Members of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) Non-State Actors’ Coalition (CNC) gathered in Accra, on Saturday to contemplate, among other things, the approaches to speed up operations.

The participants drawn from Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Senegal and Nigeria deliberated on ways of helping African governments shape better policies and design appropriate programmes to transform the agricultural sector for rapid economic growth.

The Malabo Declaration, reigning high on the agenda reflected in the discussions that ensued on the topic: “renewing partnerships and commitments towards maximising Non-State Actors’ (NSA) impact in actualising the CAADP Malabo targets.

African leaders at a summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinean in 2014 adopted a declaration on accelerated agricultural growth and transformation for shared prosperity and improved livelihoods known as the Malabo Declaration.

The Declaration’s operation strategy and roadmap outlined a wide-range of priority actions to realise the 2025 CAADP vision.

The actions are expected to be realised at the regional level that focus on boosting local systems to deliver and remove obstacles in the agriculture sector to raise productivity.

Mr Kop’ep Dabugat, Coordinator of CNC, told the Ghana News Agency that the meeting aimed to get members involved in the sensitization effort and come out with plans to ensure that members engaged in the process of making the Malabo Declaration work.

“We’re coming together to engage with massive structures of CAADP partner platforms in Ghana, we are here to register our voice as non-state actors in the deliberations within the CAADP partnership plan,” he said.

“We are engaged in [ many] issues within the Malabo framework, including ending hunger, reducing poverty, reducing post-harvest loses, reduce stunting, encourage youth and women involvement in agribusiness, find ways to help government develop and diversify growth in agriculture production.”

“We want to raise issues around it, to crystalise plans and define our coalition as a whole. This year, we will come out with a concrete statement that tells our commitment, actions and recommendations for improvement in the CAADP plan.”

The members are due to issue a communique at the end of the two-day sensitisation workshop on CAADP 2014 Malabo Declaration on Agricultural Transformation and Joint Sector Reviews.

Source: Ghana News Agency