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importing countries, while infrastructure bottlenecks and unreliableenergy supply continued to pose severe impediments to growth.There is therefore a need for African countries to implement strategiesto mitigate risks so as to achieve sustained, shared and broadbasedgrowth in the future.Agriculture continues to remain the heart of the economies of manyAfrican countries. In ensuring its efficient management and foodsecurity for all, a number of initiatives and programmes have beeninstituted at the global and regional levels. World leaders, includingthose from Africa, at the 2002 World Food Summit (WFS) recommittedthemselves to implement the 1996 WFS Plan of Action. Furthermore,at their July 2003 Meeting in Maputo, our leaders resolved toimplement, as a matter of urgency, the NEPAD Comprehensive AfricaAgriculture Development Programme (CAADP) as well as committedto devote at least 10 per cent of their respective national budgetaryresources for agricultural and rural development. Although theseinitiatives have achieved some results, Africa does not have food security.The current soaring food prices have further compounded thealready challenging food insecurity throughout the continent.The global climate change also threatens agriculture productionon the continent because many African countries are at most riskand have less financial, technical and institutional capacity foradaptation. Moreover, some of our countries are in the SahelZone and are threatened by desertification, which continuesto gain ground and is pushing its way southward. In addition tocontracting the area suitable for agriculture, climate change is projectedto result in significant shortening of crop growing periods andreduction in yields from rain-fed agriculture. More frequent and severedroughts, floods and weather extremes would constrain cropand livestock production, while rising water temperatures woulddecrease food supplies from fisheries resources. As a result, foodinsecurity would increase significantly if migration and adaptationprogrammes are not put in place.The challenges to the development of agriculture in Africa and thethreats of climate change suggest that we need to act swiftly in findingsolutions. That is why in line with the priorities of the NEPAD/CAADP framework, ECA is partnering with (FAO) and (UNIDO) to sys-32 Part One