The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), a NEPAD Programme, is an African-led initiative working to boost agricultural productivity in Africa and was formally adopted by the African Union Assembly in 2003 as a framework for the restoration of agricultural growth and food security in Africa.
Professor Richard Mkandawire, NEPAD Head of Agriculture and CAADP, who has been with NEPAD since inception, says he has seen CAADP grow from a one-person department (himself) to one employing
in excess of 10 people responsible for a range of priorities falling under its four pillars: land and water management; market access; food supply and hunger; and agricultural research.

Mkandawire believes there is a ‘new dawn’ in Africa in terms of the new crop (if you’ll excuse the pun) of African leaders. “They are clearly committed to a new development agenda for the continent,” he stipulates. “So, inspite of the financial melt-down combined with high food prices, and inspite of the negative political news coming from selected pockets throughout Africa, I think that the continent is clearly on the march to a socio-economic transformation and stability.”

Keeping with this thought, he is of the opinion that, inspite of the challenges Africa faces, the past decade has seen remarkable progress on a number of fronts. “On the economic front especially, in this time period, over 18 countries have maintained a 5.5% economic growth or more, and over half of them recorded a positive agricultural growth in excess of 4% over the past five years.” Mkandawire says that never before has reform progress been positively influenced by both civil society organisations and the private sector’s national development processes, especially in agriculture. “Now we’re seeing the strengthening of farmers organisations’ as a voice in addressing national policy challenges,” he says. “In other words, new political spaces are opening up for these players as active participants on national development agendas.”

A troubled continent
“However,” he warns, “inspite of these positive developments we need to be fully aware that Africa remains a troubled continent, it continues to be afflicted by famine and disease, while undernourishment continues to be a major development challenge where millions of children continue to go to sleep hungry every night. The reality is, unless national governments really begin to pay attention to agriculture, and how they can combat poverty and hunger, Africa will remain in poverty and hunger.”

At the time of adopting CAADP, African leaders agreed to increase the budget allocation in agriculture to 10% over a five year period. “We have seen an upward trend in governments increasing its budget allocation,” says Mkandawire, “although our expectation is that the pace should have been faster and more countries should have done this sooner.”

A remarkable achievement of NEPAD is the fact that international global communities and bilateral and multilateral development agencies are unanimous that they must support African agriculture within the context of CAADP, and will align their support to this an African defined agenda.

“This is important to us,” Mkandawire emphasises, “as we believe for the first time in the history of agriculture in Africa that the global community is beginning to listen – there is recognition that development can only happen if they pay attention to grass roots partners. Externally perceived development approaches and practices cannot work and have never worked in Africa. From as early as the 1960s the international development community came into Africa offering a range of interventions that were not conceived by Africans but by the founding agencies, which is part of the problem. Farmers themselves need to be the architects of their own development.”

CAADP Partnership Platform
“I think this architecture is the premise on which the CAADP Agenda rests,” he says. “It is an African conceived and driven framework. It is an African consensus on how to restore agriculture growth and food security in Africa. What we are currently doing is continuously engaging the international development community to look at CAADP as an entry point in terms of boosting African agriculture. This global dialogue is bearing fruits as we’ve just established a continent wide platform called the CAADP Partnership Platform where development partners are active participants”.

This Platform comprises the African Union Commission (AUC) , Regional Economic Communities (RECs), the private sector and farmers’ organisations who meet development partners bi-annually and review progress achieved in the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development programme, including a review of commitments of financial and technical assistance to national governments that are beginning to align their national priorities within the context of the CAADP agenda.

“In these processes,” says Mkandawire, “the role of the AUC has been fundamental in providing the necessary political leadership in ensuring the key decisions around CAADP are followed up on.”

Mkandawire says that in essence, CAAPD is a transformative agenda which speaks of self diagnosis of what went wrong in the past strategies in the agricultural sector and how national governments can revitalise the agricultural sector through the adoption of a growth led strategy.

Earlier this year Mkandawire received an Honorary Doctorate of Science in Agriculture from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg. The University of Kwa-Zulu-Natal has been identified by both NEPAD and the African Union as the leading university for post-graduate studies, and 30 post-graduate students receive doctorates in Science & Agriculture from that university every year.

“Statistics like this make me glow,” smiles, Mkandawire. “However, there are some challenges to our young professionals in the agriculture sector – they need to give back the knowledge they have within an African context while at the same time keeping in tune with global thinking. They must be African grounded but must not lose sight of the international development trends. They also need to appreciate the fact that their qualification is only a tool to future opportunities, a trigger to help them achieve their goals, but without on-the-ground experience they won’t be able to go anywhere. Africa needs them, their qualifications, and experience too.”