CAADP Roundtable talks push non state actors

Players in the private sector in Africa are increasingly being involved in the development of the continents agriculture through their involvement in the ongoing national Non State Actors roundtables. The forums which have recently been held in different countries in Africa are organized through the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Plan (CAADP), with an aim in tapping the knowledge and efficiency of the private sector. The meetings are run by a NSA steering committee whose Vice Chair is PanAAC CEO Lucy Muchoki. The meetings are also being used to draw support for CAADP programmes as well as ensure the involvement of different players in the implementation of agricultural programmes in Africa. The roundtables have so far been held in Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Senegal and recently in Ethiopia where the players have established national steering committee to oversee the domestication of the CAADP programmes at the country level. The meetings now are posed to move to other East African countries with Kenya's roundtable meeting being slated for early November, with Uganda and Tanzania coming up later on. Under CAADP NSA steering committee, several documents and guidelines have been developed to guide the involvement of the private sector and other non state actors. The guidelines also shed light to the fact that though CAADP is a continental effort, different countries will need their own ways of implementing national programmes. National roundtables take responsibility for aligning state policies with regional priorities and under the four CAADP Pillars of exploiting synergies and discussing economic bottlenecks between neighbouring countries, deciding appropriate action on those matters, identifying gaps in the donor funding needed to achieve agreed priorities and initiating work to monitor and evaluate CAADP's progress at the national, regional and continental levels.

Ethiopia NSA Zero on food insecurity

Private players involved in agricultural development have identified various issues that ail the growth of the sector and have worked on a plan to counter the persistent food shortage in the country. During a meeting organized to come up with agricultural interventions as supported by the Comprehensive African Agricultural Program (CAADP), the experts noted over reliance of rain fed agriculture as a key reason of lack of food security in the horn of Africa region.

Kenya NSA Report

NSA stakeholders met in Nairobi to discuss ways in which private sector can benefit from agricultural policies. Key among ways identified to address issues affecting the private sector was the need to work with parliamentarians as well as boosting agricultural development through public private partnerships....