Over 200 participants, including agriculture experts, researchers, policy makers, civil society, development partners, farmers' groups and media from within Africa and beyond attended the two-day event.
“CAADP is an opportunity but the slow implementation of its agenda is of concern to farmers. In Central Africa, the launch of CAADP is still facing a lot of challenges. I hope that this meeting will give us space and lead to conclusion, implementation and joining of countries that have not joined,” she said.
Background: CAADP was established in 2003 as part of the AU's NEPAD programme and as Africa's response to the various challenges facing agriculture in the continent. Some of its main goals are to influence countries to increase their budgetary allocation to agriculture by 10%, achieve 6% growth, promote land and water management, agricultural research, marketing and food security. Some 30 countries have signed the CAADP compact, which is a blueprint for accelerating agricultural growth, while over 24 countries have established agriculture and food security investment plans.
