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Showing posts with label African stakeholders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label African stakeholders. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Africa must collectively innovate to industrialise agriculture – CAADP CEO

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NEPAD Agency, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, has called on African stakeholders to collectively innovate so as to ensure necessary impacts are made in agriculture investment, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Speaking at the 12th Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Partnership Platform (CAADP PP) meeting convened by the African Union Commission in collaboration with the NEPAD Agency in Ghana, Dr. Mayaki Africa can only make progress if the actors collectively innovate and agree to account for the resources injected, results and impact that may ensue.

“Indeed, as a continent, with a community of destiny, we cannot afford to invest into our agriculture the same way we have been doing thus far,” he said

The meeting brought together over 300 participants.  High level African leadership included the former President of Ghana John Kufour; former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Dr Agnes Kalibata, President of Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.  Also present were Regional Economic Communities, government ministries, farmers’ organisations, the private sector, civil society and development partners.  

In her opening remarks at the CAADP PP meeting, H.E Ms Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union Commission said, the only way to sustainably deliver on African agricultural commitments is to mobilize our own continental human and financial resources. “We need to build strong partnerships for an accountable and efficient implementation of the CAADP Agenda since investment in agriculture makes good economic sense,” she said.

The Ghanaian Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan declared that CAADP is the most ambitious agricultural reform agenda ever undertaken on the continent, as an African-led and owned development framework.  Innovative financing for agriculture in Africa is also critical for rural transformation.

In keeping with the theme of the meeting on Innovative Financing and Renewed Partnership to Accelerate Implementation of CAADP, Dr Mayaki reiterated that Africa must innovate because we need to design new and fit-for-purpose instruments that are able to help deal with the emerging trends, challenges and opportunities.

“The issue of Risk Management is a typical example of where we need to propose innovative instruments that meet the needs of the countries. The remedies and solutions of the past may not work with the ever more complex issues of today,” Dr Mayaki said.

Concurring with the fact that farmers are at the heart of transforming the agricultural sector, Philip Kiriro, President of the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation expressed satisfaction with the progress made in CAADP thus far.

Christoph Rauh, Deputy Director of BMZ, sub-Saharan Africa, stated that young people need to be involved, as agriculture needs to provide good business and employment for the youth.  “It is time to talk less and do more in order for results and impact to be achieved,” he said.

Agricultural transformation will be realised when industrialisation of the sector is finally achieved. This was the consensus from the different representatives.

It is expected that the 12th CAADP PP meeting will generate a number of key actionable activities to speed up implementation through financial innovation and partnerships to deliver the Malabo Declaration and the Africa Union “Agenda 2063” - a strategic framework for the socio-economic transformation of the continent over the next 50 years. 

+Remmy Nweke +Naija AgroNet
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