BY D SEBUNYA: Up to 30 countries have reported being off track in achieving the African Union (AU) Agricultural Transformational Goals set for 2025. These goals include allocating 10 percent of national budgets to agriculture and rural development, and achieving an agricultural growth rate of 6 percent per annum.
The goals aim to eliminate hunger, reduce poverty and malnutrition, increase productivity, and improve the sustainability of agricultural production and natural resources utilization. These are enshrined in the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program (CAADP), which is part of Agenda 2063, a continental initiative that aims to help countries eliminate hunger and reduce poverty by raising economic growth through agriculture-led development.
To assess the performance of its member states, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), through its Food Systems Resilience Program (FSRP), instituted an expert consultative meeting under the 4th CAADP-Biennial Review (BR).
This review mechanism was established by African Heads of State and Government under the Malabo Declaration in 2014 to accelerate shared growth in agriculture and improved livelihoods, ensuring wealth creation, food security, and sustainable economic development for Africa’s prosperity.
This is the main mutual accountability tool to track countries’ progress on implementing various programs; it also serves as an instrument to trigger policy actions for agricultural transformation in Africa. The 4th Review Report was launched at the 37th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, this year.
According to the highlighted results and country scores presented in the Africa Agriculture Transformation Scorecard, of the 49 member states that reported, 19 were progressing well, while 30 were challenged in meeting the set goals by 2025, and six did not report.
The report indicates that members’ progress was hampered by multiple crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, supply chain disruptions, multiple continental conflicts, and climate change impacts, all of which have taken a toll on the agriculture sector.
Meanwhile, irrespective of these challenges, significant progress in economies, agricultural growth, improvements in poverty and nutrition outcomes, expansion of agricultural trade, and increased public investments in agriculture were reported.
While opening the session in Kampala, the IGAD Head of Mission Uganda, Ms. Joselyn Bigirwa, acknowledged the member states’ continued support for the organization and its various programs and projects.
Representing both the IGAD Executive Secretary and Director of Agriculture and Environment Division, Dr. Mohyeldeen Eltohami, the Director of Economic Cooperation and Regional Integration Division appreciated Uganda for hosting the timely meeting and commended IGAD member states for participating in the CAADP-BR. He added that convening experts is crucial as it allows for in-depth discussions on performance, sharing experiences and lessons, collectively identifying main challenges, and making commitments while recommending improved performance.
“IGAD and our partners are committed to the realization and fulfillment of CAADP commitments at national and regional levels. Each level of improvement will be a vehicle for agricultural transformation and a food-secure region,” Eltohami stated.
Dr. Godfrey Bahiigwa, the African Union Director of Agriculture and Rural Development, urged countries to utilize the report findings to reflect on and improve results on the ground for the benefit of citizens through policy reforms and increased investments in the respective countries moving forward.
“I thank the IGAD Member States for their commitment and hard work since the 1st report in 2017 to date, and I urge you to strive for great improvements in the 5th biennial report, which will be the final report of the Malabo Declaration,” Dr. Bahiigwa stated.
He also announced that an extraordinary summit of heads of state and government will be held in January 2025, where the CAADP 10-year Action Plan will be adopted as the Kampala Declaration, further committing to shaping Africa’s food systems for agricultural transformation and a food-secure Africa.
Collins Amanya, the Assistant Commissioner of Planning, speaking on behalf of the Commissioner of Agricultural Planning at the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), expressed gratitude for IGAD’s support to members towards CAADP commitments.
According to Amanya, the main challenge, other than the COVID-19 pandemic, is the lack of data to report on all the indicators, which also affected performance. He added that many member states also face challenges in increasing public expenditure on agriculture to the recommended 10% as agreed by the heads of state.
“There is a need for increased advocacy for member countries to achieve this target by coming up with practical strategies to be implemented in the upcoming 5th Biennial Review report,” Mr. Amanya added.
The meeting has attracted expatriates from member states, the IGAD Secretariat, the African Union Commission, and other Regional Economic Communities such as COMESA, EAC, and SADC, as well as the private sector and civil society organizations.
With support from the World Bank, since January 2023, IGAD has been implementing FSRP in alignment with regional instruments.