Agriculture in the Spotlight

　　The African Union (AU) has marked 2014 as theyear of agriculture and food security， something newlyelected rotating Chairperson of the AU， Mohamed OuldAbdel Aziz， also the President of the Islamic Republic ofMauritania， is taking very seriously.

　　Speaking at the 22nd AU Summit， held at the end ofJanuary 2014， Aziz said this year it’s very important tofocus on the transformation of agriculture for the prosperityof all and improvement of growth and sustainabledevelopment.

　　“For most countries， agriculture constitutes indeedthe battle against poverty and hunger for which we canwin with economic sustainability of agriculture investment，”he said.

　　The AU chairperson noted that the year of agricultureand food security comes at the time when the AU isdiscussing the African Agenda 2063 strategic frameworkfor inclusive growth and sustainable development.

　　Agenda 2063 is a global strategy to optimize use ofAfrica’s resources for the benefit of all Africans.As the theme of the AU Summit， the African Year ofAgriculture and Food Security is poised to be commemoratedacross the continent， in member states，

　　Regional Economic Communities (REC)， continentalorganizations， and at the AU headquarters in AddisAbaba， Ethiopia. State and non-state role players inAfrica are planning to give communities opportunitiesto interact and voice their opinions on what works - soas to set targets for the next decade. This process willhelp to set the agenda for the Comprehensive AfricaAgriculture Development Program (CAADP)， an Africaowned and led initiative， working to boost agricultureproductivity on the continent， which is celebrating its10th anniversary.

　　Significantly， to date， 34 AU member states havesigned CAADP partnership agreements， and， of these，30 have developed formal national agriculture and foodsecurity investment plans. At regional level， four out ofthe eight RECs have also signed regional agreements， ofwhich three have developed full cost investment plans.On average， public agricultural expenditures have risenby over 7 percent per year across Africa since 2003，nearly doubling public agricultural expenditures sincethe launch of CAADP.

　　In terms of actual performance， Africa’s agriculturaloutput has contributed nearly 4 percent of the overallGDP on an average annual basis since 2003 - well abovethe rates for the previous several decades. Several AUmember states have also achieved significant improvementsin tackling the challenges of hunger， undernourishmentand extreme poverty. Notably， in most Africancountries， it’s the development of agriculture that cancontribute toward the alleviation of poverty.

　　Also pro-agricultural development is Dr. NkosazanaDlamini Zuma， Chairperson of the AU Commission.

　　Speaking at the summit， she told delegates， “We mustmake sure agriculture is a strong component of the[African] Agenda 2063.” This meansthe AU is partnering with governments，private sectors and otherorganizations to develop scienceand research， trade， industry， infrastructure，human resources andother sectors， in order to improveagriculture.

　　“Africans should not be forcedto sell their lands to other people；the land should belong to the people，Africa for Africans，” she said，pointing to the lack of strong land tenure policies thathave driven some African countries to sell or grant longleases to foreign investors.

　　Zuma said Africa should empower the people interms of land and provide farmers with access to technologyand capital. This will enable them to produce andprocess food and be more competitive in the internationalmarkets， as well as create jobs. This would allowgenerated income to remain in the country and addvalue to farming.

　　To this end， CAADP is important and Zuma hasencouraged all AU member states to implement theCAADP program and learn from the successful implementationsin some countries. She indicated that the AUhas also taken steps to create a foundation to raisefunds from individuals and the private sector， amongothers， to develop agriculture on the continent.

关注读览天下微信， 100万篇深度好文， 等你来看……