Agriculture and food security will be the main issues on the agenda when African leaders meet for the 22nd Ordinary Summit of the African Union in Ethiopia.
The theme for the summit scheduled for 30-31 January in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is “2014 Year of Agriculture and Food Security, Marking 10th Anniversary of the Adoption of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).”
The leaders are expected to take stock of progress towards meeting targets agreed in 2003 when the CAADP was adopted to help African countries boost agricultural production and food security.
The main targets included an undertaking by African governments to allocate at least 10 percent of national budgets towards agriculture and to grow the sector by an average six percent per annum.
Only eight countries have surpassed the 10 percent financing target, according to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) – the technical body of the AU spearheading implementation of the CAADP.
Only one of these, Malawi, is from southern Africa. The others are Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal.
However, agricultural performance has continued to improve in Africa, even though growth is not yet fast enough due to various challenges, including pressure on land and water, increase in soil degradation and climate change.
This calls for renewed and intensified efforts by African governments to scale up interventions such as the CAADP to make sure that the sector is revitalized.
The forthcoming AU summit is, therefore, expected to agree on measures to address challenges hindering the attainment of the targets.
These measures will include new commitments as well as activities to be undertaken by member states during 2014 to promote agricultural production.
The activities include the African Agribusiness Forum planned for June, which will explore business opportunities for African entrepreneurs, particularly women and youth in the context of agricultural transformation and inclusive growth.
Agriculture is the backbone of most economies in Africa, hence the sector has been identified as a priority area of development.
According to the draft agenda for the summit, discussions will also focus on the post-2015 development agenda. The post-2015 development agenda is a global initiative aimed at replacing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) when they come to an end next year.
The new global development agenda will ensure that the momentum for sustainable development is maintained, while at the same time addressing new and emerging challenges facing the world such as climate change.
The summit is expected to come up with a draft African Position on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
On climate change, the leaders will deliberate on the recent outcome of the United Nations climate change negotiations held in Poland in October 2013.
The 19th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP19) produced a lukewarm outcome that did not address immediate concerns of developing countries.
Africa went into the climate negotiations with a number of demands but left disappointed after the talks did not produce tangible commitments by the high-polluting developed nations.
These included demands for technology transfer from developed countries to developing nations as well as capacity building and the creation of a fund to assist the latter to respond to the effects of climate change.
Africa and the developing countries also wanted the rich nations to cut emissions to at least 40 percent below the 1990 levels by 2020.
With regards to health, the forthcoming AU summit will review progress on encouraging development and improved access to health for women and children.
While significant progress has been made in reducing the number of women that die while giving birth and children who die at birth, most African countries are not on track to meet the desired target by 2015.
In this regard, the leaders will discuss the establishment of an African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
When operational, the centre will assist African countries coordinate efforts to control and prevent various diseases.
On the political front, the summit will consider the peace and security situation on the continent.
Countries such as the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan have been experiencing instability during the past year.
The summit will receive a report on the assessment of the African Standby Force (ASF) and the operationalization of the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises (ACIRC).
The ACIRC is a temporary multinational African interventionist standby force set up in 2013. It will be replaced by the ASF when it becomes fully operational.
Another important agenda item for the summit is Africa’s relationship with the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Africa has expressed disappointment over its operations, with critics accusing the court of double standards by taking advantage of the continent’s weak global position to prosecute its leaders.
As a result, the continent has proposed a number of amendments, including that sitting Heads of State and Government should not be prosecuted while in office.
This follows charges against presidents Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Omar al-Bashir of Sudan.
