Lusaka, 3^rd March 2010

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.

The endorsement of the CAADP Compact will signify the commitment of the Swaziland Government and all key stakeholders involved in advancing the agriculture development agenda, towards investing in selected priority areas that will ensure enhanced economic growth, food and nutrition security.

The ceremony is expected to be officiated by senior representatives of the Swaziland Government. In addition, the AU Commission and NEPAD, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the CAADP Pillar Lead Institutions, Development Partners, the Private Sector, Farmers Organizations, Academics and Civil Society are also expected to participate in the discussions and final endorsement of the Compact.

Established in 2003, NEPAD’s CAADP is the highest policy level framework for the development of agriculture in Africa. COMESA has the mandate to implement the CAADP agenda in Eastern and Southern Africa.

While the majority of the citizens of COMESA derive livelihood from agriculture, the sector’s overall productivity is low. The main challenges to enhanced agricultural development and competitiveness in COMESA are market-related challenges, technological obstacles and policy constraints that lead to low agricultural productivity resulting in food insecurity.

Swaziland will be the 4th country in COMESA to sign the CAADP Compact after Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia. Several other Member States in the COMESA region are also lined up to sign-up in 2010.

Source: COMESA

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. 

“We are bound by our geographic proximity and historical, linguistic, religious and cultural ties, and are also living witnesses to an era when there is ever increasing interactions between our two peoples’, she said.

Afro Arab cooperation has, since the historic First Afro-Arab Summit which was held in Cairo, Egypt in 1977, reflected itself in, for example, the organisation of the Afro- Arab trade fairs and business weeks, and the establishment of the joint institute in Mali for cultural exchanges and research in the two regions.

“The Summit will thus come, not as the beginning of a journey, but as reflective impetus for our continued journey and actions in areas of common concern”, the Commissioner added. She saluted the Ministers’ efforts and support for Africa’s agricultural blueprint – the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP). In concluding, Commissioner Joiner recalled that the AU Chairperson, Dr Bingu Wa Mutharika, is strongly committed to taking urgent steps to improve Africa’s food security and to ensure that, within five years, no child in Africa would die of hunger or starvation.

Ambassador Ahmed Benheli, the Deputy Secretary General of the League of Arab States said the Ministerial meeting symbolizes political will and a common strategic direction of the two regions. He observed that the food bill for developing countries is too high, noting that expenditure on food imports has doubled in recent years. “We therefore need to work together and provide political will so as to achieve food security for the two regions”.

During the opening session, the Ministers also endorsed their bureau as such: Chair-Egypt; 1st Vice Chair-Niger: 2nd Vice Chair-Algeria; Rapporteur-Malawi and Vice Rapporteur-Syria.

The 1^st Joint Ministerial Meeting on Agricultural Development and Food Security will, in its one day session, consider the JAP between the AU and the LAS, as well as adopt its decisions and resolutions. The JAP will give new impetus to Afro-Arab Cooperation by shifting it from fragmented small activities to large scale undertakings that will have a meaningful impact on the continent’s people. It will also help address the challenges of food insecurity in the two regions and contribute to the overall economic development efforts of African and Arab countries.

Source: African Union Commission

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.

The CAADP Compact was signed by the Prime Minister of Senegal, His Excellency Souleymane Ndéné Ndiaye, AUC-NEPAD, ECOWAS, a representative of the development partners and representatives from the private sector, farmers’ organizations and civil society.

Senegal is the eleventh country to sign the CAADP compact agreement in the ECOWAS region and the fourteenth country to do so Africa wide. “This is clearly a sign of momentum in the progress of NEPAD’s Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development ProgramThe President of Senegal is one of the  lead Heads of State, who supported the establishment of NEPAD, therefore, the signing of the CAADP Compact by Senegal is clearly a historical moment” said the Prime Minister Souleymane Ndéné Ndiaye.

As per the 2003 AU Maputo declaration, CAADP is based on two major principles: the pursuit of a six percent average annual growth rate at the national level in the agricultural sector, and the allocation of ten percent of national budgets to agriculture.

CAADP’s agenda reflects a fundamental shift in the way Africa’s leadership looks at agriculture and its potential contribution to ending poverty, hunger, and malnutrition. The program—fully owned and led by African governments—is at the heart of efforts to achieve growth and national development in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

“The Senegal NAIP will be the overall framework for the harmonization and articulation of the various agricultural development plans and programmes, which are currently implemented in the country and is aligned to the LOASP, the Agro-Forestry-Pastoral Orientation Law”, commented Dr Ousseini Salifou, ECOWAS commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and water resource.

NAIP is a program developed by all stakeholders involved in the CAADP process in Senegal as a strategic planning framework for a long term agricultural investment and a platform for cooperation between the partners in the agricultural sector of Senegal.

For more information contact:

Andrew Kanyegirire on Email andrewk@nepad.org

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.

“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.

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

           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.

 “Since 1990, the number of hungry people in Africa has increased by 20%, and the number of hungry children on the continent is expected to increase dramatically if current policy and investment trends continue,” said Mr. Sam Kanyarukiga, the CAADP Coordinator at COMESA. “To reverse this trend and ultimately achieve food security, investments and policies in support of agriculture are essential.”

“With the support of the AU, NEPAD, COMESA, and the international community, Rwanda is confident that it can achieve its agricultural development goals, and ultimately alleviate poverty and achieve food security for the country’s poor,” said Dr. Agnes Kalibatta, Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture.

Nairobi, 2 December 2009 - A major conference to help enhance food security in Africa and share lessons on best practices entered its third day in Nairobi Wednesday.

The Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) head Richard Mkandawire who spoke on behalf of the African Union Commission and New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) said the forum is a platform for sharing experiences and lessons from each other’s best practices in agriculture.

The lessons and ideas are to be used as an input into country-driven development of the agricultural and rural sector, he said.

The five day forum is under the theme The Bottom of the Pyramid: Agricultural Development for the Vulnerable.

“In spite of the positive socio-economic and political gains that have been recorded in the past 10 years, Africa remains a troubled continent. This is a continent where famine and diseases are widespread. A continent where 200 million people are undernourished and 33 million children are malnourished and go to sleep hungry every night,” Mr Mkandawire said.

He warned that in absence of some real tangible emergency and long term measures-food prices are set to remain high for most African countries over the next couple of years.

The AU and NEPAD have been advocating for African agricultural capacity building, so that African countries can better develop their agricultural capacities.

Endorsed by the AU in 2003, CAADP is an Africa-led and Africa-owned NEPAD initiative and framework to rationalise and revitalise African agriculture for economic growth and lasting poverty reduction results.

“In this light, may I state that the African Union and NEPAD will play a lead role in ensuring that the knowledge generation centres, through the Regional Economic Communities, work very closely with the countries in enhancing and strengthening the national round table processes and we shall endeavour to mobilise the relevant resources to support this process,” Mr Mkandawire said.

While opening the conference on Monday at Laico Regency Hotel, Agriculture minister William Ruto said five children were dying of hunger every five seconds worldwide.

“Globally, we have one billion hungry people, meaning one-sixth of all humanity is hungry and malnourished.

“This figure represents over 100 million more hungry people than in 2008 and out of these, five children die every 30 seconds. Beyond the numbers, this means horrible suffering for children, women, men, relatives, friends or neighbours. This is mankind’s tragic achievement in these modern days when our technology allows us to travel to the moon and to space stations,” the minister said.

In Africa, Mr Ruto said, 218 million people or 30 percent of population were suffering from chronic hunger and malnutrition

*Mr. Lucas Barasa is an active member of the CAADP Network of Journalists. This article first appeared on The Nation Website www.nation.co.ke on December 2, 2009.