Salutations and Introduction:

 Our host the Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of South Africa,
 Colleagues, the Ministers responsible for Agriculture in the African Union Member States,
 H.E. Moses Vilakati, Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (ARBE) at the African Union Commission
 H.E Nardos Bekele, Chief Executive Officer of the African Union Development Agency, AUDA -NEPAD
 Representatives of Member States and the Regional Economic Communities
 Members of the private sector, especially those in the agriculture and related sectors
 Development Partners
 Distinguished participants

Welcome and appreciation to the host:
I add my voice to those who have spoken before me to welcome you all to this important event where we are going to launch the CAADP Strategy and Action Plan 2026 - 2035 and the CAADP Kampala Declaration, an important milestone in our deliberate efforts to transform Africa’s agriculture sector.

In the same spirit, I wish to commend our host, the Government and people of the Republic of South Africa, for the excellent hospitality extended to us so far.
Congratulations to the new AU Commissioner:
In the same spirit, I heartily congratulate Your Excellency Moses Vilakati, upon your election as the Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (ARBE) at the African Union Commission. On behalf of the Specialized Technical Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment (STC-ARDWE), I assure you of Member States support as you embark on the journey of leading the transformation of Africa’s Agriculture sector through, among others, the CAADP Kampala Agenda.

The Keynote Address – Setting the Pace for Successful Implementation of CAADP:
Colleagues, as we are all aware, this is the third in a series of CAADP Strategies, the first having been espoused in the Maputo Declaration in 2003, the second in the Malabo Declaration in 2014, and now the CAADP Kampala Declaration 2025. My keynote address focuses on setting the pace for successful implementation of the CAADP Strategy and Action Plan 2026 - 2035 and the CAADP Kampala Declaration.

I wish to begin the address by congratulating all of you upon successfully completing the Extraordinary Summit that adopted both the Strategy and Action Plan as well as the CAADP Kampala Declaration that we/Uganda hosted in January 2025. I also wish to register my appreciation to the African Union Commission for successfully undertaking the final cleaning processes of the documents, including translation into all the African Union languages, culminating in this launch that we are attending today.
As you may recall, the process of developing the Strategy and Action Plan and the Declaration was widely consultative driven by the African Union Commission under the auspices of the Specialized Technical Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment. African Union Member States’ Governments, Parliamentarians, the private sector, farmers and farmers’ groups, academia, civil society, and development partners, among others, all participated in the process of developing the CAADP Strategy and Action Plan 2026 – 35. With the planning process now completed, we should turn all our energies and abilities towards ensuring successful implementation. The responsibility for leading the implementation process lies squarely with Governments, and all these stakeholders that participated in the development of the key documents are looking to us for delivery of the anticipated results. We cannot afford to disappoint them.

In view of this, I have premised my keynote speech on the tagline “Setting the Pace for Successful Implementation” deliberately, with a view to stimulating debate on how best we can ensure successful implementation of CAADP III. As you will recall, the 4th CAADP Biennial Review undertaken in 2023 noted that “no country was on track to achieve the Malabo targets by 2025. The continent, as a whole, was not on track with regard to implementing the seven commitments of the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods.” The question is, “why are we not able to implement our own commitments to ourselves?” As African countries, we should have deeper reflection on this and I am hopeful that during this launch, we can identify what we need to do differently in order to ensure successful implementation of CAADP III.

As we step in that direction, let me remind you of this major fact: a population that cannot feed itself cannot guarantee its own future. Therefore, for Africa to guarantee its own future, we must take deliberate steps to feed ourselves. We must also then go beyond feeding ourselves to enabling our people earn incomes and create jobs from the agriculture sector, that is, commercialization and agro-industry. The theme of our CAADP Strategy and Action Plan 2026 – 35, Building Resilient and Sustainable Agrifood Systems in Africa – says it all. You will note that Agrifood systems encompass interventions in the primary production of food and non-food agricultural products, as well as in food storage, aggregation, post-harvest handling, transportation, processing, distribution, marketing, disposal and consumption.

The second major fact that I will draw your attention to is that implementation of CAADP is primarily at national/Member State level, hence the importance of Member States’ ownership and leadership. Therefore, we as Member States must urgently mainstream CAADP into our National Development Plans, and subsequently Regional Development Plans and Continental Development Strategies and Plans. At this point, allow me to report that Uganda has already mainstreamed the CAADP Strategy and Action Plan 2026 – 35 into the National Development Plan IV. Mainstreaming CAADP into our development plans provides the framework for resource mobilization (financial and human), both internally and externally; and puts in place the necessary conditions for successful execution.

Similarly, regional collaboration is important. There are key CAADP aspects such as market opening, infrastructure development or pest and disease control that are better managed through inter-country collaboration, hence the need for Regional Economic Communities to play the lead role here. Continental institutions must play the broader coordination and monitoring role, involving more critical stakeholders at all stages. I was surprised to learn that the 10th – 12th April 2025 Dialogue of Permanent Secretaries of Agriculture was only the fourth since the inception of CAADP in 2003! This leads me to ask: “who, then, has been leading implementation of CAADP at Member States level?” On a positive note, I was happy to note that that Dialogue has now been institutionalized and will be held annually. I wish to re-emphasize that the decision should be endorsed at Ministerial level and implemented by the responsible African Union institutions.

The other major aspect that I wish to bring to your attention is the fact that CAADP targets and commitments go beyond the agriculture sector. Sectors such as Infrastructure, Trade, Health, Environment/Climate, among others, have prominent roles to play in delivering on some of the targets. Therefore, inter-sectoral collaboration in-country, at regional level and continental levels is essential. For example, whereas we are talking about fostering intra-African agricultural trade, the agriculture sector is the most heavily protected sector under the African Continental Free Trade Area. The logistics to facilitate this trade are not in the state we would wish them to be. And a number of several other discordant policies and actions. We must, therefore, foster inter-sectoral collaboration at all levels. The AUC needs to create a platform of all sectors concerned with successful CAADP implementation for harmonization, while we, as Member States, do the same at our level.

Colleagues, you will also note that each of the African Union Member States has some peculiarities, which must be taken into account in assessing implementation and providing guidance thereto.

Lastly, policy drives everything else. Therefore, for Africa to fully implement CAADP and have it positively contribute to the attainment of the Agenda 2063, we must focus on having the right policies in place and ensuring that they are well executed. Such policies must be coherent.

Conclusion:
Colleagues and distinguished participants, as I indicated earlier, a population that cannot feed itself cannot guarantee its future existence, hence the need for Africa to prioritize implementation of the CAADP Kampala Agenda. I call for concerted efforts in implementation of the CAADP Kampala Agenda so that we can achieve together as a continent.
Thank you very much for listening to me.