AU Demands More Focus on National Agriculture Investment Project.

By Tandong Ccalistus Jong

In Libreville, Gabon

    The African Union Commission has urged member states to accelerate the implementation of the national agricultural investment plans in order to achieve the CAADP/Malabo goals and targets. 

The call was made at the 14th Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Partnership Platform (PP) meeting, recently organised by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA), in Libreville, Gabon.  

      Opening the meeting, Gabonese Prime Minister, H.E Emmanuel Issoze Ngondet acknowledged the importance of countries mutual accountability as indicated for in the Biennial Review Report. 

     On her part, the African Union Commission Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, H.E Josefa Sacko, urged African member states to continue to champion the implementation of agricultural investments at national and Regional levels. 

    To her, this would facilitate the creation of policies and enable environment to allow for evidence-based action plans to be implemented by various stakeholders. Africa still spends around US$35 billion each year on food imports. This number may rise above US$110 billion by 2025 due to rapid population growth, changes in dietary habits and the increasingly severe impacts of climate change.  So in order to achieve the commitment of ending hunger in Africa by 2025, Africans have to make every effort to triple intra-African trade in agricultural commodities and services, which is one of the goals of the 2014 Malabo Declaration. Compared with other world regions, intra-African food trade is dismally low. 

    According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the world population will reach 9.1 billion by 2050, and to feed that number of people, global food production will need to grow by 70%. For Africa, which is projected to be home to about 2 billion people by then, farm productivity must accelerate at a faster rate than the global average to avoid continued mass hunger. 

   The first African Union Biennial Review Report on Malabo implementation, and the NAIPs Toolkit, was launched and distributed to participants during the 14^thCAADP PP as working tools for Member States with Regional Scorecards showing that, only two regions are On track (Eastern & Southern Africa Regions) why three are Not on track (Central, Northern & West Africa Regions) and the report also revealed that only 20 of the 47 Member States that reported are on track towards achieving the commitments set out in the Malabo Declaration.

    Rwanda led the top 10 best performers with a score of 6.1, followed by Mali (5.6), Morocco (5.5), Ethiopia (5.3), Togo (4.9), Malawi (4.9), Kenya (4.8), Mauritania (4.8), Burundi (4.7), and Uganda (4.5). With more than 300 million young Africans due to enter the job market over the next 15 years, there is an urgent need to focus on agriculture as a source, not just of food, but also of employment and economic growth.