent occurrences like the COVID-19, conflicts, as well as the Russia-Ukraine conflict have had impacts on Africa’s agriculture these are being compounded by the impacts of climate change that have seen the Heads of State and Government acknowledging the achievements of CAADP but “expressed concern that the continent is not on track to meet CAADP’s goals by 2025,” with Member States calling for development of a post-Malabo CAADP agenda to address sustainable food systems and emerging issues.
The meeting beginning in Kampala, Uganda this week, aims to come up with the silver bullet towards tackling persistent challenges, and unfinished business in achieving the Malabo declaration targets, adapting to the changing global context, aligning with Agenda 2063, and leveraging new opportunities for agricultural transformation and inclusive growth.
“CAADP has played a significant role in African agriculture, but a new agenda for the next 10 years is needed to address remaining challenges and adapt to a changing world,” says Dr. Bahiigwa, Director of Agriculture and Rural Development at the African Union Commission(AUC).
The writer is a Science Journalist at Kenya Broadcasting Corporation
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