Africa urged to invest more in agriculture

NAIROBI – The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) economic bloc on Thursday urged its member states to increase investment in agriculture to reduce food insecurity and accelerate development.

The 20-member bloc, Africa’s biggest, targets a minimum of six per cent annual agricultural growth in member states through its Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP). “To move towards attaining this growth, a minimum public expenditure requirement of 10 per cent of national budgets (is) recommended,” Comesa’s Secretary General, Erastus Mwencha, said during the launch of CAADP in Kenya.The CAADP programme seeks to harmonise the member countries’ different policies on agricultural expansion.Mwencha added that private sector and donor support was also needed to sustain and deepen that growth in the region with a 400 million strong population and a combined regional gross domestic product of about US$270 billion.CAADP identifies four investment areas for improving African agriculture; land and water management, trade and market infrastructure, food and nutrition security, and agriculture research and technology adoption.Comesa comprises Angola, Burundi, Comoros, DRC, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya and Libya.Others are Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.Nampa-Reuters”To move towards attaining this growth, a minimum public expenditure requirement of 10 per cent of national budgets (is) recommended,” Comesa’s Secretary General, Erastus Mwencha, said during the launch of CAADP in Kenya.The CAADP programme seeks to harmonise the member countries’ different policies on agricultural expansion.Mwencha added that private sector and donor support was also needed to sustain and deepen that growth in the region with a 400 million strong population and a combined regional gross domestic product of about US$270 billion.CAADP identifies four investment areas for improving African agriculture; land and water management, trade and market infrastructure, food and nutrition security, and agriculture research and technology adoption.Comesa comprises Angola, Burundi, Comoros, DRC, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya and Libya.Others are Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.Nampa-Reuters