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.
+Remmy Nweke +Naija AgroNet
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology