AGRA’s Africa Agriculture Status Report 2016

Chapter 2 provides a continental overview on CAADP from Maputo to Malabo — progress, achievements and limitations as well as an indication on how the agenda can be strengthened

Mark Kofi Fynn recommends the report to his fellow members of the SNRD Africa working group on Policy Processes in Agriculture and Rural Development as chapter 2 is focusing on the history of the CAADP policy framework.

Main points of chapter 2

  • CAADP is an unparalleled framework for agricultural transformation that has raised the political profile of agriculture and investments in the sector. About 80 percent of African countries have embraced the CAADP agenda by adopting its principles, targets, and processes, and 30 countries have elaborated evidence-based agricultural investment plans that are guiding program implementation and investments.
  • The main achievements of CAADP have been through its innovations of promoting evidence-based policy planning and implementation; strengthening inclusive review, dialogue, and mutual accountability platforms, notably through joint sector reviews; promoting alignment and coordination of development partnerships in agriculture; and raising the level of agricultural expenditures percent budget target.
  • Preliminary analysis indicates that CAADP has had a larger and positive impact on key outcomes of agricultural expenditures and productivity, incomes, and nutrition in countries that have signed CAADP compacts, especially in those that signed in 2007–2009 compared to those that signed later or have not signed at all.

  • Sustaining this progress and realizing the more ambitious Malabo agenda will require countries to redouble their efforts to effectively address remaining key challenges in terms of meeting funding targets, creating the required technical and institutional capacities, and further improving inter-ministerial coordination. Also, although the participation of non-state actors has become more institutionalized, there is need to further empower and enhance the leadership role of non-state actors. Further, the absence of African centers of knowledge in the implementation of CAADP in later years has been one of the most striking shortcomings that need to be resolved to re-establish local leadership of the CAADP technical agenda.

  • Urgent effort is needed to address these limitations through strengthening required capacities at the country, regional, and continental levels so as to accelerate progress. Strengthening capacities of non-state actors will be key to ensuring their effective participation in various CAADP processes, including review and mutual accountability. Given the upcoming CAADP biennial reviews, mutual accountability processes need to be expanded to more countries while existing ones are strengthened to ensure that they are comprehensive, regular, and technically robust. Although they have increased recently, agricultural expenditures and investments need to be increased further to help meet the ambitious goals under the 2014 Malabo Declaration.

Authors

Ousmane Badiane, Samuel Benin, Tsitsi Makombe – International Food Policy Research Institute