African union: experts critically analyze the biennial review process

Five (5) days is the time available to a group of experts on the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) in Soa, a suburb of the city of Yaoundé in Cameroon, for the critical analysis of the Biennial Review (BR) process. They are gathered there at the invitation of the Directorate of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (DARBE) at the African Union Commission.

The Biennial Review, it should be noted, stems from the implementation of the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Growth and Transformation of Agriculture for Shared Prosperity and Better Living Conditions. This exercise sanctioned by a report presented to the Assembly of Heads of State of the Continent is the main tool of mutual accountability, which measures the progress made by the member states of the African Union (AU) in the implementation of the Malabo Declaration adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the AU in June 2014 in Equatorial Guinea. The objective is to strengthen the recognized role of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) in the development of the continent, most of whose state economies are based on the agricultural and rural sector. It is therefore on the maintenance, reformulation or deletion of some of the indicators for monitoring the achievement of the seven commitments of the Malabo Declaration that the discussions during the various working sessions will be based.

Malabo commitments in favor of the development of the black continent

The African Heads of State having met in 2014 in Malabo, during a summit devoted among other issues, to the evaluation of the MAPUTO commitment, made 10 years earlier to allocate at least 10% of national budgets to the development of the agricultural and rural sector, had agreed to pursue in common agreement with their populations and partners, the efforts for "The acceleration of growth and transformation of agriculture in Africa for a shared prosperitý and better living conditions." This so-called Malabo Declaration formally identifies seven commitments. These include the New Commitment to the principles and values of the CAADP process; the Commitment to Strengthen Financing for Investments in Agriculture; the Commitment to Eradicate Hunger by 2025; the Commitment to Halve Povertý through Agriculture by 2025 ; the one to Stimulate intra-African trade in agricultural commodities and services; the one to Strengthen resilience to climate variabilitý and finally the one on Strengthening mutual accountabilitý on actions and results.

Let us recall that under the last-mentioned commitment, the Heads of State and Government of the African Union requested the AU Commission and the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) to produce a progress report to be presented to the AU Assembly every two years on the implementation of all the 7 Malabo commitments.

Experts on the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP)

The group of experts present at this physical meeting for the critical analysis of the Biennial Review (BR) process, in the political capital of Cameroon, is made up of senior officials of the African Union and the Development Agency of the said institution (AUDA-NEPAD); representatives of the five Regional Economic Communities of the Continent; the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Alliance for the Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA); the Private Sector; Civil Society; Professional Agricultural Organizations; as well as youth and the media.