Maputo, February 25, 2019 - All CAADP countries are encouraged to establish a Country Agribusiness Partnership Framework (CAP-F) as an output of the National Agriculture Investment Plan refresh or appraisal. The Framework requires that governments and their partners provide significant leadership, through high level endorsement and support to the process. Mozambique is among 15 countries identified for Grow Africa engagement and CAP-F deployment in 2019. 

Grow Africa’s Chief Operating Officer, Mr Ibrahim Gourouza-Magagi, officially kicked-off the CAP-F process in Mozambique with a briefing to the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, H.E. Higino Francisco de Marrule on 25 February 2019. 

The briefing centred on the Grow Africa’s country engagement model, the value-addition of CAP-F and its related coordination approach in aligning private sector commitments to the country’s agricultural investment plan. 

The Minister and his delegation, comprising of the Planning and Policy experts of the Ministry of Agriculture, welcomed the innovative approach that is CAP-F, with the Minister noting that the Framework comes at an opportune time as the new five-year strategic plan for agriculture is currently being developed thus providing a firm foundation for CAP-F incorporation.

In addition to this, the Minister lauded Grow Africa’s value chain approach highlighting that this would have a positive impact in terms of increasing productivity, generating employment and overall wellbeing for smallholder farmers in the identified priority value chains. This high-level briefing - the key output of which was to obtain buy-in from the country’s high-level officials - officially signalled CAP-F kick-off in Mozambique. 

Whilst in Maputo, Mr Gourouza also took the opportunity to meet with the Director-General of the Agrarian Development Fund (FDA), Mr Abdul Cesar Massuale. The FDA, an autonomous public institution, is a significant entity particularly given its role in the promotion of public-private investment and mobilisation of resources for agricultural development. Going forward, the FDA will play a significant role in the processes leading up to the full deployment of CAP-F in the country. 

The next stage in the roll-out of CAP-F in Mozambique will be the carrying out of a country stocktaking exercise to determine the level of in-country resourcing and priorities for CAP-F implementation. During the stocktaking exercise a cross section of stakeholders in the agriculture sector will be engaged to determine priority issues for policy engagement, existing sectoral coordination mechanisms, and accountability architecture. The outcome of the stocktaking exercise will be a CAP-F Roadmap with specific deliverables, responsibilities and timeframes for all key parties - government, private sector, development partners, and other Non-State actors towards mobilising increased private sector investment in agriculture