Draft EAC Food Security Action Plan; draft EAC Climate Change Policy; and draft Declaration on Food Security and Climate Change for further improvements

East African Community Secretariat, Arusha, Tanzania, 8 March 2010 - The Sectoral Council of Ministers for Lake Victoria Basin and the Multi-Sectoral meeting on Food Security and Climate Change concluded their meetings on 4 March 2010 in Kisumu, Kenya with a firm resolve to address food insecurity and impacts of climate change within the East African Community.

The Multi-Sectoral Council, which was chaired by Hon. Prof. Mark J. Mwandosya, Minister of Water and Irrigation from The United Republic of Tanzania, considered and provided critical inputs on the draft EAC Food Security Action Plan; the draft EAC Climate Change Policy; and the draft Declaration on Food Security and Climate Change that are to be presented to the EAC Heads of State at a special Summit on 26 March 2010 in Arusha, Tanzania.

The draft EAC Food Security Action Plan; draft EAC Climate Change Policy; and draft Declaration on Food Security and Climate Change have been submitted to Partner States for further scrutiny. Partner States are to submit their comments on these critical documents to the EAC Secretariat by 18 March 2010 for consolidation. The EAC Secretariat is to submit the consolidated drafts to the 20^th Council of Ministers meeting scheduled to meet on 19-24 March 2010.

The EAC Agriculture and Rural Development Policy (EAC-ARDP) recognises the importance of eliminating hunger and ensuring sustainable food security within the region as a necessary step towards poverty eradication and consequently a stimulus for rational agricultural development and realisation of the aspirations of the Treaty establishing the EAC. However, before and since the signing of the Treaty, the ability of the Partner States to achieve individual and collective durable food security status has been elusive. This has been further compounded by the negative impacts of climate change.

The overall objective of the EAC Treaty regarding cooperation in agriculture and rural development is the achievement of food security and rational agricultural production. Further, the EAC ARDP aims at attaining food security through increased agricultural production, processing, storage and marketing.

The EAC ARDP guides the development of strategies and programmes and projects for realisation of the above goals of the EAC. This action plan has been developed to guide the implementation and actualisation of a regional food security objective.

The adverse impacts of climate change are a threat to the livelihoods of people in almost all sectors of the economy in the EAC region. Severe droughts, floods and indeed extreme weather phenomena are occurring with greater frequency and intensity in the region. Climate change has thus become a leading contributor to among others; food insecurity, insufficient hydro-power, increases in pests and diseases, water scarcity and severe damage to infrastructure.

The increase of the average global temperature, as indicated in the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change  (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (IPCC, 2007), will further aggravate climate change in the EAC region, worsening the state of food security and threatening all the other drivers of economic development.  Hence the need for an integrated, harmonised and multi-sectoral framework for responding to climate change in the EAC region.

The overall objective of the East African Community Climate Change Policy (EACCCP) is to guide Partner States and other stakeholders on the preparation and implementation of collective measures to address climate change in the region while assuring sustainable social and economic development.

The guiding principles in implementing the Policy are in accordance with the EAC Treaty, the EAC Protocol on Environment and Natural Resources, the Protocol on Sustainable Development of Lake Victoria Basin as well as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) among others.

The Kisumu meeting was attended by Hon. Maria Mutagamba, Uganda’s Minister of Water and Environment; Hon. Hafsa Mossi, Burundi’s Minister of East African Community Affairs; Hon. Dr. Paul N. Otuoma, Minister for Fisheries Development of the Republic of Kenya; and Hon. Stanislas Kamanzi, Rwanda’s Minister of Environment and Lands.

The meeting was also attended by Permanent Secretaries and Senior Officials, members of the Food Security and Climate Change Sectors of Partner States; officials from the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization (LVFO), Lake Victoria Regional Local Authorities Cooperation (LAVRLAC), Nile Equatorial Lake Subsidiary Action Programme (NELSAP) of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as observers. Officials from the EAC and LVBC Secretariats were also in attendance.

For further information please contact:

Richard Owora Othieno
Ag. Head of Department
Corporate Communications and Public Affairs
Phone: +256 718 358664 / +255 784 835021

Email: othieno@eachq.org

Department of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs
EAC Secretariat
Arusha, Tanzania

Lusaka, 3^rd March 2010 - Key stakeholders in the African agricultural development agenda, including agricultural experts, policymakers, development partners, farmers organizations and the private sector, will convene at Ezulwini, Swaziland from the 3rd to the 4th March 2010 for a roundtable meeting on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP).

The roundtable will culminate into the signing of the CAADP Compact by the Swaziland Government. Key signatories will also include the African Union (AU) and NEPAD.

The signing of the CAADP Compact is in response to a mandate by the African Heads of State and Government at Maputo in 2003, encouraging Member States to increase their annual budget allocation to agriculture, in order to attain a marked and sustainable growth in the sector. (more…)

Sharm El Sheikh, 16 February 2010 - African and Arab Ministers are meeting in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt today to agree on a Joint Action Plan (JAP) that will guide their collaboration in agriculture and food security. The initial work on the JAP had been done by experts from the two regions who met from 14-15 February at the same venue.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the Joint Afro Arab Ministerial Meeting on Agricultural Development and Food Security, Mr. Amin Abaza, Egyptian Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation observed that it is now imperative for the African Union (AU) and the League of Arab States (LAS) to increase their cooperation.

Agriculture represents the pivot for the economies, he said and in both regions, there is an abundance of land, resources, and knowledge in various areas. Yet, he commented, the caloric intake in the regions is below the international level. He therefore urged for greater cooperation to overcome challenges and increase food security.

Mr. Abaza said the objectives of the Ministerial meeting included; creating a partnership to promote food security; and seeking ways to achieve best use of land resources through cooperation. He went on to encourage the two regions to have private sector driven projects, to attract investors to work with the private sector, to cooperate in the management of water; promote small holder farmers; build human and financial capacity; and to exchange experiences. The technological gap, he said, also impedes optimum yield from agricultural activities.

“So we need to improve technology transfer”, he added. In his conclusion, the Minister said that reviving solidarity between the AU and the Arab world will enable the two regions to achieve prosperity for their people.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Mrs. Julia Dolly Joiner underscored the vitality of the relationship between the AU and the League of Arab States. 

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By Ousmane Djibo

10th February 2010, Dakar — Senegal’s roundtable meetings on the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural

President Wade

Development Programme (CAADP) have successfully ended with the endorsement of the CAADP Compact within the context of the Senegal National Agricultural Investment Programme (NAIP) and the broader Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Agriculture Policy.

The roundtable meetings which were held from the 9th to the 10th of February attracted close to 300 agricultural experts, policymakers, and representatives from farmer organizations, the private sector, Non-Governmental Organisations, Parliamentarians, the Government of Senegal, the African Union Commission (AUC), the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), ECOWAS and development partners. The Compact is a mutual commitment between the Government of Senegal and the various national, regional and international agencies and organizations aimed at  achieving the CAADP Goals.

The opening session of the round table was chaired by His Excellency Abdoulaye Wade, the President of Senegal.   In his opening statement President Wade highlighted the major achievements of the Government of Senegal in the Agriculture sector over the past two years particularly through the rural revolution which is taking in place in the country with the Goana and the National Food Security Programme.

In his remarks, President Wade emphasized the financing constraints faced by African farmers and asked ECOWAS and AUC/NEPAD to explore the possibilities of enabling  farmers to access finance - in the region and on the continent. He also called upon these pan-African institutions to push for low interest rates so that the loans for farmers can be made more affordable.

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Midrand, South Africa (7 February 2010) - The 14^th African Union (AU) Summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 25 January – 2 February 2010, decided to strengthen the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) programme by transforming the NEPAD secretariat into an implementation Agency – the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA).

NPCA now has a clear mandate “to facilitate and coordinate the implementation of continental and regional priority programmes and projects”, according to the AU Assembly Decision No. AU/14 (XIV) of 1 February 2010.

The NPCA is also mandated “to mobilize resources and partners in support of their implementation”, the decision stipulates.

Welcoming the AU decision, the CEO of the NPCA, Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, described the leaders’ approval as a positive move, which is in line with the overall vision and mission of the African Union.

The Assembly also endorsed the integration of NEPAD into the structures and processes of the AU and authorized the Chairperson of the African Union Commission to exercise supervisory authority over the NPCA, “whilst giving the new agency adequate and necessary flexibilities to carry out its mandate and thereby maintaining the corporate brand identity of the NEPAD Programme within the African Union.”

“This decision has strengthened NEPAD. We now have a clear and adequate mandate to focus more on project implementation in African countries,” said Dr. Mayaki.

Dr. Mayaki called on the personnel of the former NEPAD Secretariat to redouble their efforts to live up to the expectations of the African leaders, who approved the transformation from the Secretariat into a full-fledged implementing Agency.

It would be recalled that a few media outlets initially misunderstood the transformation to mean dissolution of the NEPAD programme.

18 January 2010 –With the global economic downturn causing the “disastrous combination” of high food prices and reduced buying power, leaving hundreds of millions more people unable to feed themselves or their families, the United Nations today reiterated its commitment to work with regional bodies to ensure food security.

“We are all strongly committed to working with you to help those at risk enjoy food and nutrition security, and to build up their resilience in the face of today’s grave economic, climatic and environmental threats,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Summit of the World’s Regions on Food Security in Dakar, Senegal, in a message delivered by his Special Representative on Food Security and Nutrition David Nabarro.

The seriousness of the UN commitment was underlined by the presence at the summit of a full array of the world body’s organizations – the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and others – he said.

Mr. Ban noted the many factors creating the crisis, including the inability of farmers to produce enough food to meet demand, with volatile markets offering prices that are sometimes too low to cover their costs, seeds and fertilizers being too expensive, and trading systems often hobbling their access to markets at the right price.

Smallholder farmers are hit particularly hard, with their problems exacerbated by credit shortages, lack of access to technology and the impact of climate change. Women, who do most of the farming in the world’s poorest communities, suffer their own particular ill-effects from food insecurity, being forced to make stark choices between childcare and income-earning, leaving a disproportionate numbers of women and children mal-nourished.

“We must do a better job of listening to these smallholders and women farmers, and involving them in our response,” Mr. Ban said.

But he also noted some bright spots, with civil society, the private sector and governments working more concertedly at several levels. World leaders have become increasingly outspoken on the need for a sustained response to food and nutrition insecurity.

Africa’s leaders have committed themselves to increasing investments in agriculture, infrastructure and food processing, especially for smallholders, and to strengthening social protection programmes, safety nets and direct assistance to the hungry, with similar twin-track initiatives emerging in Asia and Latin America.

Mr. Ban also cited the agreements reached last year by the G20 group of leading developed and developing nations and the G8 bloc of industrialized States on a comprehensive, country-led and coordinated approach to food security, and on the long-term investment to support it.

“It is at the local and regional levels that such initiatives need the greatest support,” he said.

An aerial view of an impoverished neighbourhood in Port-au-Prince demonstrates the extent of damage inflicted by the powerful earthquake that rocked the Haitian capital on 12 January

Haiti is going through the after effects of a terrible earthquake that has led to the loss of thousands of lives in the most densely populated area of the country. NEPAD would like to express heartfelt condolences and deep sympathy to the people of Haiti, especially the victims of this tragic event. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected who may have lost family members, workmates and friends. The Government of Haiti has asked the UN to mobilize international resources for the emergency response.

To provide funding to the UN Emergency Relief Response Fund for Haiti: Contact Christelle Loupforest at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs loupforest@un.org to receive banking details.

A briefing session chaired by the Algerian Minister of Environment, Town Planning and Tourism, Hon. Cherif Rahmani (centre) was organized on 12 December 2009 at the Bella Center, Copenhagen, Denmark to update African Ministers on the Status of negotiations at COP15. The session was addressed among others by H.E. Mrs. Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, the Commissioner of Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union Commission (left) and the South African Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs and President of AMCEN, Hon. Buyelwa Sonjica (right). The attendance of the Chair for the G77+China Group of negotiators at this session marked geo-political solidarity with Africa and highlighted the strategic alliances being forged at COP15 and beyond. Source: African Union.

Statement of Outcomes from Agriculture and Rural Development Day.

12 December 2009, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen.

A group of more than 300 policymakers, farmers and scientists meeting in Copenhagen today urged on negotiators at the United Nations Climate Change Conference to recognize agriculture’s vital role in climate change adaptation and mitigation.

The group strongly endorsed the proposed target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to avoid a temperature increase of more than 2 degrees C. They stressed that reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture is essential for achieving the target.

Farmers and researchers are already finding climate change solutions. On that basis, the agricultural community intends to play a pro-active role in actions aimed at reducing emissions, while increasing the productive capacity of agriculture through the development of sustainable practices.

Agriculture faces the challenge of nearly doubling food production in order to meet the food needs of a population expected to reach 9 billion by mid-century but without increasing the sector’s emissions. Across most of the tropics, agriculture will continue to face the enormous challenge of adapting to harsh and unpredictable growing conditions.

To meet the climate challenge, substantial additional financing and investment will be needed across the entire rural value chain. New investments must be handled transparently to ensure that adaptation and mitigation are not undermined by reduced support for global food security and rural development. In addition, new investment must be accessible to all stakeholders, including researchers and members of civil society, especially farmers and their associations.

Specifically, the group urged climate negotiators to agree on the early establishment of an agricultural work program under the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA): Agriculture and Development Day was organized by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development (GDPRD), the Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, the International Federation of Agriculture Producers, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the Global Forum for Agricultural Research, the Earth System Science Partnership.

This statement first appeared on our partner site http://www.donorplatform.org/  

For more on what actual farmers are pushing for in Copenhagen go to the blogs section of the CAADP website www.caadp.net/blog/  

KIGALI, RWANDA (7 December 2009) – Africa has identified the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) as the avenue for addressing the challenges of food security, but both the donors and African governments are yet to fulfill their commitments to CAADP, said Rwandan President Paul Kagame earlier on today at the start of a two day high-level meeting on CAADP.

In 2003, African leaders signed up to CAADP through which they agreed to allocate ten percent of their national budgets to agriculture and to pursue six percent average annual growth rate at the national level in the agricultural sector.

“Neither Africa nor the development partners have achieved the targets that were set up in 2003,” said Kagame. “There are substantial gaps between pledges and targets. We simply have no option, but to succeed with the CAADP and we all need to re-commit to what is required of us. We need to act on how each country can invest in CAADP and on how partners can support these investments.”

The President was speaking at the start of the Rwanda Post-CAADP Compact High Level Stakeholder Meeting that is focused on reviewing the achievements registered so far by Rwanda in terms of the CAADP agenda and also on how to kick-start investments into the country’s agricultural sector through the Rwanda Agriculture Sector Plan (PSTA 2) and the related Investment Plan.

The meeting brought together various policymakers, donors and representatives from the African Union (AU), the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and other international organizations.

As a programme of the African Union, NEPAD works closely with African governments to implement CAADP, a framework to accelerate economic growth and boost food security through greater investments in agriculture.

“As you all know the hunger situation in Africa is worrying. The World Hunger Report for 2009 indicates that most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are food stressed,” said Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, the Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, at the African Union Commission. “However, excellent outcomes are being witnessed in some countries such as Rwanda, Malawi and recently Sierra Leone which have made significant progress in meeting the CAADP targets”.

According to a review of the Rwanda Investment Plan, Rwanda has increased public spending on agriculture and farmers are also responding positively through increased production and productivity. Still, the country is faced with a close to US $300 million financing gap that needs to be addressed if the country’s is to maintain the current successes.

Gayle Smith, the Special Advisor to President Barack Obama of the United States reiterated the US Government’s commitment to CAADP.

“We will succeed if we match word with deed,” she advised. She went on to highlight that this success will have to go hand-in-hand with the principles of mutual accountability, engagement, transparency and real tangible commitments to African agriculture.

Speaking on behalf of the development partners, Nick Dyer the Director of Policy at the UK’s Department for International Development also called upon the donors to step-up to the challenge of taking real action in terms of supporting agriculture in Africa.

Hartwig Schafer, the Director of Strategy and Operations and Sustainable Development at the World Bank, reiterated the Bank’s support to Agriculture in Africa through short term relief and medium term investments all of which fits in well with September Pittsburgh meeting through which the G20 leaders called upon the World Bank to increase agricultural assistance to low-income countries.

The Bank is also supporting CAADP through the recently established US $50 million Multi-Donor Trust Fund which is being used to build the capacity of African institutions to lead and implement the CAADP agenda.      

About NEPAD-CAADP

The African Union through its programme of the ‘The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) works to raise the amount and quality of food that Africa produces, in order to make families more food-secure and exports more profitable. To do this, NEPAD brings together all the organisations involved in Africa’s agriculture – and helps them voice their needs and co-ordinate their work. The framework guiding this work is CAADP, developed and led by African nations. Established as part of NEPAD, CAADP was endorsed by the African Union Assembly in July 2003.

NEPAD works closely with the African Union Commission (AUC), regional economic communities, national governments, research institutions, farmers’ associations to make sure that the pivotal role of agriculture in development is prioritised. In addition, many global development partners who were looking for a champion for agricultural development have rallied around CAADP. For more information go to: www.nepad-caadp.net  or email andrewk@nepad.org

Kigali, 4 December 2009 — Nearly 300 agricultural experts, policymakers, donors and representatives from the African Union (AU), the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and other international organizations will convene here from December 7-8 for a high-level stakeholders meeting on investments into Rwanda’s agricultural sector through NEPAD’s Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP).

           The aim of CAADP, which is spearheaded by the AU-NEPAD and African governments, is to accelerate agricultural growth and thereby eliminate poverty, which has been steadily increasing throughout the continent over the past two decades.

CAADP’s agenda reflects a fundamental shift in the way Africa’s leadership looks at agriculture and its potential contribution to ending poverty and hunger. The program is the centerpiece of efforts by African countries to achieve growth and poverty reduction in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

“This post-CAADP Compact engagement on Rwanda and its agricultural sector is extremely important especially in terms of making sure that Rwanda stays on course with regard to achieving the MDG of cutting poverty in half,” said Prof. Richard Mkandawire the Adviser for Agriculture and Head of CAADP at the NEPAD Secretariat. “Agriculture accounts for over a third of Africa’s gross domestic product and almost 60 percent of its export income. We especially need to improve the role of smallholder African farmers in the region’s economies if we are to alleviate poverty and hunger on the continent.”

Rwanda was the first country in Africa to sign the CAADP Compact in March 2007. The purpose of this post-CAADP Compact meeting is to:

·         review the achievements registered so far by Rwanda in terms of accelerating the CAADP agenda at the national level;

·         analyse and share lessons learned from some of the challenges faced by Rwanda and other African countries in pursuing the CAADP agenda;

·         identify opportunities for investment financing from donors, multilateral organizations, the private sector, civil society organizations, farmers and regional economic communities towards Rwanda’s agricultural priorities;

·         look at the ways in which Rwanda’s Agriculture Investment Plan and even the Vision 2020 can act as entry points for support towards agricultural-led development.

H.E. President Paul Kagame is expected to open the meeting.

NEPAD’s Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program is based on two major principles: the pursuit of a 6 percent average annual growth rate at the national level in the agricultural sector, and the allocation of 10 percent of national budgets to agriculture. (more…)