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NEPAD and AGRA join hands to achieve food security
By Dr. Maria Wanzala
Midrand, 5th October 2009 - The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) met on October 5, 2009 to further discussions towards the finalisation of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that is aimed at enhancing their joint work towards achieving food security in Africa.
In attendance at the meeting were Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NEPAD and Prof. Richard Mkandawire, Head of NEPAD’s Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program (CAADP). AGRA was represented by Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, Vice President for Policy and Partnerships.
The basis of the partnership is the recognition of the similar and complementary interests and capacities of the two institutions vis-à-vis accelerating agricultural development in Africa in order to achieve food security. Therefore, the purpose of the partnership is to establish a platform for cooperation and coordination between the two institutions to achieve this mutual goal through policy- and program-oriented actions to jointly address the underlying constraints in all aspects of the African agricultural value chain.
AGRA () is a partnership-based organization that is working across Africa’s farm value chain to improve agricultural productivity and farm incomes of small-scale farmers. The organization was created in 2006 in response to a call from African governments for an African Green Revolution that benefits small-scale farmers and will transform African agriculture into a highly productive sector that will lift millions out of poverty.
NEPAD’s Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program (CAADP) () was endorsed in 2003 by African leaders as the program to accelerate economic growth in Africa through agriculture-led development which would eliminate hunger and poverty through investments in 4 key areas: extending the area under sustainable land management and reliable water control systems; increasing market access through improved rural infrastructure and other trade-related interventions; increasing food supply and reducing hunger; and improving agricultural research systems to disseminate appropriate new technologies, and increasing the support given to help farmers adopt them.
NEPAD and AGRA have a common agenda and complementary objectives aimed at promoting accelerated agricultural growth in order to achieve food security and alleviate poverty.
The MOU will be finalized in October 2009 and the expectation is that it will be signed at the next meeting of the CAADP Partnership Platform to be held during 9-10 November in Abuja, Nigeria.
For more on CAADP go to www.nepad-caadp.net
For more on AGRA go to www.agra-alliance.org
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Niger signs CAADP Compact
Niamey, 30th September 2009—Niger’s roundtable meetings on the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) successfully ended with the endorsement of the Niger CAADP Compact.
The roundtable meetings which were held from the 29th to the 30th of September attracted close to 200 agricultural experts, policymakers, and representatives from farmer organizations, private sectors, development associations and Non-Governmental Organizations’, the Government of Niger, the African Union (AU) / New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and development partners. The Compact is a mutual commitment between the Government of Niger and the various national, regional and international agencies and organizations to jointly achieve the CAADP Goals.
The Compact was signed by the President of the inter-ministerial committee in charge of the coordination and the implementation of the Rural Development Strategy (SDR) his Honourable Amane Moussa, Minister of Agricultural development, the AU-NEPAD, ECOWAS, a representative of the development partners and representatives from the private sector, farmer organizations and NGO/development association.
Niger is the third country to sign the CAADP compact agreement in the ECOWAS region after Togo and Sierra Leone and the sixth country to do so Africa wide.
“This is clearly a landmark moment in the progress of CAADP. The signing of this Compact highlights not only Niger’s commitment towards poverty eradication through agriculture, but also Africa’s focus on the Maputo declaration and broader global agenda towards issues of food security” said Albadé Abouba, the interim Prime Minister.
As per the 2003 AU Maputo declaration, NEPAD’s Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program 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).
According to Ousmane Djibo, Advisor for Agriculture at NEPAD, Niger’s Compact highlights a shared framework for strategic planning and implementation, and for partnership and development assistance in the country’s Agriculture sector.
“A key aspect of this will include genuine support towards Niger’s National Investment Agricultural Program (NAIP) based on the well elaborated Rural Development Strategy paper for the purposes of designing quality investment programmes that are in line with the country’s priorities”, 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 Niger as a strategic planning framework for a long term agricultural investment and a platform for cooperation between the partners in the agricultural sector of Niger.
For more information contact: OusmaneD@nepad.org or KomlaB@nepad.org
Visit the CAADP Website: http://www.nepad-caadp.net
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Le Soleil : Réunion du NEPAD DakarAKAR : Au chevet de la pêche africaine
Le Nouveau partenariat pour le développement de l’Afrique (NEPAD) tient aujourd’hui à Dakar, une rencontre axée sur le secteur de la pêche. Cette session veut faire le « point sur l’ensemble du secteur pour voir comment améliorer le quotidien des acteurs engagés, qu’ils soient du sous-secteur artisanal ou industriel », a souligné Ibrahim Hassan Mayaki, le secrétaire exécutif du NEPAD, présent à Dakar pour les besoins de la rencontre.
« Le secteur de la pêche est très important pour le continent, vu qu’il emploie et fait vivre de nombreuses personnes. La production sera au centre des débats eu égard au pillage dont la pêche africaine fait l’objet. Nous nous appesantirons sur les normes édictées au plan international et qui, très souvent, nous lèsent nous Africains. Il y a également des accords de pêche qui seront également passés au peigne fin au cours de la rencontre », a souligné M. Mayaki. Les problèmes du secteur de la pêche semblent découler, à en croire le secrétaire exécutif du NEPAD, des « politiques publiques appropriées et de la régulation ». C’est pourquoi il attend de la rencontre de Dakar, la « construction d’argumentaires ».
Revenant sur le Nepad qui semble être en perte de vitesse ces dernières années, l’ancien Premier ministre du Niger (1997-2000), nommé en avril dernier par le Comité des chefs d’Etat, a tenu à rappeler que le « NEPAD est un programme de l’Union africaine (UA), basé sur deux dimensions : l’intégration économique régionale comme instrument majeur pour le développement du continent et des politiques qui doivent être définies par nous-mêmes et non par l’étranger. Il s’agit donc d’une appropriation qui tient compte de nos réalités africaines ». Seulement, Ibrahim Hassan Mayaki reconnaît que les « attentes nourries lors du lancement du NEPAD étaient très élevées et qu’il fallait un mécanisme idéal pour leur concrétisation ». Encore qu’il relève un « gap » entre les résultats observés et les attentes. Une limite qu’il met au compte de la « période d’expérimentation ».
Assimilant le NEPAD à une « agence d’exécution » de l’UA qui est l’ « architecture politique continentale », le secrétaire exécutif met en avant la « dimension économique de l’intégration de son organisation ». Pour lui, il y a eu un temps de « débats, de contradictions, et même des superpositions pour plus de complémentarité, de synergie et d’efficacité ».
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Researchers, AU/NEPAD and partners join hands with Sierra Leone to sign CAADP Compact
“This is an important historical moment not only for Sierra Leone, but for Africa as a whole. We regard CAADP as being pivotal to our poverty and hunger eradication efforts” said Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, the President of Sierra Leone at the signing of Sierra Leone’s CAADP Compact.
“Agriculture constitutes the backbone of our economy it contributes 45% of our Gross Domestic Product and close to two thirds of our people rely on it for their livelihoods. Therefore, any measures used to improve agriculture are taken seriously by this Government” he added.
The CAADP roundtables, which ran from the 17th to the 18th of September 2009, were hosted by the Government of Sierra Leone, the African Union (the AU), the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the Economic Commission for West African States (ECOWAS).
The roundtables are aimed at generating consensus among key stakeholders on Sierra Leone’s agricultural development agenda, forging the necessary partnerships to implement it, and securing commitments and resources from partners to make the necessary investments.
According to Dr. Joseph Sam Sesay, Sierra Leone’s Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, the CAADP Compact is set on making agriculture the engine for socio-economic growth and development through commercialisation and the promotion of the private sector, including farmers and farmer-based organizations.
Speaking on behalf of the AU-NEPAD, Prof. Richard Mkandawire, an adviser for Agriculture / CAADP at the NEPAD Secretariat recognised the role that has been played by the leadership and people of Sierra Leone in championing the CAADP Agenda.
“We are also pleased to hear that Sierra Leone’s Minister of Finance and Planning is planning to increase the national budget allocation to agriculture in the coming financial year to 9.9%” said Prof. Mkandawire.
The CAADP Compact in Sierra Leone supports a comprehensive agriculture and rural development strategy consistent with the National Sustainable Agriculture Development Plan (NSADP) which emanates from the Agenda for Change – Sierra Leone’s second generation Poverty Reduction Strategy. The Compact will assist in the design and implementation of agriculture investment programmes.
The Compact targets key sub-sectors such as land and water management, rural-urban infrastructure, commercialisation, trade and marketing, resources management and increased agricultural productivity.
Sierra Leone becomes the fifth country to sign the CAADP Compact after Rwanda, Burundi, Togo and Ethiopia.
NEPAD’s Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program 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. The aim of CAADP, which is spearheaded by 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).
Key signatories to the Compact included Sierra Leone’s Minister of Agriculture, Foresty and Food Security Dr. Joseph Sam Sesay, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development Dr. Samura Kamara, Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources Haja Hafsatu Kabbah, Salifou Qusseini on behalf of ECOWAS and Prof. Richard Mkandawire of AU/NEPAD. Other Signatories were the World Bank’s Engelbert Gudmusson representing development partners, Mr. Charles Mambu representing civil society and Mr. Mohamed Kella on behalf of the private sector.
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