Though seven of the ten fastest growing economies of the world are in Africa, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) notes that the continent has made the least progress in reducing poverty in comparison to South Asia and Latin America.
Against this backdrop, FAO hosted the 28th Regional Conference for Africa, which focused on identifying actions to accelerate economic transformation and investment in sustainable agriculture centered on smallholder farmers, including youth and women.
28 March 2014: Though seven of the ten fastest growing economies of the world are in Africa, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) notes that the continent has made the least progress in reducing poverty in comparison to South Asia and Latin America. Against this backdrop, FAO hosted the 28th Regional Conference for Africa, which focused on identifying actions to accelerate economic transformation and investment in sustainable agriculture centered on smallholder farmers, including youth and women.
The Regional Conference featured three priority areas of action: enhancing the enabling environment for investment; enhancing agricultural productivity and the engagement of youth, smallholder farmers and family farming; and determining how the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) could most effectively contribute to monitoring, action and results.
FAO used the meeting to underscore progress related to staple crops including, improved bananas, high-yielding maize varieties, and cotton productivity gains, but questioned how African leaders could build on this progress across countries. The meeting examined approaches that could create an enabling environment to end hunger by 2025. It identified the growing urban market within Africa as an important market for African farmers to serve and called on policy makers to invest in rural/urban supply chains.
The Conference also tracked progress on CAADP. Progress at a high level has included partnerships and the $40 million African Solidarity Trust Fund, which was launched in June 2013 to support projects in the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Niger and South Sudan. Agreements with these countries were signed on the sidelines of the Conference.
FAO also highlighted its three regional initiatives aligned with its renewed strategic framework, which are in different stages of implementation: supporting renewed efforts and approaches to end hunger by 2025; promoting the sustainable intensification of agricultural production and commercialization; and building resilience in the drylands of Africa with a special focus in the Sahel, Horn of Africa and flood-prone countries.
During the Conference, FAO underscored the need to invest in creating opportunities for youth to participate in the agriculture sector to help the sector become an engine for sustainable growth. It also noted key challenges related to political insecurity, water scarcity and conflict.
The meeting was preceded by a two-day consultation of representatives from civil society organizations (CSO) to bring together non-state actors to contribute to the Regional Conference. The outcomes of the meeting were shared at the Regional Conference through three CSO spokespersons, who also participated in the ministerial segment of the Conference.
The 28th Regional Conference took place from 24-28 March 2014 in Tunis, Tunisia, with representation from 54 African member countries and numerous international observers. Cote d’Ivoire will host the next Conference in 2016. [FAO Press Release on Conference Opening] [FAO Release on CSOs][FAO Press Release on Youth] [FAO Concluding Press Release]