An event in the UK Houses of Parliament on ‘The future of African Agriculture and CAADP’ will be held on 15 July. Colin Poulton, convenor of the Policy Processes theme of Future Agricultures, will be discussing new research on the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme. The panel includes two of the researchers and co-authors of ‘African Agriculture: Drivers for Success for CAADP implementation’, a recent report commissioned by the African Union.

Hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Agriculture & Food for Development, the event brings together a panel of experts including Dr Yvonne Pinto (Director, Agricultural Learning and Impacts Network (ALINe)), Colin Poulton (SOAS Centre for Development, Environment and Policy), Richard Dewdney (Deputy Director for Africa Regional Department, DFID), Boaz Blackie Keizire (Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture, African Union) and Professor Thomas Reardon (Michigan State University). The discussion will be chaired by Lord Cameron of Dillington.

Background to the event

2014 is the African Union Year of Agriculture and Food Security and the 10th Year of CAADP, the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme established by the AU Assembly to focus on improving food and nutrition security and increasing incomes in Africa’s largely farming based economies.

CAADP aims to do this by raising agricultural productivity by at least 6% per year and increasing public investment in agriculture to 10% of national budgets per year. Ten years after its introduction 40 countries have successfully signed up to country-level agricultural policy and strategy commitments and a proportion have followed through to investment.

We are delighted to bring together an expert panel to discuss the impact of CAADP since its introduction, to reflect on the agricultural successes and the institutional drivers of success since the Maputo Declaration, and to look ahead to the future of African agriculture and sustaining the momentum behind CAADP.

The panel includes two of the researchers and co-authors of ‘African Agriculture: Drivers for Success for CAADP implementation’. This very interesting study was commissioned by HE Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture at the African Union, to analyse the key drivers of success in a number of selected countries. The research will be presented and discussed.

For more information, contact lis.wallace@parliament.uk.

Photo: Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament by Derek Key on Flickr (cc-by-2.0)