African Union (AU) Commissioner Josefa Correia Sacko reaffirmed in Harare, Zimbabwe, the need for the continent to develop human capacities and innovative practices to accelerate the implementation and scale-up of successful models to achieve resilient agri-food systems in Africa.
According to a document from this African organization, sent today to Angop, Josefa Sacko was speaking at the celebration of the 15th African Day of Food and Nutrition Security and the 20th partnership platform of the integrated program for the development of agriculture in Africa (CAADP PP).
She said these annual continental forums bring together stakeholders in agriculture and food security to build on the successes achieved and outline strategies to address the challenges facing the sector, in order to consolidate and accelerate progress in transforming the sector on the continent.
He stressed that this 2024 edition is of particular importance for Africa, as it falls in the year in which he reflected on the two decades that h
ave passed since the adoption of CAADP in Maputo in 2003, as the African policy framework for agricultural transformation, wealth creation, food and nutrition security, economic growth and prosperity.
‘Since its adoption, CAADP has guided policies, strategies, investments and actions in the area of ??agriculture and food security.
We should be proud to see that Africa has set a great example globally, being the only continent that has a unified framework that addresses agriculture and food security,’ he highlighted.
He added that despite the commitment to make agriculture a priority, successive biennial review reports indicate that the continent is not on track to meet the Malabo 2025 goals and has failed to achieve key targets to end hunger and malnutrition after 20 years of CAADP implementation.
He stressed that the number of hungry people in Africa has increased since 2014, reaching the sad situation of one in five people, that is, 20 percent of the continent’s population faces the dilemma of hunger ev
ery day.
According to the AU Commissioner, this wrong trajectory on hunger is unacceptable as we commemorate Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security, which was created to attract new commitments to achieve the goal of ending hunger in Africa and encourage Member States to focus on improving persistent challenges.
‘We need to turn the page to ensure that our efforts translate into tangible results on the ground. We need to overcome the challenges facing African agriculture and food systems so that we can move to new levels,’ he stressed.
Therefore, it believes that the situation should change with the CAADP strategy and action plan, associated with the ‘Kampala Declaration’ on advancing the inclusive transformation of Africa’s agri-food systems for sustainable economic growth and shared prosperity developed through an inclusive process and by the AU specialized technical committee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment.CS
Source: Angola Press News Agency
