1. WFP declares Africa Agricultural investment forum a turning point
2. COMESA's strategic goal with CAADP
3. Nigeria stresses commitment to CAADP
4. Fisheries and aquaculture
5. Ghana agriculture projects to get
   $100-million from World Bank
6. Africa not spending enough on food
7. Uganda's agriculture spending below population growth

8. New weapon for Africa's farmers against armyworm
9. Focus on grain market
10. Electronic tagging against cattle rustling will help beef exports
11. Calendar of events
12. Have your say. Send us your feedback
13. About CAADP
14. Contact us

WFP declares Africa Agricultural investment forum a turning point

United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), 18 June

A farmer inspects his crop. Photo: CAADP

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and West African governments were congratulated by the UN World Food Programme in Dakar on 18 June at the conclusion of their successful four-day forum on the financing of regional and national agricultural investment plans.

WFP said the high-level gathering -- part of the CAADP -- was a sign of governments' strong commitment, leadership and vision with regard to reducing hunger and poverty in the region, and was pleased that the investment plans presented at the forum prioritise nutrition and access to food for the most vulnerable.

WFP Deputy Executive Director Sheila Sisulu

WFP Deputy Executive Director Sheila Sisulu and West Africa Deputy Regional Director Claude Jibidar joined top officials from the 12-member states of ECOWAS -- Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, the Gambia, Guinea, Benin, Niger and Cape Verde-- and humanitarian partner organizations in the four-day forum.

Ms Sisulu said it marked a milestone along the path to lasting hunger solutions.

"Less than two years ago, the region faced a 'perfect storm' of high food and fuel prices spreading hunger, malnutrition and misery across the continent," she said. "This forum marks a critical turning point and a 'perfect opportunity' to align the policies and donor resources behind national priorities."

The agricultural investment plans presented during the forum covered a comprehensive range of actions designed to combat hunger and malnutrition – from increasing the availability of food to promoting effective and sustainable access and use. Existing programmes supported by WFP across West Africa demonstrate that nutrition and social protection can offer a vital boost to economic opportunity and food security.

These programmes include innovative food-for-work and food-for-training projects giving poor farmers the skills, tools and resources they need to feed themselves, their families and their communities. Home-grown school feeding initiatives combine efforts to increase access to education with access to markets for small farmers.

In addition, through its Purchase for Progress initiative (P4P), WFP promotes the development of agricultural markets in such a way that smallholder farmers—of which the majority are women—can produce food surpluses and sell them at fair prices to various markets including WFP operations, creating a win-win situation. In 2009, WFP bought food from around the world valued at US$965 million. Of that amount, 80 percent was used to purchase food from developing countries.

As a longstanding partner in African development and CAADP supporter, WFP pledged its continuing support and expertise as governments continue to strengthen, refine and deploy national food security and agriculture investment plans.

Source: www.reliefweb.int

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COMESA's strategic goal with CAADP

The World Bank Group, 22 June

COMESA's strategic agricultural goal is to achieve improved regional food security in the COMESA region with member states recognising that attaining food security is not possible without achieving agriculture sector competitiveness.

The specific project development objective of the proposed CAADP - Child Trust Fund (CTF) is improved strategic planning and implementation of agricultural investments at the national and regional levels. This will be accomplished by supporting COMESA's capacity to support the CAADP Roundtable process at the country and regional levels.

The CTF is expected to result in more efficient and effective organisation of Roundtable events; acceleration of compact signing; implementation of strategic work at country and regional levels; and improved harmonization and alignment of development activities and development partners (DPs) around CAADP priorities.

Download the Full Report (PDF file - 71kb) here: http://www.reliefweb.int

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Nigeria stresses commitment to CAADP

By Grace Azubuike in Abuja, 14 June

The Nigerian Federal Government has revealed that the National Agricultural Investment Plan (NAIP) and the 333 agricultural projects in the country have been considered for take-off. It has also promised adequate funding for research institutes across the country.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Prof.Sheikh Ahmed Abdullah, disclosed this at the NAIP Stakeholders Forum in Abuja.

He noted that the draft document on NAIP for the implementation of CAADP in Nigeria called for collective ratification.

"We must ensure this document reflects the desires and aspirations of all Nigerians including the rural farmers," he said.

He added: "On behalf of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, i wish to reiterate the commitment of the government of Nigeria, politically, economically and socially for the sustenance of the CAADP process in Nigeria, especially as it concerns regular budgetary allocation and timely disbursement of funds to the sector."

In another development, Minister Abdullah paid a familiarisation visit to Ahmed Bello University at Zaria where the vice-chancellor, Prof.Abdullahi Mustapha urged the government to double its contribution to research and development as it was the only avenue to a true agricultural revolution as shown in developed economies.

Source: www.allafrica.com

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Fisheries and aquaculture

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Ghana agriculture projects to get
$100-million from World Bank

By Moses Dzawu for Bloomberg, 21 June

Ghana’s agricultural industry will receive $100 million from the World Bank this year to fund projects aimed at boosting production in the West African nation.

The money, which may be handed out in July, will be used for road-building in farming communities, irrigation projects and farm equipment, said Gladys Ghartey, director of the World Bank unit at the Accra-based Finance Ministry.

The Washington-based World Bank had initially planned to give $50 million over three years to 2011 to Ghana’s agricultural industry, Ghartey said in an interview on June 18.

The increased funding comes because the projects “are in line with the government’s medium-term plan of developing the commercial agricultural base,” she said.

Ghana is the world’s second-biggest cocoa producer, after neighbouring Ivory Coast. It exports small amounts of other produce including pineapples, coffee and sheanuts.

Source: www.businessweek.com

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Africa not spending enough on food

By IRIN News, Johannesburg, 21 June

Not enough food to go around. Photo: Jaspreet Kindra/IRIN

Africa is now facing the same type of long-term food deficit problem that India faced in the early 1960s, says a paper by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a US-based think-tank.

African countries are not spending enough on agriculture and the overall productivity of the continent has dropped since the mid-1980s, said the paper which looked at trends in public spending on agriculture in Africa.

"Since the 1960s, Africa has lost ground in the global marketplace. Its share of total world agricultural exports fell from 6 percent in the 1970s to 2 percent in 2007," said the paper entitled, Public Spending for Agriculture in Africa: Trends and Composition.

The paper was produced by researchers who work with IFPRI's Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS).

Spending money on food production is critical in Africa, where 70 percent of people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for food and income.

There are also going to be more people to feed in Africa in the next few decades. Sub-Saharan Africa's population is expected to grow faster than elsewhere by 2050, increasing by 910 million people, or 108 percent; East and Southeast Asia's population is set to rise by only 228 million, or 11 percent, according to UN projections.

Ten percent target

In 2003, the continent adopted the CAADP)and countries committed to allocating 10 percent of their budgets to agriculture.

Only eight African countries have reached or surpassed the 10 percent target, according to CAADP.

Erratic weather could be turning the screws on food security in Africa as well. Drought-hit Niger features in the eight countries to have allocated the required 10 percent of their budget to agriculture to become food secure, but failed rains have driven more than three million of its people into food insecurity and pushed Niger back onto the list of food aid dependent countries where it last featured in 2004.

The other countries to reach the 10 percent target are Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Mali, Ghana, Senegal, Zimbabwe and Malawi. There has been a 75 percent increase in the amount governments spend on agriculture from 2000 to 2005 but the CAADP target "remains unmet because of the very low initial base and the declining trends prior to 2000", says the IFPRI paper.

How African spends on agriculture (See larger version of this graph online) © Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System

Source: www.irinnews.org

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Uganda's agriculture spending below population growth

By Joseph Olanyo from Kampala for East African Business Week, 24 June

In April this year, Uganda signed the CAADP protocol to compel the government to increase agricultural spending by 10%. The aim of the protocol is to help Africa reach economic growth through agricultural-led development.

It is also expected to eliminate hunger, reduce poverty and food insecurity, enabling the expansion of exports and supporting environmental resilience. Uganda is the fifth country in the region to sign the protocol after Burundi, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Swaziland. If agricultural funding increased by 10% in the 2010/11 budget, it would increase to about Shs 783b ($391 million).

In her budget speech, Uganda's Finance Minister Syda Bbumba apparently did not specify any percentage increase on agriculture. Instead she said the government in partnership with commercial banks, has set aside Shs60b ($30million) agricultural loan for farmers.

"For the first time, the government in partnership with commercial banks established an agricultural credit facility amounting to Shs60b to be lent to farmers at interest rate not exceeding 10% per annum," the Finance Minister said.

In the 2009/10 national budget, the country spent Shs269 billion ($134,5 million) on agriculture. Most of the funds were spent on paying salaries and supporting selected farmers under the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS).

But while the objective of the credit facility is to facilitate farmers in the acquisition of agricultural and agro-processing machinery and equipment, there is a fear that lack of an assured market for their produce may make the loan repayment process difficult.

"They can get a loan alright, but if for example the crop fails, which is a common phenomenon or a bumper harvest with no market, like maize in the last season, how will you pay back the loan?," Jacob Gariyo, a self-employed farmer from Wakiso asked. Less than 4% of Uganda's national budget is spent on agriculture.

If Uganda were to achieve the CAADP's projections, an additional 2.9 million people would be lifted above the poverty line by 2015. But to do so, Uganda needs to nearly triple its present agricultural growth rate.

In 2009, Actionaid International Uganda in collaboration with the Food Rights Alliance commissioned a study on Public Financing for Agriculture in Uganda. The study findings highlight the dire need to prioritise investment in Uganda's small-holder farmers. ActionAid Uganda's report "Invest in Small-Holder Farmers", launched in Kampala recently, argues that the key to reviving the agricultural sector is to increase resource allocation and ensure optimal use with deliberate focus on small-holder farmers, particularly women.

"While the 1% increase in the budget allocation to this important sector as per the 2010/11 budget speech is welcome, Uganda is still far away from its commitment to allocate at least 10% of its budget as per the Maputo declaration," the report said. It adds that if Uganda were to achieve this, an additional 2.9 million Ugandans would be lifted out of poverty line. But the report contends that to do so Uganda must spend at least 14% of its budget on agriculture. The report focuses on six areas for improvement in agricultural financing.

Agriculture is the backbone of Uganda's economy accounting for 25% of national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It employs most of Uganda's labour force (73%) and provides the basis of 80% of the rural livelihoods.

While the importance of agriculture to the livelihoods of Ugandans cannot be overestimated, its performance has been described as worrying, having declined, in real terms from 7.9 percent in 2001/01 to 0.7 5 in 2007/08.

The World Bank estimates that it was negative (-0.6%) in 2004/05. The rate of growth has been well below the population growth rate of 3.4% implying that there are more mouths to feed every day than the food produced.

Source: www.busiweek.com

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New weapon for Africa's farmers
against armyworm

By Isaiah Esipisu, 3 June

Armyworms eat through crops and pollute water supplies. PHOTO/FAO

Farmers across Eastern and Southern Africa will soon have a new organic insecticide effective enough to kill one of their most deadly foes - the armyworm.

Armyworm or Spodoptera frugiperda, as they are known scientifically, are caterpillars that eventually develop into brownish-grey moths. If left unchecked they multiply into millions daily and have been known to clear the leaves off crops over hundreds of square kilometres in just a few days. Once the food has been exhausted in one area, they migrate to their next destination.

In January armyworms destroyed 35,000 hectares of crop, and threatened the food security of over 120,000 families in Malawi. In March, Uganda's New Vision reported that an outbreak of armyworms destroyed almost 100 hectares of maize. And in previous years Sierra Leone and Tanzania have faced devastation due to invasions of armyworms.

The deadliest attack was in Liberia 2009, where armyworms attacked about 100 villages and damaged crops, including coffee plantations and pasture. Over 500,000 people were affected, and over 20,000 residents were forced to flee their homes.

But now scientists have developed a new organic insecticide that specifically targets armyworms, known as SpexNPV, which has been reported in the journal ScienceDirect.

Read more: www.allafrica.com

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Focus on grain market

Cereal Growers Association chief executive officer David Nyameino with Eastern Africa Grain Council executive director Constantine Kandie at a past function. Photo/Phoebe Okall

Call for free market in grains in East Africa By Muna Wahome in the Daily Nation Nairobi, 8 June Players in the East African regional food chain are pushing for the maize sub-sector to be allowed to operate freely for more food security and improved intra-regional trade. The Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC) wants finance ministers in the EAC trade bloc to consider lifting the ban on cereal exports and instead encourage intra-regional dealings. The council says that it is concerned about the continued government involvement in the cereals sub-sector, insisting that such a grip was a stumbling block towards growth and production. “The key concern for players in the maize and grain industry is the continued involvement by governments in an era where other sectors have been relieved of this involvement and the lack of progress in finding a long-term solution for a sector that has more potential than anything else,” EAGC executive director Constantine Kandie said on 7 June. Ms Kandie asked the respective ministers of finance to look at ways that will open the market for more competition. Such measures should also encourage farmers to approach maize growing as a business undertaking. Maize market In 2007, the size of the regional maize market (EAC and COMESA) was estimated at slightly over $1 billion with the region’s share in this being a mere 13 per cent. “This clearly demonstrates an existence of a regional market potential of about 77 per cent which is up for grabs,” said Ms Kandie. An analysis done by the EAGC says that the time has come for the Kenyan and other East African Community governments to uphold free market principles in the maize sector where the forces of demand and supply are left to dictate the cost of the produce. Source: www.nation.co.ke TOP ^ SA farmers' plea to export surplus maize By Hopewell Radebe in Business Day, 10 June The South African grain industry is to apply to the Competition Commission for an exemption that will enable it to set up a pool to export 5-million tons of excess maize to the highest bidder. Grain SA MD John Purchase Photo: Sunday Times Grain SA, the body representing most of the country's maize, wheat and soya producers, has asked the commission for an opinion on co-operating on exports, but was informed that setting up a pool would be anticompetitive. The farmers want an urgent solution, given the danger of their produce being wasted because they cannot dispose of all of it in the local market. At present they have 5-million tons of maize available for export after meeting a national demand for 9-million tons. If granted an exemption, the farmers would be given a chance to obtain competitive international prices, which they say would help offset high input costs like fuel and fertiliser. Grain SA chairman Neels Ferreira called for the intervention of the Department of Trade and Industry, saying the application process for exemption, which is run by the Competition Commission, often took up to two years to conclude. “By then it would be too late for almost 30% of our commercial farmers, who urgently need the resources to stay in business, and could completely destroy the black emerging farmers who have loans to service.” The Competition Commission said it would not comment on the issue due “to the nonbinding nature of the advisory opinion” it had given Grain SA. Ferreira said the government should allow alternative ways of utilising surpluses, including reducing the importation of processed chicken in order to encourage local chicken farming by emerging farmers. “This will also create a huge market for the local manufacturing of chicken feed, providing rural development with real jobs.” Maize deliveries to South African silos rose to 1,604-million tons in the week to 4 June, up from 944,000 tons the previous week, the South African Grain Information Service said. Prof. Johan Willemse, an agricultural economist at the University of Free State, warned the agribusiness congress in the Western Cape to press the government to restructure agriculture policy. He said this would open alternative avenues for farmers, and that the current situation could “seriously damage the industry”. Agricultural Business Chamber CEO John Purchase said the government needed to reopen the debate on the ban on using maize for biofuel, imposed in 2008 when world maize stocks were dwindling and there were fears of compromising food security. Allowing maize to be sold for biofuel use would contribute to SA’s production of oil and also help the country reach its objectives for renewable energy, he said. Grain SA estimates that the renewable energy, or biofuel, option would add 9% to the volume of oil produced in SA, create an extra 39% of protein feed for animal use, and add to the production of commercial carbon dioxide. It also estimates that 105,000 jobs could be created by the biofuel process alone. Source: www.businessday.co.za

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Electronic tagging against cattle rustling will help beef exports

By Steve Mbogo in Business Daily Nairobi, 14 June

The government has allocated Sh200 million in the 2010/11 budget for animal monitoring to grow the beef export market. Photo/Business Daily Nairobi

Electronic tagging of livestock could prove a masterstroke in the fight against cattle rustling and set the stage for Kenya to resume beef exports to the European Union.

Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta allocated Sh200 million in the coming year’s budget to be used for the tagging in Northern Kenya, where periodical cattle raids have led to deaths, high insecurity and general under-development.

The practice of cattle rustling, which has cultural links, is a major catalyst of arms trafficking in Northern Kenya because every homestead must have a gun to protect its livestock from raiders, security experts said.

Tagging will be done with an electronic chip that can be traced using the GPS global navigation system that provides reliable location and time information in all weather, at all times, anywhere on Earth.

Currently, stolen animals are tracked by road and less often by air.

The new system will enable security officials to monitor movements of stolen livestock.

Currently the only way to identify the animals is through hot iron branding on their skins that is traditionally used in Northern Kenya. The branding can, however, be altered using paint.

In identification, the electronic chip is inserted through the mouth with details such as the name of the owner, district of origin, a reference code relating to a particular breed of cow, country of birth, country of flattening, etc.

The chip will also help in the creation of disease free-zones, failure of which has seen the country lose its beef export quota of 400,000 tonnes per year to Botswana.

As a result, the marketing outlet for Kenya’s small-scale beef cattle farmers has decreased tremendously, according to the Kenya Livestock Marketing Council.

Kenya has 12 million cattle, according to the most recent census, three million of which are dairy cattle.

Source: www.businessdailyafrica.com

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Disclaimer:  The views expressed in CAADP News are the responsibility of the respective authors. They are not official AU or NEPAD views or views supported by the AU or NEPAD.