by Bonifacio Antonio – SANF 04 no 15
African leaders have decided to establish an Agricultural Development Fund as one way of eliminating food deficiency and increase production and productivity in the continent.
Employing more than 60 percent of the continent’s population and being the source of about 40 percent of hard currency earnings for most African countries, agriculture is a major contributor to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and therefore one of the most important vehicles for economic and social development in Africa.
In addition, 75 percent of the African population work and live in rural areas where agriculture is the principal source of employment.
The AU Second Extraordinary Session held recently in Sirte, Libya, recognised the urgent need to respond to Africa’s critical problems of hunger, poverty and disease by employing innovative complementary and comprehensive approaches aimed at optimizing the productivity of Africa’s acknowledged massive resources and huge possibilities for sustainable development. The response would take into account the variations in resource potential and endowment in different regions of the continent.
In a declaration adopted at the end of the session, African leaders instructed the Chairperson of the Commission of the AU “to undertake a feasibility study for the expeditious establishment of an African Agricultural Development Fund” aimed at boosting agricultural production.
The African leaders recognised that to attain self-sufficiency in food production and eradicate hunger, “it is necessary to promote strategic food crops”, particularly wheat, rice, corn, cash crops and others in the regions appropriate for their production.
To achieve this, Africa needs to implement the commitment of governments (adopted last July in Maputo) to allocate at least 10 percent of their national budgets to transform plans to boost agricultural production into reality. This commitment would also create the right environment for attracting local and foreign investment in the sector.
Recognising the fact that the rest of the world is making considerable progress in new technologies to increase productivity in their agricultural sectors and to ensure sustainable levels of food production, African leaders decided to support the “development of the human resource potential in the continent through education, training, skills development and exchange of expertise”.
“We need to effectively utilise the results of scientific research for agricultural planning to tackle problems of desertification, soil and water conservation and environment protection for sustainable agricultural and animal resources development,” African leaders said in their declaration on agriculture.
The extraordinary summit decided to strengthen the Early Warning Systems at regional level and their establishment where they do not exist as well as their coordination at continental level in order to avert the negative impact of drought, desertification, floods, natural disasters and pests.
The African leaders highlighted the importance of livestock and fisheries in the economic and social development of Africa. They committed themselves to “promote the development of livestock production including the improvement of natural pastures, distribution of veterinary products, and genetic resources with a view to improving food security”.
The AU extraordinary summit also debated water resources in Africa. Although the continent has water potential estimated at 5,000 cubic metres per capita per year, these resources are distributed in a skewed manner with the majority of the food grain production areas having limited exploitable reserves and thus facing frequent shortages.
The summit decided “to strengthen existing river and lake water basins organizations where they exist and establish new ones wherever appropriate to develop and promote water resources through support to infrastructure projects, including the construction of dams and canals, sinking of wells and providing irrigation equipment”. (SARDC)
