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31 January 2014, Gateway House

African Union: accelerating agriculture

At the just-concluded African Union Summit in Ethiopia, speakers discussed the urgent need to focus on agriculture – which remains central to the African economies – by increasing investments and productivity. The summit was a time for reflection on the state of a sector that can transform the continent

Africa Expert

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The 22nd African Union (AU) Summit, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from January 21-31, commemorated the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), which was launched in Maputo, Mozambique, in 2003.

At the summit, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, chairperson of the AU, spoke about the CAADP’s unfinished agenda. She emphasised that it is imperative to accelerate agriculture and related activities by “increasing investments and productivity in order to provide an impetus for sustained and inclusive growth at 7% or more.” [1]

A decade ago, the Maputo Declaration on CAADP had set broad targets of 6% annual growth in agricultural GDP, and an allocation of at least 10% of public expenditure to this critical sector. But only a few countries have exceeded the assigned target; for most countries in Africa, it has been difficult to allocate funds for agriculture because of competing demands on limited resources for investments in such sectors as education and healthcare. The inadequate public expenditure is coupled with ineffective utilisation of funds received though international aid and loans.

Although the agricultural sector employs 65% of Africa’s labour force and it is the source of livelihood for over 60% of the population, agricultural GDP growth in sub-Saharan Africa has accelerated from 2.3% per year in the 1980s to only 3.8% per year from 2000 to 2005. [2] However, agriculture remains central to the African economies, and accounts for 30-to 40% of the overall GDP.

The AU summit was a time for reflection on the state of the agricultural sector, which has for long had the potential to transform the continent. According to a World Bank report, global evidence shows that “productivity improvements in agriculture can have a poverty impact close to three times that of other sectors…” [3] This is especially pertinent considering that Africa has the largest endowment of natural resources but remains the world’s most food insecure region.

The discussions at the AU summit focussed on the shortcomings of the agricultural sector and on formulating a blueprint for the years ahead through “collective action” and “harmonising external support around African-owned plans.” [4]

Since smallholder and family farmers, in particular women, account for most of the cultivated land in Africa, the delegates at the summit emphasised the need to mainstream gender and empower women in order to improve farm productivity through training and capital, and support them to form cooperatives, market products and augment agribusinesses. This is especially relevant because 2014 is also the UN’s ‘International Year of Family Farming’ that focuses on agricultural systems based farmer families, communal units, indigenous groups, cooperatives and fishing families.

At the summit, Carlos Lopes of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa spoke of the six “Rs” that can enable agriculture to become a true driver of change in Africa: [5]

1. Re-emphasise strategies and policies for structural agricultural transformation by adopting an integrated approach to the economic, social and environmental dimensions, and establishing linkages between agriculture and other evolving sectors of the African economies.

2. Reduce the vulnerability of millions of African small-scale farmers and consumers by making them more resilient to market volatility; food security should be approached economically and not as a poverty reduction programme; the prices of the products must be decided by the Africans.

3. Redefine industrial policy based on the African assets markets, and maximise the linkages with the agricultural sector though value addition of agricultural products.

4. Recognise Africa’s imperative for commodity-based industrialisation for value addition close to the where the resources are; this will reduce transportation, carbon footprints and concerns of climate change.

5. Retain the opportunities for green growth and solve climate change issues, and not be a victim to them.

6. Remain steadfast against unfair trade policies and protocols on matters such as agricultural subsidies, as India did at the 2013 World Trade Organisation meet in Bali; Africa must also safeguard against dumping by developed countries to ensure that prices of agricultural products do not work to against the interest of smallholder farmers.

The year 2014 will be the African Union’s ‘Year of Agriculture and Food Security’; the AU has also launched a plan called ‘Sustaining the CAADP Momentum’. With the recent summit’s emphasis on arriving at African solutions to the continent’s problems, Africa must now decisively move ahead – along the steps outlined by Lopes – to develop its agricultural sector in order to reduce poverty and propel economic growth.

Renu Modi is the Africa Studies Fellow at Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations. She is the former Director of the Centre for African Studies, University of Mumbai. 

This blog was exclusively written for Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations. You can read more exclusive content here.

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[1] ‘Statement by Her Excellency Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, to the Twenty-fourth Ordinary Session of the Executive Council’. Addis Ababa: AU. Retrieved from  http://summits.au.int/en/22ndsummit/speeches/statement-her-excellency-dr-nkosazana-dlamini-zuma-chairperson-african-union-com

[2] World Bank.  ‘Fact Sheet: The World Bank and Agriculture in Africa’. Retrieved from http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/
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[3] Work Bank. ‘Increasing Public Investment in Africa’s Agriculture’. Retrieved from:  http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/10/13/increasing-public-investment-in-africa-s-agriculture

[4] ‘Concept Note: 2014 Year of Agriculture and Food Security in Africa, Marking 10th Anniversary of CAADP’. Addis Ababa: AU. Retrieved from

http://summits.au.int/en/22ndsummit/documents/concept-note-2014-year-agriculture-and-food-security-africa-marking-10th-anniversary-of-caadp

[5] ‘Statement by Carlos Lopes UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ECA at 24th Ordinary Session of the African Union Executive Council’. Addis Ababa: AU. Retrieved from http://summits.au.int/en/22ndsummit/speeches/statement-carlos-lopes-un-under-secretary-general-and-executive-secretary-eca-24

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