Posted on October, 30, 2019 at 09:21 am
The Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture Josefa Sacko is rallying African Union member states to begin working towards mechanizing agriculture on the continent.
Through the Framework for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization in Africa (SAMA) the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture, the continent has mooted a campaign “Retire the hand held hoe to the Museum,” that hopes to introduce mechanization in African agriculture.
Commissioner Josefa Sacko who spoke at the meeting of Ministers of Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment at the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, asked member states to begin to dedicate at least one percent (1%) of their total national resource envelop to agricultural research in “line with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa’s (FARA) Science Agenda for Agriculture in Africa.”
She noted that without research the continent will not be able to make headway in realizing growth in agriculture.
Sacko called on African leaders to take greater responsibility for boosting regional trade in agricultural commodities by increasing local processing of key agricultural products and their respective value chain, and for stimulating local and regional private sector investments in agriculture.
She appealed to the Ministers to take advantage of the African Union’s African Union Development Agency(AU-AUDA) and FARA, programme on the Common Africa Agro-Parks (CAAPs).
The 3rd Ordinary session of the Specialized Technical Committee (STC) reviewed the relevant strategic goals and linkages in agriculture, rural development, water and environment that will be adopted by the Ministers.
“The Malabo Declaration includes a commitment to a new monitoring and reporting system to ensure that the AU Heads of State and Government are accountable to their peers and citizenry in delivering results and impact for agricultural transformation,” said Sacko and added, “DREA has embarked upon a number of initiatives to boost agribusiness in Africa including the establishment and strengthening of national and regional agribusiness Apex Bodies; supporting the establishment of Continental Agribusiness Apex Body Platform; developing and disseminating Youth in Agribusiness Strategy and facilitating capacity building for women and youth SMEs in agribusiness, among other initiatives.”
While noting that food security in Africa remains a challenge, Sako said that DREA has launched several programmes and action plans to support Member States develop action plans to achieve marked improvement in food security, eradicating hunger and reducing chronic malnutrition.
The Commissioner announced that the AU Commission is poised to establish an Africa Food Safety Agency (AFSA) to coordinate and provide leadership and support to meet the urgent need for enhanced food safety in Africa especially with the take-off of the Continental Free Trade Agreement.
“The AFSA will be established building on the demonstrated track record of the Partnership for Aflatoxin Control (PACA) which has been instrumental in raising awareness and in bringing food safety at the forefront of policy dialogues even beyond the continent,” said Sacko.
The Commissioner called for concerted efforts to deal with hydro-meteorological hazards, extreme climate and weather phenomena which are increasing across Africa.
“Africa suffers approximately two disasters per week, eight deaths per day related to hydro-meteorological hazards,” she said and added, “plans are ongoing to establish a continental early warning and preparedness system at AUC as a way of improving analysis and early-warning capabilities of weak countries with the support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).”
She noted that as part of the ongoing reorganization of the African Union, “my Department has been saddled with an expanded mandate of overseeing the Blue Economy in Africa. Immediately after the Nairobi Conference, my Department, embarked on the formulation of ‘A blueprint for Africa’s Blue Economy’ which shall be the guidance and framework document to support formulation of coherent national and regional blue economy strategies.”
Noting that African population is set to hit the 2.4 billion mark by 2050 “and this brings with it the added task of doubling production to meet increasing demand coupled with rapid urbanization and changing food systems.”
Source: KBC