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NEPAD and AGRA: Partnering for Action on Africa’s Farms
Prof. Richard Mkandawire, NEPAD and Dr Akinwumi Adesina, AGRA
African farmers are seeding prosperity. Just ask the woman they call “Marie
Nerica” who is sowing a new breed of Nerica rice in Sierra Leone. She now
produces enough to sell the surplus in local markets and to the government. Her
success sprang from the government’s renewed commitment to agriculture, sealed
when it recently signed a compact known as the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture
Development Program, or CAADP, coordinated by the African Union’s New
Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
Or ask Peter and Joanina Kibuti in Kenya’s Embu town. Using improved seed,
fertilizer, government vouchers and the advice of extension officers, they more
than tripled their maize yields. Their farmers’ coop shared the cost of
transportation and opened a cereal bank to safely store their surplus, further
boosting their incomes. Joanina is happy because, for the first time, she is
able to pay her daughter’s school fees on time. Their success sprang from work
supported by the Kenyan government and by Alliance for a Green Revolution in
Africa, AGRA. Its integrated programs in seeds, soil health, markets, policy and
innovative finance are transforming smallholder farming and agricultural value
chains in 14 African countries.
Now NEPAD and AGRA are poised to scale-up such successes in countries across
sub-Saharan Africa, as they join forces to boost agricultural productivity. The
two African-led initiatives both recognize that to achieve food security and
spur economic development, African countries need to substantially raise the
productivity, incomes and sustainability of millions of smallholder farmers.
Today, some 218 million Africans are hungry every day, and 38% of children
under five suffer from malnutrition. Ironically, hunger and malnutrition is most
acute among the families of rural farmers, who have struggled for decades
without support of any kind. The partnership between AGRA and NEPAD – which both
have deep African roots and broad global support -- opens a new chapter in
Africa’s agricultural development.
NEPAD has mobilized political support among African governments to prioritize
and invest in agriculture. It works through CAADP, which was endorsed by the
African Union Assembly in 2003. Critically, CAADP pledges African governments to
devote at least 10% of their national budgets to agriculture, in pursuit of 6%
annual agricultural growth. Progress has been meaningful: 12 countries have now
signed CAADP compacts, and some countries, including Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda,
Mali, Ethiopia, Ghana and Nigeria have met the 10% goal. But much more remains
to be done, and quickly, as the mounting pressures of population growth, climate
change and global food price volatility continue to work against African food
security.
AGRA’s integrated programs have already benefited hundreds of thousands of
smallholder farmers through increasing their access to sustainable technologies;
promoting polices of comprehensive support for smallholder farmers; nurturing
the growth of a dynamic African agricultural private sector and increasing the
availability of affordable loans for small-scale agriculture. These programs
will help implement CAADP on the ground, starting with high-potential
breadbasket areas with relatively good soil, rainfall, infrastructure and large
numbers of smallholder farmers.
The new partnership, launched on 9 November 2009 in Abuja, Nigeria, pledges
the two organizations to work together through CAADP country roundtable
processes which plan strategic investments in agriculture. The roundtables allow
all partners, from farmers’ organizations to government Ministries, to identify
targeted investments which can galvanize the whole agricultural value chain and
accelerate the production of food surpluses to feed Africa.
The two partners join hands to advocate for policies that support smallholder
farmers; build countries’ parliamentary and institutional policy-making
capacity; build the capacity of Africa’s public and private institutions
involved in Africa, and partner with other stakeholders to co-convene an annual
African Green Revolution Conference.
Helping Africa to feed itself and transform its agriculture into a more
productive, competitive and environmentally sustainable system is the greatest
challenge of our time. African leaders have called for a uniquely African green
revolution – one that is unique to Africa’s needs and ecologies and which raises
the productivity and incomes of smallholder farmers.
It is our hope and intention that by combining the strengths of these two
organizations and our unshakeable commitment to improving the lives of African
farmers, we can help usher in a new era of food security and prosperity for
Africa.
* Prof. Richard Mkandawire is Agriculture Adviser, New Partnership for
Africa’s Development and Head of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture
Development Program.
Dr Akinwumi Adesina is Vice President, Policy and Partnerships, Alliance for a
Green Revolution in Africa.
More information:
www.nepad.org
www.agra-alliance.org/
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