By Judith Akolo
Africa has embarked on a major drive to building resilient and sustainable agrifood systems for a healthy and prosperous Africa, in line with the aspirations of Agenda 2063.
The drive is set to reach a climax when the African Union Heads of State and Government hold the extra-ordinary summit on the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), that will culminate in the adoption of the draft CAADP Strategy and Action Plan: 2026-2035 and the draft Kampala CAADP Declaration, that will shape Africa’s agrifood systems transformation for the next 10 years.
Speaking at the pre-CAADP summit engagement with ambassadors representing African Union member states in Uganda, the Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries Permanent Secretary Major General David Kasura-Kyomukama, warned that “no civilisation over the centuries, that couldn’t feed itself has survived.”
He said that while Africa prides itself as having over 65 per cent of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land, an abundance of fresh water, and 300 days of sunshine, the continent is also the net importer of food.
“In In 2021, Africa’s food imports were roughly USD 100 Billion, of which USD 40 Billion were cereals and cereal preparations, and USD 16 Billion were fats and oils with the main sources of these food imports being Brazil, India, and the European Union,” said Major General Kasura-Kyomukama and added, “Five countries account for 50 per cent of Africa’s total food imports yet more than 60 per cent of Africa’s working population is engaged in agriculture, and the soil across most of the continent is rich and fertile.”
The Permanent Secretary urged that as the Uganda hosts the African Union (AU) Extraordinary Summit on the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) scheduled for 9th – 11th January 2025 in Kampala, Africa needs to re-examine its quest towards food sufficiency, “Africa is classified as poor, yet uses enormous resources to import its food needs,” he wondered noting that the growth in food net imports between 1980 and 2007 of 3.4 per cent has mainly been fuelled by population growth.
Uganda’s Minister for the Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries Frank Tumwebaze said that the CAADP is one of the major strategies towards the realization of the African Union’s Agenda 2063, The Africa We Want, noting that the Programme contributes specifically to “aspiration Number 1, A Prosperous Africa, Based on Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development,” he said.
The Minister said that implementing the CAADP, “we envisage modern agriculture for increased productivity and production across the continent.”
Tumwebaze said that CAADP is implemented through ten-year successive Strategies and Action Plans, with the first one having been adopted in Maputo (Mozambique) in 2003 that gave rise to the Maputo Declaration that served from 2003 to 2014, and the second one in Malabo (Equatorial Guinea) that yielded the Malabo Declaration that ran from 2015 and will give rise to the Kampala declaration expected to the adopted at the Kampala Summit to run from 2026 to 2035. This will be the CAADP Strategy and Action Plan 2026 – 35, and the Kampala CAADP Declaration, “both of which will be adopted at the African Union Extra-Ordinary Assembly of Heads of State and Government to be hosted in Kampala on 9th – 11th January 2025.
