Nelly Bassily | June 14, 2010
The Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) is the agricultural program of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). NEPAD, in turn, is a program of the African Union (AU). CAADP is entirely African-led and African-owned and represents African leaders’ collective vision for agriculture in Africa. The program focuses on improving food security and nutrition, and increasing incomes. It aims to increase public investment in agriculture to 10% of national budgets per year. CAADP expects that this will translate into an average annual growth rate of six percent in agriculture by 2015.
There are conflicting reports on the number of countries which have allocated 10% of their budgets to agriculture. The figure of ten countries as reported in this weeks’ news story is taken from the CAADP website (http://www.caadp.net/blog/2010/05/07/africa-needs-speedy-and-effective-measures-to-eradicate-poverty-and-hunger/). The program homepage has links to more background information about CAADP, including updates and blogs: http://www.caadp.net/. For a summary, see http://www.donorplatform.org/content/view/311/220.
The eight countries expected to sign by June 30, 2010 are Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
More information about the World Economic Forum on Africa can be found at: http://www.weforum.org/en/events/ArchivedEvents/WorldEconomicForumonAfrica2010/index.htm.
In 2008, we reported on how some farmers view investment in agriculture: Food sovereignty is solution to “food crisis,” says La Via Campesina (Farm Radio Weekly)
You may wish to investigate whether your national government has signed the CAADP agreement, and whether 10% of the national budget is being spent on agriculture. Questions to look at include:
-How will the extra money be spent? Or, if your country is already investing 10%, how are the funds being spent?
-Will small-scale farmers benefit? Or is the money directed at commercial farmers, heavy equipment, and expensive inputs?
-How transparent is the funding process?
-How will farmers like Mr. Kakye benefit from the extra spending? How soon will he be able to stop selling clothes in Kampala?