A Path to Prosperity New Directions for African Livestock

Regional Economic Communities
The RECs all have agricultural strategies that
reflect the needs of their member states.
For example, the Common Market for Eastern and
Southern Africa’s (COMESA) strategic agricultural
goal is to achieve improved food security in the
region, with member states recognising that attaining
food security is not possible without achieving
agricultural sector competitiveness. Unfortunately,
most RECs tend to be severely handicapped by staff
shortages and are often heavily reliant on project
funded staff to achieve results. One REC addressing
this is the Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS), a regional group of fifteen.
ECOWAS Heads of State recently broke with the past
by deciding to trans-form the ECOWAS Secretariat
into a Commission. This will not only see an increase
in the number of officers at management level; it
means ECOWAS becomes a supranational body
capable of formulating Acts that are binding on
Member States and the institutions of the
Community.
At the continental level, the Comprehensive Africa
Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) provides
overarching guidance to livestock sector
development and the Interafrican Bureau of Animal
Resources [AU/IBAR] provides specific technical
and coordination support.
CAADP
The African Union’s Directorate for Rural Economy
and Agriculture (DREA) is responsible for
continental-level strategy development and coordination
of food security, livestock, environment,
water, natural resources and desertification. DREA
overseas the CAADP which is coordinated by the
NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA),
formerly known as the New Partnership for Africa’s
Development (NEPAD) Secretariat. CAADP was
established by the AU assembly in 2003. It originates
from the failure of previous agricultural interventions
on the continent, which have been largely attributed
to their weak ownership by African States. DREA
also supports AU/IBAR in Nairobi.
CAADP is important. It is an African-led and Africanowned
idea for agricultural development. It brings
together diverse key players at all levels and has
significant support. African governments have
agreed to increase public investment in agriculture
by a minimum of 10% of their national
budgets 11 . CAADP plans to raise agricultural
productivity by at least 6% by 2015. This 6%
increase is to be achieved through the following
outputs:
> Dynamic agricultural markets within countries
and between regions in Africa;
> Farmers taking part in the market economy and
enjoying good access to markets so that Africa,
capitalising on its comparative and competitive
advantages, becomes a net exporter of
agricultural products;
> Rural populations having more equitable access
to land, physical and financial resources, and
knowledge, information and technology for
sustainable development;
> Africa playing a strategic role in agricultural
science and technology, meeting the growing
needs and demands of African agriculture; and
> Environmentally sound agricultural production
and a culture of sustainable management of
natural resources as a result of better
knowledge, more information and the
application of technology.
CAADP is not a set of supranational programmes,
but a framework embodying a set of key principles
and targets. In line with analysis developed in the
2008 World Development Report on Agriculture,
CAADP recognises that no single agricultural
development process fits all countries. Countries
are guided to implement the CAADP agenda in
their own way through a national-level consultation
process that results in a ‘Compact’. The
consultations generally use CAADP’s four “Pillars,”
to guide them, these are:
1 Extending the area under rural infrastructure
and reliable water control systems;
2 Improving rural infrastructure and trade-related
capacities for market access;
3 Increasing food supply, reducing hunger and
improving responses to food emergency crises;
and
4 Improving agriculture research, technology
dissemination and adoption.
11 To date eight countries have reached or surpassed the 10 % target
The Impetus Strategy Paper I Page 53