Continental agriculture body CAADP holds its mammoth ‘Partnership Platform’ meeting soon

BY ANGEL NAVURI

9th March 2015

The Malabo Declaration on agriculture and food security provides the African vision and resolve to accelerated agriculture transformation through collective and member states specific actions.

This year’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) partnership meeting is expected to take off this March, an important platform towards realising Africa agenda 2063.

 

To be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, the CAADP is an annual milestone event which over the years has become a key forum bringing together players and stakeholders from various African institutions, governments, the private sector and the civil society, as well as development partners.

 

The meeting seeks to deliberate the common vision and programmes to support implementation of the CAADP agenda.

 

This 11th CAADP Partnership Platform Meeting will be held under the theme “Walking the Talk: Delivering on Malabo Commitments on Agriculture for Women Empowerment”. 

 

This is pursuant to operationalising the decisions and commitments of African Union Heads of State and Government with regards to African Agriculture and CAADP Transformation agenda as espoused in the Malabo Declaration on CAADP (23rd Assembly of the African Union, June 2014, Malabo Equatorial Guinea).

 

Imperative for effective implementation, results and impact, the Malabo Declaration also calls for action by African stakeholders and partners alike to embrace this vision for agriculture-led inclusive growth and socio-economic development.

 

 The theme reflects the tempo and ambition expressed by member states, both Governments and non-state players, to see more action, results and impact. 

The meeting will seek  to bring out, in practical implementation terms, the connections between CAADP, African Agriculture (Malabo Declaration and CAADP Results Framework) and the African Union (AU) “Agenda 2063” as well as the work on the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. 

 

The Partnership Platform is designed to also directly and concretely reflect the 2015 African Union theme - “Women Empowerment and Development, Towards Africa Agenda 2063". 

 

Against this background, the 11th CAADP Partnership Platform - the first CAADP PP after the Malabo Declaration - is designed to help shape how the RESOLVE will be translated into action, results and impact. 

 

The PP will help build a shared understanding of country and regional needs and expectations of them for rolling out the Implementation Strategy and Road Map including launching efforts to form technical partnerships to align with and support implementation. 

 

CAADP faces new implementation challenges that will require new partnerships, including partnerships to integrate major initiatives and flagship efforts that are now in place making contributions to the areas and targets of the Malabo Declaration. 

 

Tapping these efforts will be key to early success in achieving results and impact. The PP will also play a key role in understanding what are the systemic institutional and policy changes that are being targeted to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of development efforts. 

 

It will also be an important milestone in helping to shape actions to advance important commitments around cross cutting issues such as gender, inclusiveness, regional trade, entrepreneurship development and youth employment. 

 

The last three CAADP Partnership Platform (CAADP PP) Meetings (2012, 2013 and 2014) were dedicated to appreciating the challenges and gains as well as learning from the experiences of CAADP in the first ten (10) years of CAADP. This allowed partners to identify priorities, action areas and implementation strategies for CAADP in the 2nd decade (2015-2025) and beyond. 

 

The AU Summit of June 2014 (Malabo Declaration, 2014) gave renewed legitimacy to CAADP as Africa’s policy framework for agriculture growth and transformation for shared prosperity.

 

The Malabo Declaration on agriculture and food security provides the African vision and resolve to accelerated agriculture transformation through collective and member states specific actions.

 

Among the key issues unique to the Malabo Declaration are two factors, namely, the focus on delivering measureable results and impact around eight  areas of commitment - deepening the earlier CAADP Maputo commitments, and  bringing focus on the need for institutional and policy change to create an enabling environment for country and regional efforts to succeed in delivering on the Malabo targets and commitments. 

 

The PP will afford the various CAADP and African Agriculture constituencies the opportunities to identify the result areas and implementation aspects they would be involved in as part of the collective efforts towards the shared CAADP vision and Malabo Declaration and CAADP Results Framework goals and targets. 

 

The Malabo Declaration itemises seven specific goals and targets for the 2015-2025. These include recommitment on the 10 percent annual public budget support to agriculture and the 6 percent annual agriculture productivity growth rate. Goal one  is recommitments to the CAADP Vision and Principles and Goal seven is commitment to the CAADP Results Framework, both in terms of commitment to accountability in delivering measureable results as well as guide and benchmark for the set targets. 

 

Goals two, three, four and five refer to specific targets as indicators of the desired progress, results and impact including expected change (transformation). The seven goals, together, reflect an articulation of high level aggregated indicators as the frontline-window (dashboard) to give a view on progress, results and impact. 

 

The CAADP Results Framework presents an elaboration of the complete set of indicators – i.e. placing the seven dashboard indicators into a broader set of desegregated continental level indicators. 

 

The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) was endorsed at the African Union Heads of State Summit as a New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) programme in July 2003. 

 

The overall goal of CAADP is to “Help African countries reach a higher path of economic growth through agriculture-led development, which eliminates hunger, reduces poverty and food insecurity, and enables expansion of exports.” 

 

CAADP is a growth-oriented agricultural development agenda, aimed at increasing agriculture growth rates to six percent per year to create the wealth needed for rural communities and households in Africa to prosper. To achieve this goal, CAADP focuses its interventions in four key pillars to achieve measurable outcomes:

 

• Pillar 1: Extending the area under sustainable land management and reliable water control systems;

• Pillar 2: Improving rural infrastructure and trade-related capacities for market access;

• Pillar 3: Increasing food supply, reducing hunger, and improving responses to food emergency crises; and

• Pillar 4: Improving agriculture research, technology dissemination and adoption.

 

Crosscutting issues common across the four pillars targeted for interventions include capacity strengthening for agribusiness, academic and professional training and improving access to information for agricultural strategy formulation.

 

In 2013, it will be 10 years since CAADP was endorsed in Maputo in 2003. The implementation of CAADP has enabled inclusive participation of all relevant sector players. CAADP has raised the profile of the agricultural sector in national domestic politics and the attention to agriculture has significantly increased.

 

CAADP has contributed to more specific, purposeful and incentive-oriented agricultural policies. It has also facilitated a noticeable improvement and progress towards donor coordination, harmonisation and alignment to country priorities. In a number of countries, additional resources have been allocated to targeted programmes that have the highest potential to generate returns to these investments. 

 

Regional co-operation has been increased as a result of CAADP engagement. CAADP has also facilitated the establishment of mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation, peer review, dialogue and accountability.

 

At the African Union Commission (AUC), CAADP is implemented through the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture (DREA), which was established with the objective of promoting agricultural and rural development.

 

It also strives to support African institutions in advancing food security for Africans as well as achieving sustainable development and improved livelihoods for the population, underpinned by sound environmental and natural resource management and adaptation to climate change.

 

The mandate of AUC-DREA is to work with NEPAD Agency, RECs and Member States, African institutions, civil society and development partners to strengthen the agricultural sector, rural economies and the environment in order to improve the livelihoods of African people and ensure food security and sound environmental management.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Cashewnut industry under spotlight

Bustling with  impressive record of high production – 20 percent  globally  until  the 1970’s, the cashewnut industry slumped around 1974, nose diving from 145,000 metric tonnes,  only to pick up in 2012 when  statistics showed that   158,000 metric tonnes was maintained.

 

The downward trend was ostensibly attributed to various factors, among them the government policy which  aimed at mobilising people in some villages in the country  to live in communal groupings   - the focus being to   enable  affordable access of social services, says  Nzaro Kijo, Mkinga District Cashew Coordinator. 

 

“Before the relocation operation, cashew  farmers were each maintaining individual farms. But when they were moved to distant areas, most of them found it difficult to travel long distances to attend to their plots, hence failure to manage the farms,” he explains.

 

Kijo says  the operation, though carried out with good intention, gave  way lee to invasion of the neglected farms  by insect pests and diseases – favourable conditions  where the crop is left unattended for a long time.

 

The abandoned farms, he narrates, were also prone to wanton destruction through fire which was set by unscrupulous bandits for their own reasons.

 

It is to be noted that at the time, efforts to  step up research on the crop diminished, another reason which immensely  contributed to  decline in production of the crop, according to an agronomist 

The cashew nut sub-sector is among the contributors in export earnings – ranking third from tobacco and coffee. The crop is exported raw (RCN). Cashewnut stakeholders believe  the contribution would go higher if value addition was done in the country.

 

India is the main buyer of cashewnuts grown in the country.  But  what is   baffling is the fact that the crop is exported raw -  not in processed form , complete with its shell.

 

Thousands of tones are exported to markets by both commercial and small scale farmers in bulk,  the reason being  Tanzania is yet to have its own processing factories.

 

But now, the situation will no longer remain the same, at least something is being done to reverse the trend -  with  a redeemer  in sight. In fact  plans  are on the drawing board to build three cashew nut  processing factories in Mtwara – the home of cashew nuts, Tunduru  - both in the south and Mkuranga in Coast Region.

 

The factories will be built through financing of Cashewnut Industry Development Trust Fund – CIDTF – an independent  body incorporated under the provisions of Trustees’ Incorporation Act (2002).

CIDTF’s core objective is to foster development of cashewnut sector by financing all shared functions of research, farming inputs, processing, marketing and branding.

 

“Construction work shall start this year.  But presently, we are preparing structural and architectural drawings,” says Suleiman Lenga, CIDTF Executive Secretary.

 

“We send cashew nuts raw to the buyers,  but we are actually not happy with the package because doing so is tantamount to transferring employment opportunities and technology to others  as well as ownership of the crop”, said Lenga in an interview with The Guardian

 

‘Exports of raw nuts have a negative impact to the economy  due to exports of job opportunities and sale of by-products’

He said, “Unlike in the past, when cashew nut factories were in private hands, the new processing plants will be under the ownership of cashew farmers”.

 

He continued,  ‘We have already earmarked big farmers – those whose production capacity is between 30 tonnes to 50 tonnes per season. These will directly qualify for purchase of shares”.

 

The CIDTF boss explained that the fund is determined to  become a redeemer of small scale farmers – on the way to   liberating  them from  prevailing abject poverty which  pleagues a large section of our people, especially  among the rural poor.

 

“CIDTF is working under a 3 year strategic programme to grow and distribute a massive 10 million cashew grafted seedlings for farmers in various districts”.

 

He explained that the institution will ensure that slowly, slowly, farmers will be educated on the need to phase out all traditional variety -   aging  50 years and above and plant new improved variety.

 

The new variety, he said, is resistant to insect pests and diseases.  Its production is also impressive – from 15 kgs to 80 kgs per tree per season, adding that under the programme, all regions with traditional variety whose production is negligible, will be sensitised sufficiently enough to change mindset.

 

“In collaboration with the Tanzania Cashew Board (TCB), we shall do mapping to identify the number of famers, number of cashew trees as well as locations, aimed at obtaining sufficient and reliable information for use in our information network in the industry”.

 

During the launching of cashew growing this season, which took place at Duga Maforoni Primary School in Duga ward, Mohamed Chande Ngemage, a representative of cashew farmers in Southern Zone, planted a cashew tree to signify the occasion.  Actual growing this 2014/15 season is expected to take  off in the district at   the onset of first rains  -  mid next month.

 

According to  the coordinator, the farmers were well versed with land preparation and field layout and row to row spacing. Land preparation, said Kijo, involves bush clearing, ploughing, harrowing and hole digging.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Govt moves to boost farming

ar es Salaam. The government has introduced a new organ - placed under the Ministry of Agriculture – as it seeks to raise productivity of the sector that employs over 70 per cent of Tanzanians in the working age.

The organ, known as Platform for Agricultural Policy Analysis and Co-ordination (PAPAC), aims at increasing the participation of private sector and research stakeholders in tackling chronic problems affecting the sector.

It will therefore involve people from academia, research institutes, policy analysis think tanks, representatives from farmers’ organizations, the National Bureau of Statistics as well as representatives from the public and private sectors.

The Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives Mr Yamungu Kayandabila said that PAPAC was set to support the implementation of Tanzania Agricultural and Food Security Investment Plan (TAFSIP) which was launched in 2011.

The government launched TAFSIP four years ago in order to implement the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) with the major aim of ensuring food security in the continent.

“So by bringing together key stakeholders, PAPAC intends to be a functional (as opposed to an institutional unit) co-ordinated by a secretariat to be hosted in the directorate of policy and planning in the ministry responsible for agriculture,” he said.

The ministry’s director of policy and planning, Ms Janet Simkanga said the PAPAC advisory committee team - to be chaired by the director of policy and planning - constitutes three executive members, including a policy analyst and co-ordinator, an assistant policy analyst and an administrative assistant.

She also said that the advisory committee was also set to include members from the private sector or non-state actors and development partners.

Under the TAFSIP, the government is implementing the plan with one of its objective to increase the annual growth of agriculture from current 4.4 per cent to at least 6 per cent, according to 2011 ministry’s document.

It also aims at increasing financing of the sector up to 10 per cent of the total budget in line with the 2003 Maputo Declaration on CAADP by African nations.Source

Involve farmers in policy formulation

For decades, agriculture has been the economic mainstay of Tanzania. Despite the growth of other sectors in recent years, it accounts for 24.5 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product, provides 85 per cent of exports and employs more than a half of the workforce.

It is understood that nearly 70 per cent of 45 million Tanzanians live in rural areas, depending on agriculture for their living.  Revolutionising agriculture, therefore, means increasing employment, expanding the economy and ensuring food security. However, the sector faces numerous challenges. It is hamstrung by poor technology, pests, low investment, vagaries of weather and market uncertainties. It is small wonder that the sector grew by 4.3 per cent in 2012, less than half of the Millennium Development Goal of 10.8 per cent. 

A number of declarations in the past decade to increase funding in the sector to 10 per cent of the country’s budget have done little to improve it. Although 16.4 per cent of land is arable, only 2.4 per cent of it is planted with permanent crops because the sector is underfunded. Smallholder farmers dominate the sector and cultivate average farm sizes of between 0.9 hectares and three hectares. They farm 5.1 million hectares annually, 85 per cent being food crops. Staples produced include maize, sorghum, millet, rice, wheat, pulses, cassava, potatoes and bananas with the bulk of the country’s export crops being coffee, cotton, cashew nuts, tobacco, sisal, pyrethrum, tea, cloves, horticultural crops, oil seeds and spices.

Food security

Because the sector relies heavily on rains, adequate irrigation methods are crucial to increase agricultural production, ensure food security and uplift the livelihoods of farmers. This requires drawing up appropriate programmes, providing ample extension services, having the right technology and increasing funding. Preparation for agricultural policies should be undertaken by involving all players in the sector.

That was why farmers on Friday called on the government to involve them in drafting agricultural policies and other programmes to develop the sector. Speaking during a dialogue hosted by the Tanzania Network for Smallholders and the Eastern and Southern Africa Small-scale Farmers’ Forum, small-scale farmers criticised the government for only involving large-scale farmers in policy formulation.

They urged the government to honour Malabo and Maputo declarations by increasing funds allocated to agriculture to 10 per cent of the national budget. According to the farmers, many agricultural sector development programmes have failed to bear fruit because small-scale farmers have been sidelined in initial stages of preparing them.

They cited the Agricultural Sector Development Programme through which the government has been supplying fertilisers to areas where they are not needed.  The ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives says there are too many farmers to involve all of them. We call on the government to involve as many stakeholders as possible in drawing up programmes and increase funding in the agricultural sector. This is what will revolutionise it. Source

Tanzania Economy slows to 6.8pc on agriculture troubles

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s economy grew at 6.8 per cent in the third quarter of 2014 compared with 7.4 per cent recorded in the same period of 2013, the National Bureau of Statistics has announced.

Mr Morrice Oyuke, director of economic statistics, said yesterday that agriculture grew by 3.1 per cent compared with the speed of 3.4 per cent recorded previously.

The economy grew by 6.9 per cent in the second quarter.

“It’s the first GDP update we are releasing using the revised data in which we are now using 2007 as base year as opposed to the usual 2001 base year,” said Mr Oyuke.

The size of the East Africa’s second biggest economy after Kenya increased to Sh70 trillion ($41 billion) in 2013, up from a previous estimate of Sh53 trillion, after last year’s rebasing that factored its expanding industries such as oil, gas and telecommunications into the calculation, Finance Minister Saada Mkuya Salum said in December.

The revised GDP figures indicate that agriculture accounted for 31.7 per cent of Tanzania’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013, the highest share of all economic sectors.

The country produces natral gas for domestic use and has discovered 53.28 trillion cubic feet both onshore and offshore by last November.

Mining and quarry grew by 5.2 per cent during the third quarter of 2014 compared with 3.3 per cent the same quarter of 2013, Mr Oyuke announced.

Manufacturing grew by 10.8 per cent compared with 10.4 per cent previously while water supply grew by 12.7 per cent from 6.9 per cent.

Construction grew by 15 per cent compared with 16.3 per cent while transport slowed to 13.9 per cent from 19.3 per cent recorded the same quarter last year.

Financial services grew by 13.9 per cent compared with 6.8 per cent while information, communication and technology (ICT) services which also include telecommunications grew by 11.9 per cent against 7.0 per cent, Oyuke said. Source

Research Institute students speak out on agricultural challenges

Sagile Nelson

At this period of increasing drought, pests and diseases, agricultural research is must. We need to build more advanced research institutions such as biotechnology lab to be able to conduct tissue culture. It is only through biotechnology forexample that farmers will get rid of the diseases.

Khamis Fabian

Mwanza and Mara are some of the regions which are hit hard by viral diseases. Many farmers are battling against cassava mosaic disease (CMD) and cassava brown streak disease (CBSD), maize lethal Nicrosis diseases and striga. So, the government should take them serious by deploying scientists and agricultural researchers in rural farms to stamp them out.

Masalo Faustine

Some areas are facing shortage of food due to lack of appropriate technology to equip farmers with knowledge and skills to produce more food. I think this is not a time of waiting for the rains, rather we should work out other alternative technologies of increasing productivity

Zawadi Mvugaro

Mara region is leading for having many strains so we need advanced research to get varieties which are responding to the emerging challenges such as cassava mosaic disease (CMD) and cassava brown streak disease (CBSD).

Shani Kabuta

In the past we had many cassava varieties which used to shed leaves during dry season and replenish during rain season. Farmers would harvest cassava any time they want. But today, things have changed, a situation which calls for more research.

Pendo Matulanya

I hear that there is strict liability in the biosafety regulations. There are also some activists who are opposing this biotechnology. I would suggest that the government should prepare on farm trials, one with biotech and another with traditional means so that people and farmers can see the difference for themselves.

Emmanuel Paul

As for the students like me, there should be more practicals so that we can gain knowledge and experience. So, students should be given more room in these advanced agriculture research institutes like MARI to learn more on crop diseases. 

OFAB Tanzania Public Lecture

Presidential science laureate Dr. Joseph Ndunguru from the Mikocheni Agriculture Research Institute (MARI) interacts with young scientists after OFAB TanzaniaPublic Lecture held on 25th February 2014 at Ukiruguru Agricultural Training Institute, Mwanza

Sokoine Hall: Lecture continuing 

Dr. Joseph Ndunguru conducted public lecture at Ukiriguru on the role of biotechnology and its application in addressing agricultural challenges in Tanzania. The lecture was attended by Lake Zone Agricultural research and Development institute Ukiriguru, Dr. January Mafuru, researchers, tutors,  extension officer, agricultural  students and media personel.