The third Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Permanent Secretaries Leadership Retreat was by AUCs Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture Josefa Sacko, who urged to transform agriculture and achieve the objectives of the Malabo Declaration
Sacko recalled the findings of the 2018 inaugural CAADP/Malabo Biennial Review Report and Scorecard presented to the January AU General Assembly, which found that 20 out of 47 AU Member States were on track to achieve the Malabo Declaration commitments.
“The same findings corroborate with the recent status report on food security which show that the numbers of food insecure people are increasing in Africa. You have the responsibility as Change Agents to turn around this situation and achieve the objectives of the Malabo Declaration by 2025,” she said.
Giving his opening remarks, Dr Eyasu Abreha, state minister for agriculture and livestock in Ethiopian, said that Ethiopia was one of the countries on track to meeting the Malabo Declaration commitments, as the country placed agriculture at the centre of its development agenda.
He urged that the continent as a whole increase investment to the agriculture sector that allows for smallholder farmers to access technology to boost productivity levels.
The third Permanent Secretaries' Leadership Retreat will serve as a peer exchange, learning and forward-looking engagement platform of AU Member States in implementing the CAADP and Malabo Agenda. The retreat will further discuss for the first time, the outcomes of the Inaugural Biennial Review Report and chart the way forward on how best to utilise the findings of the Report to trigger the required agricultural transformation.
The aspirations in the Malabo Declaration underscore CAADP implementation as a national responsibility. It is therefore critical that Permanent Secretaries, as custodians of government policies and national development strategies and plans, including the National Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plans, fully embrace and internalise the responsibilities of driving the CAADP agenda.
CAADP is an African-led agenda designed to guide Africa's agricultural transformation for sustained food security and socio-economic growth. The 2014 Malabo Declaration is a re-commitment to the CAADP principles adopted by AU Heads of State and Government to provide effective leadership for the attainment of specific goals by the year 2025, including ending hunger, tripling intra-African trade in agricultural goods and services, enhancing resilience of livelihoods and production systems, and ensuring that agriculture contributes significantly to poverty reduction.
