Tackling rural poverty, together

Background

After years of neglect agriculture and rural development currently regain attention as crucial drivers of development and growth in Africa. The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) framework reflects this recognition of agriculture as central for the alleviation of poverty and hunger and hence for reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Accordingly AU and NEPAD have launched CAADP to drive agricultural growth and African politicians have committed to significantly increase the share of national budgets allocated to agriculture, in compliance with the Maputo Declaration, to at least 10%. In this framework an overall African Union vision on agriculture has emerged on what should be achieved by 2015.

By that time the continent should have/be:

• improved the productivity of agriculture to attain an average annual production growth rate of 6%, with particular attention to small-scale farmers, especially women;
• dynamic agricultural markets within countries and between regions;
• integrated farmers into the market economy and have improved access to markets to become a net exporter of agricultural products taking into account Africa’s comparative and competitive advantage;
• achieved a more equitable distribution of wealth as a result of rising real incomes and relative wealth for rural populations through more equitable access to land, physical and financial resources, and the knowledge, information and technology for sustainable development;
• become a strategic player in agricultural science and technology development to meet growing needs and demands of African agricultural development;
• practising environmentally sound production methods and have a culture of sustainable management of the natural resource base through increased knowledge, information and technology application.

Four pillars constitute the core activity fields for the implementation of CAADP: