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| The Director of Agriculture, Food Security and Environmental Sustainability at AUDA-NEPAD, Estherine Fotabong |
Member states in Africa need to formulate concrete policies that can aid in realizing goals that include achieving zero hunger and tackling stunting and malnutrition among children.
While noting that the next ten years of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) ought to be impactful, the Director of Agriculture, Food Security and Environmental Sustainability at AUDA-NEPAD, Estherine Fotabong said that much has been done but a lot needs to be done under the framework that over 49 member states have domesticated.
“The next ten years should be impactful,” she said and added, “We need to move beyond those aspirational goals of the Africa we want, we need to transform that vision to the Africa we want to build.”
Fotabong who spoke at the ongoing Validation Workshop for Post Malabo CAADP Agenda Technical Working Groups meeting in Lusaka, Zambia called for putting in place impactful projects so that as Malabo ends and the next ten years of the Kampala declaration begins there should be policy formulations that are more focused towards achievable targets.
She called for an inflection to find out why up to now the continent has not achieved zero hunger as well as reduced stunting and malnutrition among children, the policy environment has to be there,” she said and added, “Is it about diversifying food production, is it about supporting homegrown school feeding programs, policy responses need to help us meet the goals set up by the political leadership.” She says.
She says policy responses that can help to meet the expectations put in place by member states and this would include looking for policy directions that help to triple intra-Africa trade and to ensure that Africa’s smallholder farmers are part of the intra-Africa trade and not merely for big businesses.
She noted that private sector investment is key set by the political leadership for post-Malabo, in order to triple intra-African trade “one that is not just for big business, but one that addresses the involvement of smallholder farmers.”
The Director of Agriculture, Food Security, and Environmental Sustainability believes that investment in big programs that make a difference is critical, so that there are social safety nets, balancing the access to markets conversation, “knowing that there are people who will still need support and so having programs of social protection that will uplift the farmers that need support.
There is a need for strengthening partnerships at all levels, “and especially the rural population that feeds us, 70 percent of what we eat is the work of smallholder farmers most of who are in the rural areas, most of who are rural women.”
Noting that 20 years of CAADP have been successfully coupled with Africa’s agri-food systems that are highly dynamic and constantly evolving, challenges also abound including; Rapid demographic shifts, Changes in the political economy at all levels, Rapid changes in technology, Dynamic market forces, and the worsening impacts of climate change.
She says that it is important to look at, levels of investment by both the public and private sectors and institutional capacities for coordination, execution, and monitoring at the national level to address the challenges while at the same time ensuring sustained measures to guide and support member states “as they pursue their commitments to end hunger, reduce poverty, create jobs, and build resilient and inclusive agri-food systems,” said Fotabong.
By Judith Akolo