FAO AND THE NEW PARTNERSHIP FOR AFRICA'S DEVELOPMENT (NEPAD) |
Table of Contents |
FAO AND THE NEW PARTNERSHIP FOR AFRICA'S DEVELOPMENT (NEPAD) |
Table of Contents |
Ten years after the Rio Earth Summit, FAO is presenting SARD; in association with this it is also offering this brief on agriculture under NEPAD, given that agriculture dominates land use in Africa. In Africa, agriculture supports 70-80 percent of the people, employs some 60 percent of the labour, accounts for 20 percent of merchandise exports and 17 percent of GDP. When crops, livestock and range, forestry and fisheries are all considered, they provide Africa with not just food but also jobs, energy, materials for shelter, paper and board for packaging and for literacy, and the raw materials for most of industry. Agriculture touches almost everyone in Africa and thus its development is central to uplifting the people from mass poverty on a sustainable basis while balancing economic, environmental and social dimensions of Africa's progress. NEPAD has recognised this by retaining agriculture as the only productive economic sector included among NEPAD priority action areas at this stage.
|
This informal information note is prepared as a brief by FAO on its co-operation with the NEPAD system in the field of agriculture. Agriculture is the only economic sector among current NEPAD priorities which otherwise range from Peace and Security as well as Democracy and political governance to Human Resources, Health and Culture. Emphasising self-reliance, African Heads of State and Government have set an ambitious target of 7 percent annual growth rate in GDP over the next 20 years. Further information on this activity in FAO can be sought from [email protected]. |
Preparation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) has been the centrepiece of FAO co-operation with the NEPAD secretariat FAO engagement was in response to a request of the NEPAD Steering Committee. Starting in March 2002 the effort led to a CAADP endorsed by African Ministers of agriculture when they met in Rome on 9th June. The CAADP is now part of the overall Action Programme of NEPAD; FAO stands ready if required to co-operate with NEPAD in operationalising it.
Background: At the dawn of the millennium, about 30 countries in Africa had over 20 percent of their population undernourished and nearly a third of Africa's people - some 200 million people - were chronically hungry, compared to 173 million in 1990-92.Africa also had about 28 million people facing food emergencies due to droughts, floods and strife, most of whom needed emergency food and agricultural assistance. Africa alone has absorbed some 45 percent of total World Food Programme investment since its establishment. In addition, Africa's agricultural imports have risen faster than exports since the 1960s and from 1980 overtook them so making Africa a net agricultural importer. In the final years of the 20th century, Africa was spending nearly US$19 billion annually on commercial food imports which were supplemented by considerable food aid -some 2.8 million tons in the year 2000, which was over a quarter of the world total.
Thrusts and indicative investment: The above sketch shows the crisis situation of African agriculture. In response, the NEPAD Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) focuses on correcting this crisis as soon as possible: reversing long-term neglect of investment under three "pillars". With the exception of the research and technology pillar of the CAADP, all long-term investment has been left largely for the future. The CAADP calls for 2002-2015 total investment in the core "three pillars" of some US$240 billion, which gives an annual average of about US$17.2 billion that is equivalent to only around 90 percent of Africa's current annual food imports. For the period 2002-2015, CAADP investments consist of the following:
US$37 billion: Extending the area under sustainable land management and reliable water control systems. Reliance on irregular and unreliable rainfall for agricultural production is a major constraint on crop productivity and also prevents Africa from capturing the full potential of high-yield varieties of crops. By 2015, the NEPAD programme aims to double to 20 million ha the area under water and better land management;
US$92 billion: Improving rural infrastructure and trade-related capacities for market access. Investment in roads, storage, markets, packaging and handling systems, and input supply networks, so as to raise the competitiveness of local production vis-à-vis imports and in export markets and so stimulate both production and trade. Also strengthen the capacity of Africa to participate in trade negotiations and capacity to meet the increasingly stringent quality requirements of world trade, and thereby to improve market access;
US$7.5 billion: Increasing food supply and reducing hunger. Targets 15 million small farms and offers them improved technology, services and policies to raise food production and to combat poverty. Stresses community-level intervention but also attends to national and regional enabling conditions so that increased production is rewarding to the farmer;
US$34.5 billion additional investment: for a sub-component to wean Africa from external extreme dependency for early warning, preparedness and response capacity to the increasingly frequent and severe disasters and emergencies that dislocate agriculture, lead to food dependency, and cause economic reversals;
10 percent supplement: a provisional allocation to total investment to fund the long-term pillar on Agricultural research, technology dissemination and adoption that provides the scientific underpinning for continued productivity gains essential for competitive agriculture.
Africa's own investment: Africa is assumed to progressively increase its domestic share of agricultural investment (both public and private) from a current estimate of about 35 percent to some 55 percent by 2015.
Enabling conditions for action: Current CAADP priority pillars focus on investment into physical assets - the development "hardware", but NEPAD is fully aware of the need to not ignore the "software" enabling environment issues of policy, institutions, political commitment etc essential for sustained agricultural success if accompanied by investment.
|
Preparing the NEPAD Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) has been a consultative process, the key elements of which have included a March 2002: presentation of the main themes by the FAO Director General to the NEPAD Heads of State Implementation Committee in Abuja, Nigeria; April/May: circulation of a first draft for review and comment to all African Ministers of Agriculture and of African integration, Heads of African Regional Economic Organisations, the NEPAD Steering Committee, Heads of selected African regional/sub-regional development banks, the Head of UN Economic Commission for Africa, and the World Bank. 9th June 2002: Meeting of African Ministers of Agriculture (joined by some members of the NEPAD Steering Committee) to review the CAADP. Apart from suggestions from within Africa, process has received external co-operation from IFAD, the World Bank, and the World Food Programme. |
Preparation and consultations for the Consolidated Africa Agriculture Development Programme have been the core area of FAO/NEPAD co-operation.
In addition, however, FAO:
For the future, FAO stands ready if requested to participate in formulation of projects, to co-operate also on crafting policies and institutional arrangements for success, and to play a part in any of the elements listed under "Steps Ahead".
Following the Durban summit of the African Union, at which NEPAD presented its action programmes, Africa is keen to see action. In the agricultural field, great attention is being paid to building a strong constituency for programmes through an intensive programme of publicity and consultations with all stakeholders, both private and public.
To all constituencies, NEPAD is in the process of making itself better known, promoting broad-based ownership, clarifying how it wishes to proceed - we can expect NEPAD to stress its focus on engagement in areas where it will add most value; defining types of programmes that can carry the NEPAD label and how they can be processed without inefficient centralisation; working out ways to raise significant funding from within Africa (both public and private); and defining the roles the countries and their internal constituencies should play. In addition to building a constituency, there may be four critical immediate needs:
