Statement by H. E. Mrs. Tumusiime Rhoda Peace Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture African Union Commission at the retreat of the AUC department of rural economy and agriculture and the chairs of the AU Member States’ parliamentary committees on

Hon. Henri Gbone, Chair of the Committee on Agriculture, Natural Resources, Rural Economy and Environment

also Member of Parliament of the Republic of Togo

Distinguished Members of Parliament, Chairs of the Agriculture and Environment, Members of PAP and Parliaments of AU Member States

Colleagues from the African Union Commission and The NEPAD Agency,

Ladies and Gentlemen

I thank you Honourable Henri Gbone for the words you have spoken to us, the words of wisdom which we appreciate.

On behalf of the Commission  of the African Union and on my own behalf, I have the honour to convey deep appreciation for the gracious gesture of the Pan African Parliament to welcome, co-rganise and host the Retreat of the Commission’s Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture and Chairpersons of the AU Member States ‘Parliamentary Committees on Agriculture and Environment.

Before I get any further, I would like to say that I also bring you warm greetings and best wishes from H.E Dr.  Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson for the African Union Commission.  We feel very proud of this partnership between the African Union Commission, The NEPAD Agency and the Pan African Parliament in jointly organizing this retreat. We hope to build on the guidance that we received at the Colloquium of African Parliamentarians which was held in May this year in Entebbe, Uganda on Multilateral Environment Agreements.

We are equally grateful to the Honourable Members of Parliament who set aside their busy schedules and accorded this Retreat their presence and participation. We consider this an eloquent demonstration of clear and consistent commitment of the African leadership to the causes championed by the African Union in pursuit of its vision of : “An integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa,  driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in  global arena.”

Indeed, African leaders have continued to rally our continent around the four pillars of peace and security, regional integration and development, institutional capacity building and shared values. This is because of the reaslisation that there can be no development without peace and, likewise, no peace without development, and, indeed, none of the two will be achieved without good governance, observance of rule of law and human rights.

Today, we have come here to focus specifically on development which is one of the primary aspirations of the citizens of Africa who are increasing in population with the youth and women occupying the dominant ratio, all of whom need, deserve and must have safe and secure livelihoods in a sustainable environment.

That is why we salute you, Honourable Members of Parliament for paying due attention to this important cause. Not only because of coming for this retreat but also and more especially because of your stewardship of the pertinent Committees of the Parliaments of your respective countries where, as you debate and enact laws, debate and approve budgets, you also play the crucial oversight role on the Executive to hold them accountable to meeting the people’s expectations. We again salute you for your leadership. Over and above this role, you do mobilize African citizens in your respective constituencies to actively participate in the struggle to extricate Africa and its communities and nations from the fangs of poverty, hunger and malnutrition through increased agricultural production, productivity, food and nutrition security as well as sustainable management of natural resources for prosperity.

We, therefore, feel greatly honoured to be with you at this Retreat and we look forward to sharing with you information on our work,  discussing with you the opportunities and challenges at hand,  and obtaining your guidance on how the African Union Commission and specifically the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture could work more closely together with Member States and other Pan African institutions including the NEPAD Agency and Regional Economic Communities  to ensure a food and nutrition secure, poverty free Africa.

As you may be aware, the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture was established with the objective of promoting agricultural development and ensuring food security of the African continent to ensure sustainable growth and improved livelihoods for the population, underpinned by sound environmental and natural resources management and adaptation to climate change. The department has three Divisions, namely: Agriculture and Food Security, Environment and Natural Resources and Rural Economy. In addition to this headquarter-based structure, the Department has six specialized technical offices spread across the continent, namely:

(i)                      The Inter-African Bureau for Anmal Resoures in Nairobi, Kenya

(ii)                    The Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Campaign, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

(iii)                  The Pan African Veterinary Vaccine Centre in Debre Zeit, Ethiopia

(iv)                  The Inter-African Phytosanitary Centre in Yaounde, Cameroon

(v)                    The Semi-Arid Food Grain Research and Development in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

(vi)                  The Fouta Djallon Highland Integrated Development Programme in Guinea-Conakry

The department also services Ministerial-level specialized technical committees which are:

-       The African Ministerial Conference on Environment

-       The African Ministerial Conference on Water

-       The Conference of African Ministers of Agriculture

-       The African Ministerial Conference on Meteorology

-       The African Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction

The department also services Summit-level meetings of the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC).

We trust that Honourable Members of Parliament would play a pivotal role in engaging the leadership and populace in the AU Member States to accelerate the implementation of the commitments undertaken over the years at various fora to advance this agenda.  Among the key policy frameworks in this regard is the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and government of the African Union in 2003 in Maputo, Mozambique. As you know, CAADP spans four pillars of land and water management, market access, combating hunger and malnutrition, as well as agricultural research and technology, all of which, if adequately attended to would lead Africa to prosperity. Through CAADP, AU Member States’ governments committed to specific targets, including allocating at least 10% of national budgets to agriculture and endeavor to achieve agricultural sector growth rates of at least 6% per annum. A key feature of CAADP is its emphasis on African political leadership and ownership toward  sustainable agricultural development. It is in this context that the AUC and NPCA continue to engage with our political leadership to explore options of sustaining this momentum.

In light of this and owing to agriculture’s predominance in Africa’s socio-economic development,  you will note that the focus of attention during this retreat will be Africa Agriculture Transformation underpinned by sound environment management.

Indeed, agriculture has continued to be the  key engine of growth for rural development on our continent, with the agricultural sector accounting for 60-80% of employment, 15-20% of total exports, and 30-40% of GDP.  Since most households in Africa depend directly on agricultural operations for their livelihoods, sustained agricultural growth, is crucial for eradicating hunger, malnutrition and poverty across the continent.

However, despite this enormous potential, agricultural productivity in AU Member States remains low compared to other  parts of the world, and our continent  remains the only region that continues to  depend on overseas assistance to finance significant parts of our agricultural investments let alone the equivalent of US$40 billion of annual food imports.

While we have made  progress  towards the achievement of some of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets such as  universal primary education and the promotion of gender equality, we note that progress has generally been slow  in the key goal of eradication of extreme poverty, hunger and malnutrition.

Thus, our collective efforts to overcome the obstacles to achieving sustainable socio-economic development on the African continent will require  multi-sectoral approaches that addresses internal and external constraints on development and also takes full advantage of our immense natural resource endowment, human capacities and other development potentials, to place AU and its Member States in their rightful place in the global community of nations.  Africa will certainly be the growth pole of the 21^st Century true to the words of the song that Shakira sang at the opening of the 2010 World Cup here in South Africa that, This is time for AFrica. No wonder, in all major international fora, be it on development, on climate change, on biodiversity or on sustainable development, Africa has remained at the centre. Africa’s natural resources especially land are being coveted. Our flora and fauna are attracting multitudes of tourists and researchers from all over the world. We are being told to enhance our preservation of our rain forests to sequester green house gas emissions responsible for global warming, climate change and climate variability. This is to mention but a few of Africa’s realities and potentials that are the focus of world attention but which we are to ensure that they benefit first and foremost African citizens to uplift them from hunger, malnutrition and poverty.

In this pursuit,   agriculture remains  the back-bone of the survival and sustenance of our households, communities and nations. Due to the renewed political commitment from our governments and development partners  in our joint efforts  to transform the agricultural sector and, as such, our  economies,    we note that tremendous progress has been made in the last few  years. Nevertheless, challenges still persist along the way including inadequate capacities, limited investments in the sector coupled with high costs and unavailability of farm inputs such as fertilizers and improved seeds; limited access to markets, poor marketing infrastructure; lack of  credit to our smallholder  farmers; inadequate use of modern technologies; and the absence of a conducive policy environment.

Hence the objective of the two days Pan African retreat    is to achieve  high political mobilization, initially targeting the Members of Parliament who are responsible for agriculture and environment with a view of sustaining the CAADP implementation momentum. We also  intend to use this opportunity to raise the profile of CAADP in the build-up to 2013, when not only will CAADP be 10 years since it was adopted but also and more importantly the Africa Union will be commemorating 50 years since the formation of the OAU. We are also building up to 2014, when AU will mark the Year of Agriculture and Food Security as decided by the AU Assembly in July this year.   

I trust that the outcomes of this retreat will  further strengthen our  collaborative efforts in  accelerating the implementation of these agricultural and rural sustainable development initiatives.   

I am also confident that the next two days of the retreat will achieve the desired outcomes by enhancing our   individual and collective commitments to influence policy and its implementation to achieve sustainable development.

Once again I would like to welcome you Honourable Members of Parliament and we look forward to our interactive and productive retreat .

I thank you.