AFRICA AGRICULTURE STATUS REPORT 2016

Introduction
The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme
(CAADP) is Africa’s framework for agricultural
sector transformation. It was ratified by African Union (AU)
Heads of State and Government in 2003 in Maputo as part of
the AU New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
The Maputo Declaration already signaled strong political resolve
of African leaders to revitalize agriculture as a driver of
economic growth, poverty reduction, and food and nutrition
security. Together, NEPAD and CAADP represent a departure
from externally driven development strategies and programs
characterized by shifting priorities and the absence
of the necessary consistency and continuity to produce
solid results (Badiane & Makombe, 2015). CAADP is not a
“one-size-fits-all” plan, but rather a strategic framework that
provides a set of shared principles, targets, and operational
milestones to guide program planning and implementation
by country governments, regional economic communities
(RECs), and other stakeholder groups. With very few exceptions,
African countries and RECs have embraced the agenda
and are applying its modalities and processes. Major innovations
of CAADP include the practice of evidence-based
policy and program planning and implementation linked to
mutual accountability through peer review, benchmarking,
and mutual learning.
The 2014 Malabo Declaration significantly expanded the
CAADP agenda in terms of thematic coverage and mutual
accountability requirements. In the Declaration, AU Heads
of State incorporated issues dealing with reducing child under-nutrition,
post-harvest losses, and vulnerabilities of livelihoods
and reaffirmed their commitment to mutual accountability
by calling for a continental agricultural biennial review
to assess progress on commitments. The first biennial review
is scheduled for the AU Summit in January 2018. With
the CAADP implementation agenda now in its second decade,
work is underway to incorporate commitments of the
Malabo Declaration into CAADP planning, implementation
and review, dialogue, and mutual accountability processes.
Countries and regions are taking steps to: (i) refine existing
or develop second generation national agriculture and
food security investment plans (NAIPs); and (ii) establish or
strengthen review processes in preparation for the first continental
biennial review.
After 10 years of implementation, CAADP has made noticeable
progress, but also exposed important limitations that
need to be tackled to sustain and deepen its impact. This
chapter assesses the achievements and limitations of the
CAADP agenda and how it can be strengthened to help accelerate
agricultural transformation in Africa. Specifically, the
chapter assesses the importance and contribution of CAADP
by examining what has been achieved so far against what
the agenda set out to accomplish in the following areas: i)
CAADP Round Table process; ii) evidence-based and inclusive
planning; iii) review, dialogue, and mutual accountability;
and iv) alignment of development efforts. The chapter
also examines progress made in achieving CAADP targets,
including attainment of key growth and development outcomes.
It reviews what has worked well, where and why,
and provides recommendations on how the agenda can be
strengthened to achieve increased results effectiveness.
The chapter is organized as follows: Section 2 discusses
what the CAADP agenda set out to accomplish, CAADP
progress, achievements, and limitations. Section 3 examines
how the agenda can be strengthened while Section 4
summarizes the key findings and way forward.
The CAADP Agenda: Implementation Progress and Achievements
CAADP represents the choice of African governments for
an agriculture-led growth and poverty reduction strategy.
It seeks to raise funding for the sector and improve policy
practices to accelerate growth. Its core principles include
African ownership and leadership, inclusivity, evidencebased
planning and mutual accountability. It requires
countries to follow systematic planning and implementation
steps to ensure that key targets can be met (see Figure
2.1). Key CAADP targets during the first decade included,
pursuing a 6 percent agricultural growth rate at the national
level and allocating 10 percent of national budgets to help
achieve CAADP goals and objectives. Through its Mutual
Accountability (MA) Framework, CAADP promotes peer
review, dialogue, and learning within countries and across
regions to raise implementation effectiveness. Important MA
instruments include the CAADP Partnership Platform (PP)
at the continental level as well as the regular Joint Sector
Reviews (JSRs) at the country and regional levels.
The Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support
System (ReSAKSS), with its three regional nodes, was
established in 2006 to inform CAADP MA processes.
ReSAKSS provides data and knowledge products to facilitate
peer review, benchmarking, and mutual learning. It helps track
progress on core CAADP indicators and publishes an Africawide
Annual Trends and Outlook Report (ATOR), the main
CAADP monitoring and evaluation (M&E) report. ReSAKSS
also creates MA capacities by helping to establish Strategic
Analysis and Knowledge Support Systems (SAKSS) at the
country level. The SAKSS platforms work with ReSAKSS to
provide data and analysis in support of CAADP processes at
the country level. They mobilize local centers of knowledge
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