African experts to tackle agricultural challenges

On “Climate Change: Opportunities for Enhanced Investment and Growth of African Agriculture”, the experts underlined the fact that Climate variability and change is critical to the agricultural development agenda and that it was imperative for Africa at all levels to build productivity and resilience in agricultural systems.

With regard to Regional Agriculture Trade and Market Systems, the experts observed that there is a need to talk about agricultural governance and the implementation of policies especially in countries where there is major resistance in terms of market access.

On Investment Finance, the experts noted that some of the small scale farmers were often displaced from their land and that there seemed to be a trend in which land was sold in exchange for aid.

As far as Participation of the Poor and other Vulnerable Groups in Rural Economic Activities is concerned, the experts observed that, it is important to identify vulnerable populations and include them in agricultural growth strategies. Lessons should be learned from the Green Revolution in Asia, which had the potential of moving the vulnerable groups out of poverty, but failed due to the failure to target technologies for the smallholder poor farmers.

In their considerations on Livestock and Pastoralism, the experts observed that livestock is underfunded and such economies should be explored and tapped into. There is need to increase budget allocation to livestock from the current average of 0.2% to a minimum of 3%.

In addition, in their deliberations on the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), most African countries have not reached the 10% target of the Maputo declaration; only eight countries in Africa have reached this target. It was noted that after the Maputo Declaration there has been an improvement in agricultural funding and growth. However, more still requires to be done. At the Maputo Summit, AU Heads of States committed themselves to allocate 10 % of their national budgets to agriculture in order to reduce poverty by 2015.

The ministerial Conference on Agriculture, Land and Livestock will he held at the AU Headquarters from 23 to 24 April 2009. This meeting is significant and timely as in February 2009, the African Heads of States decided at their 12th ordinary session that the theme of their 13th Assembly will be “Investing in agriculture for economic growth and food security”.