Donors pledge more support towards agriculture
Donors have pledged increased support towards financing the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (Caadp) in Malawi and other member countries.
The commitment was made in Nairobi , Kenya last week during the 8th Caadp Platform Forum, an annual event by the African Union (AU) and the New Partnership for Africa ’s Development (Caadp) which aims at sharing experiences among the players and stakeholders involved in Caadp and African Agriculture.
In Malawi , Caadp has been domesticated into the Agricultural Sector Wide Approach (Aswap) which is the country’s national agriculture development and food security strategy.
Speaking during the Nairobi meeting, outgoing Caadp task team chairperson, , Jeff Hill, who also represented all development partners in Caadp , reaffirmed the donors’ commitment for continued support in financing the Caadp processes and implementation.
“However, I ask countries to speed up design processes and put in place policies and systems for effective implementation of Caadp,” he said.
Hill also emphasised on the need by participating countries to take into consideration the emerging cross-cutting issues such as climate change and integrating nutrition in drawing their investment plans.
He stressed that Caadp should be viewed as a solution to bailout the majority in the rural areas from abject poverty and live on less than a dollar per day.
Hill also emphasised on the need to take on board youth and women who are mostly affected by poverty to participate and benefit from Caadp in various countries.
The Farmers Forum for Trade and Social Justice (Fafotraj) executive director Calvin Kamchacha, who was part of Malawi delegation in Nairobi, said in an interview on Monday that the implementation of the programme in Malawi is going on well since there has been political will.
Kamchacha said the political will can be directly associated with the success story of Malawi in the general agricultural growth and high production of maize since 2005.
“The government led by late Professor Bingu wa Mutharika put in place sound policies and committed resources through the Fertiliser and Input Subsidy Programme to enable most vulnerable smallholder farmers access the commodity at a lower price,” he said.
Kamchacha, whose body is a registered Malawian non-governmental organisation with a focus of strengthening the capacity of small-scale women and young farmers, noted that the Caadp programme in Malawi should ensure addressing challenges facing women and the youth in the rural areas who form the most marginalised core groups.
In March, 2012, the Word Bank approved and announced a financial grant to Malawi worth $ 30 million under Aswap/Caadp financing arrangement to support agricultural diversification, increased agribusiness and agro-processing.
