Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP)
Photo: FAO/Olivier Asselin
The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) is Africa’s policy framework for agricultural transformation, wealth creation, food security and nutrition, economic growth and prosperity for all.
In Maputo, Mozambique, in 2003, the African Union (AU) Summit made the first declaration on CAADP as an integral part of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
"Agriculture is everyone’s business: national independence depends on its development because it enables us to escape the scourge of food insecurity that undermines our sovereignty and fosters sedition; it is a driver of growth whose leverage is now acknowledged by economists and politicians; it is the sector offering the greatest potential for poverty and inequality reduction, as it provides sources of productivity from which the most disadvantaged people working in the sector should benefit."
-- Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer of the NEPAD Agency
A Pan-African Framework
CAADP is a pan-African framework that provides a set of principles and broadly defined strategies to help countries:
- Critically review their own situations and
- Identify investment opportunities with optimal impact and returns.
CAADP champions reform in the agricultural sector, setting broad targets:
- 6% annual growth in agricultural GDP, and
- An allocation of at least 10% of public expenditures to the agricultural sector.
Africa has recognized that enhanced agricultural performance is key to growth and poverty reduction through its direct impact on:
- Job creation and increasing opportunities, especially for women and youth,
- Food security and improved nutrition, and
- Strengthening resilience.
This is due to both the important role of agriculture in African economies and livelihoods, and the strong linkages that agriculture forges with other sectors.
CAADP also provides for an evidence-based planning process with knowledge as a key primary input as well as human resource development and partnership as central factors. Ultimately, it aims to align diverse stakeholder interests around the design of integrated programmes adapted at the local level.
Although continental in scope, CAADP exists through integrated national and regional efforts to promote agricultural sector growth and economic development.
CAADP Compacts
As of March 2015:
- 41 African Union Member States have signed CAADP compacts, 33 of which have developed formal national agriculture and food security investment plans – and these have become their medium term expenditure frameworks for agriculture, thus resulting in improved agricultural planning.
- At the regional level, four out of eight Regional Economic Communities (RECs) have signed regional compacts out of which three have developed complete investment plans.
As a result, on average, public agricultural expenditures have risen by more than 7 % per year across Africa since 2003, nearly doubling public agricultural expenditures since the launch of CAADP.
Sustaining the Momentum
The “Sustaining CAADP Momentum” exercise undertaken in 2012 to look back into the ten years of CAADP implementation concluded that the CAADP vision was just as valid now as it was in 2003.
Therefore, looking into the next decade, the issue is more on how to accelerate and expand attainment of the CAADP goals, and ensure desired levels and rate of transformation of African agriculture.
The Sustaining CAADP Momentum Results Framework - Next Decade of CAADP 2015-2025 is now an inherent part of the CAADP and Agenda 2063 implementation processes. This enables Africa to have tangible parameters to benchmark advancements in agricultural performance while at the same time reinforcing a culture of results based programming, results for evidence and objective analysis as well as concerns on aspects such as returns on investment.
OSAA's Role
The Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA) supports the CAADP in its capacity as a key strategic partner of NEPAD. OSAA specifically supports the CAADP through advocacy efforts and by facilitating dialogue with Africa’s strategic partners to ensure commitment to programme alignment, harmonization, coordination and implementation for results. Additionally, through the United Nations Monitoring Mechanism, OSAA monitors and reports on major commitments made to CAADP in particular, and to agriculture development in Africa, in general.