The 2016 African Agriculture Status Report
(AASR) has shown that member countries that have endorsed and implemented the Comprehensive African
Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) in the past 10 years, have posted higher agriculture
productivity and stronger Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth as well as
sharper declines in malnutrition, reports NaijaAgroNet.
The
latest report made available to NaijaAgroNet at the launch in the Kenyan
capital, Nairobi as part of the 2016 African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF).
The
284-page publication by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), NaijaAgroNet reports, examined the progress made towards agricultural transformation across
the continent in the past 10 years.
NaijaAgroNet also reports that African countries that have not adopted the program by signing CAADP compacts,
stressing that the differences are especially stark when comparing with countries
that signed up early, between 2007 and 2009, to those that have not yet signed.
The early
adopters, according to the lead authors, Mr. David
Ameyaw, and Prof. Thomas Jayne include Benin, Burundi, Cape Verde,
Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone,
and Togo.
While Mr. Ameyawone is the head of
Monitoring and Evaluation for AGRA, Prof. Jayne is the University Foundation
Professor on Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics at the Michigan State
University.
For Ameyaw, “It’s
clear that with agriculture now back at the top of Africa’s development agenda,
the
foundations have been laid for a renaissance in African agriculture that could
quickly deliver benefits to the broader economy.”
Also he said the report found evidence that many
farmers are “gaining more options in the seeds they plant, in the fertilizers
they use, and in the markets available to purchase their produce.
He noted that African agriculture experts who
contributed to the report made it clear that all is far from well.
The report, he said, pointed out that Africa remains “the world’s most food insecure continent, with
relatively low levels of agricultural productivity, low rural incomes, high
rates of malnutrition and a worsening of food trade balance.”
L-r: Dr. Ousmane Badiane is the Africa Director for the
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Dr. Namanga Ngongi, chair
of African Fertiiser Agricultural Partnership (AFAP), co-lead author, Prof.
Thomas Jayne and David Ameyaw, lead author and Head, Monitoring and Evalution,
AGRA, displaying the report.