Events

Press Releases

Joint Press Release - CAADP Awards Africa’s top agricultural journalists (EN)

Joint Press Release - CAADP Awards Africa’s top agricultural journalists (AR)

Joint Press Release - Transforming Africa’s Agriculture for Shared Prosperity (EN)

Joint Press Release - Transforming Africa’s Agriculture for Shared Prosperity (AR)

10th CAADP Partnership Platform opens with a call to African leaders to own and recommit to the CAADP process (EN)

10th CAADP Partnership Platform opens with a call to African leaders to own and recommit to the CAADP process (AR)

Speeches

Statement of the AUC Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture

Statement of NEPAD CEO

The 10th CAADP Partnership Platform Meeting, ICC, Durban, South Africa

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Joint Press Release

Transforming Africa’s Agriculture for Shared Prosperity

Durban, South Africa March 22, 2014 –Participants at the 10th Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme( CAADP) partnership meeting has recognised CAADP as the expression of reclaimed ownership of agricultural policy by African States and citizens of the continent.

CAADP is the African Union and NEPAD continent-wide structurewithin which African countries plan to accelerate economic growth, eliminate hunger, reduce poverty and enhance food and nutrition security, through agriculture-led development. To date, fifty out of fifty-four countries in Africa are using the CAADP structure in agricultural planning.

The 10th CAADPP Partnership Platform, which started on Tuesday 18 March 2014 in Durban, South Africa, has evolved to become a forum for those in the partnership to report on and discuss progress in a number of areas including collective financing and other public and private funding instruments. The 10th Partnership Platform is unique as it comes at a critical reflection moment when the year 2014 was declared by the African Union 19th Ordinary Summit as a Year of Agriculture and Food Security, as well as commemoration of 10 years since CAADP was endorsed by the same Assembly.

H.E Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union Commissionsaid the Partnership Platform was a forum for intensive and inclusive dialogue in sustaining momentum in Africa’s agenda for job and wealth creation, as well as food security and nutrition.

In her closing statement, Mrs Estherine Fotabong, the NEPAD Director of Programme Implementation and Coordination, stated that CAADP is an African-owned inclusive initiative which provides the driveto address food and nutrition insecurity, as well as unemployment, particularly of youth and women.

Mr Joel OkundiObengo, from the Kenya National Young Farmers Association, said the CAADP Partnership Platform was strategic to his work as it provides the space for strategic partnership between the public and private sectors. With regards transforming Africa’s agriculture for shared prosperity, Mr Obengo said the inclusive approach of CAADP is important for young farmers who need more access to markets and opportunities to expand agribusiness.

The Partnership Platform’s outcomes included mapping the next steps in refining the measurement of results and impact through the CAADP results framework, as well as giving more attention to role of women and youth in agriculture. The Partnership Platform also concluded that further articulation of the results framework will make sure it is well adapted and suitable to meet country demands.

Press Release Nº045/2014
AUC and TUFTS University sign a cooperation agreement

Addis Ababa, 11 March 2014 – The African Union Commission and Tufts University of Medford, Massachusetts, USA have renewed their cooperation agreement. The areas of cooperation include humanitarian affairs, agriculture and food security, research, education and training as well as projects of economic, social and cultural development. The signing ceremony was held on 10 March 2014, at the AU Commission, (AUC) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The MoU was signed by the Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, H.E Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, on behalf of the AUC and Prof. Peter Walker, Director, Feinstein International Center, Tufts University.

H.E. Mrs. Tumusiime appreciated the value of this MoU and recognized the active and proactive cooperation that the Commission has enjoyed with Tufts University for the past few years. She indicated that: “the first MoU dates back to 2006 when we agreed to establish a programme of collaboration in areas of interest and benefit to both institutions, in particular to work cooperatively in the preparation of agriculture sector policy and institutional support proposals that are in line with the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP)”.

The Commissioner noted the opportune timing of this MOU signing which comes under the 2014 Year of Agriculture and Food Security as well as the 10th Anniversary of the CAADP. “As part of operationalizing this MoU, we will put in place a mechanism for a regular and structured joint review and planning”, she suggested.

During the signing ceremony, prof. Walker expressed the significance of this MoU renewal, and reassured the commitment of Tufts to work together for the successful implementation of different activities under the cooperation agreement.

The two parties agreed to work cooperatively in the preparation of Agriculture Sector Policy and Institutional Support Proposals that are in line with the CAADP as well as other activities.
MTS

Media contact:
Mr. Molalet Tsedeke, Directorate of Information and Communication, AUC; molalett@africa-union.org; +251-911-630-631

PRESS RELEASE Nº 036 /2014

African Union Celebrates the Africa Environment and Wangari Maathai Day in Maseru

Maseru, 03 March 2014- “Unless we step up practical messages to ensure that our productive lands are preserved and degraded lands restored, nothing would stop agriculture in Africa from encroaching on existing forests to meet the increasing demands for land and other resources vital for livelihoods”, stressed by Mrs.Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union Commission during the Africa Environment and Wangari Maathai Day held in Maseru, the Kingdom of Lesotho on 03 March 2014. This is the 12th consecutive year that Maseru has hosted the commemorations since 2002, when they were adopted by the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Durban, South Africa.
The theme of the 2014 Africa Environment Day is Combating Desertification in Africa: Enhancing Agricultural Productivity and Food Security, which aims to raise awareness on desertification and sustainable land management among all stakeholders at community, national, regional and continental levels.
During her remarks, Mrs. Tumusiime highlighted the need for rational utilization of natural resources including water and land in order to secure agricultural development in Africa. The Commissioner recalled that 2014 is the African Union Year of Agriculture and Food Security and the tenth Anniversary of the existence of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programmee (CAADP), which has sustainable and water management as one of its pillars. “Sustainable environmental management is, indeed, fundamental to the pursuit of food security, peace, security and stability in Africa”, she added. (The full speech of the Commissioner is available on www.au.int).
Representing the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Mr. Gaoju Han, underscored the vital role of healthy a environment in the daily lives of human beings. He further said, “The wealth of Africa depends on her ability to conserve and manage her land resources. It is a well known fact that soil degradation not only results in decreased food production but also in droughts, ecological imbalance and consequent degradation of the quality of life”, he said.
Officially marking the commemoration event, Hon. Khotso Matla, Minister of Forestry and Land Reclamation, Kingdom of Lesotho emphasized the harmony between the human being and the environment as an essential requirement for sustainable national or global development.
The 2014 commemoration of the African Environment and Wangari Maathai Day in Lesotho was marked by an awareness raising media workshop from 1-2 March 2014 on the challenges of desertification and sustainable land management in Africa; tree planting, as well as a field visit to school children and models of good land management practice areas among others.

MTS

London, UK
13 February, 2014

AU Commissioner calls for equitable land based agricultural investments in seeking sustainable solutions to feed the world

The AU Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, H.E. Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, called for sustinable and inclusive models of land based agricultural investments that integrate smallholder, medium and large scale agriculture systems to enhance technology, innovation, value addition, infrastructure and market access. The Commissioner was speaking at an International conference on “Feeding the World: Sustainable Solutions for a Global Crisis,” on February 13, 2014, in London, UK, organized by the Economist and attended by global leadership in the realms of government, business, civil society research and academia.

In her keynote address on “FDI, Economic Growth and the Demand on Agricultural land” , H.E. Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, noted that African governments and stakeholders have resolved to improve the governance of large scale investments in order to reduce the risks that have surrounded the recent wave of land deals, following the 2008 food crisis. She noted that the AUC, UNECA and AfDB – under the auspices of land policy initiative (LPI)--are providing the leadership and coordination, and developing the tools needed in this regard, including the Guiding Principles on Large Scale Land Based Investments (LSLBI) .

H.E. the Commissioner decried the low rate of implementation of current land deals, but expressed optimism that governments, investors and stakeholders are beginning to work together to ensure the success of these and future land investments through increased transparency, accountability and mutual collaboration. She also noted that governments are already instituting reforms that guard against arbitrary appropriation of land, and facilitate partnerships among government, local communities and investors.

The Commissioner called for international cooperation to strengthen synergies in implementing global tools such as the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of the Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (VG) and the upcoming Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI) on the one hand, and AU instruments such as the Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa (F&G) and the Guiding principles on LSLBI on the other.

The Commissioner expressed the hope that improved governance of LSLBIs would be supportive of efforts to increase agricultural production and productivity, food and nutrition security and, indeed, poverty alleviation on the continent in line with the theme of the AU Year of Agriculture and Food Security in the context of Africa Agenda 2063.