The agriculture sector is not receiving the attention it deserves even as it is the key sector that holds promise to revamp Africa’s socio-economic transformation.
“This sector is never been receiving the attention it deserves, because it is a strategic sector it is the mainstay of socioeconomic transformation on the continent, but we don’t seem not to look at it this way,” said the Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (ARBE) Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko.
In an interview at the ongoing Validation Workshop for Post Malabo Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) agenda Technical Working Groups, in Lusaka, Zambia, the Commissioner expressed worry at the nonchalance with which most states are handling the agriculture sector.
Sacko said that the thought of putting agriculture under the Department of Economic Affairs would have spelled doom to the sector noting that, agriculture is the mainstay of rural populations on the continent, “we haven’t achieved the peak of development in the sector and so putting it under economic affairs would have marked the end of sustainable development in the agriculture sector.”
Sacko who is an Agronomist by profession and has served at the African Union Commission for two terms as the Commissioner for ARBE, argues that while Africa’s rural population is 70% and hence the majority, they have been left to their own devices in getting it right on agriculture which is the main socio-economic activity in most rural economies.
“You can’t say you want to solve the issue of poverty and end poverty, yet at the same time you are leaving 70% of the population in poverty, then you did not achieve anything,” she avers.
The Commissioner is of the view that agriculture is a large sector that includes, crop farming, livestock keeping, fisheries, watering the land on which all the activities take place, “all these ensure that we are working towards food security and sustainable development.”
The Commissioner noted that the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) which is now the Agenda 2063 flagship programme, it is also the pivotal framework for catalysing agricultural transformation across Africa.
The Malabo Declaration, adopted in 2014, she added, “built upon the Maputo Declaration, introducing substantial modifications and ambitious commitments,” she said and added, “These include eradicating hunger, reducing malnutrition, halving poverty by 2025, tripling intra-African trade, and enhancing resilience to climate change and other shocks.”
She said that while there have been strides following the Malabo Declaration by “including the Biennial Review Process which is the first of its kind in the world,” member states are far from realizing the seven Malabo commitments as shown by our Fourth Biennial Review Report. “This calls for robust interventions to support member states in building a resilience agricultural sector in the midst of a global food crises,” she added.
She further said that, the Post-Malabo CAADP Agenda presents a pivotal moment for reshaping Africa’s priorities. “While at the same time, building upon CAADP’s existing strengths,” she said and added that, “it will strategically adapt to tackle emerging challenges and align with global trends.”
She called for development of evidence-based solutions that can be scaled across the continent while at the same time drawing lessons from the progress that has been achieved so far.
