By Denis Jjuuko
Ouagadougou: Kenya, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast will sign CAADP compacts in the next few days bringing the number of countries that are committed to improving their agriculture to 22 according to Martin Bwalya, head of CAADP at the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency.
Bwalya was addressing the media at a press conference organized ahead of the CAADP Day that took place in Ouagadougou Burkina Faso. CAADP compacts among other areas compel African governments to commit to agriculture by allocating 10% of their national budgets to the sector and challenge countries to attain at least 6% sectoral growth per annum.
Bwalya emphasized the value of knowledge-sharing in the CAADP processes. “What we are emphasizing is the value of knowledge. Supporting farmers should include knowledge dissemination,” he said.
“The value and quality of knowledge and how it is applied is crucial in agricultural development. We need to scale up knowledge dissemination.” He challenged the media to play a greater role in the CAADP processes on the continent.
