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Stakeholders are geared for the African Union (AU) Extraordinary Summit to mark the adoption of a new 10-year Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Strategy and Action Plan: 2026-2035, as well as the Kampala CAADP Declaration to be held in Uganda from 9 to 11 January 2025.
In her remarks for the African Union Extraordinary Summit on Post-Malabo CAADP Agenda Media Launch Event in Kampala yesterday, H.E. Amb. Josefa Sacko, the AU Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment, said for the next 10 years, the world will be referring to the Kampala CAADP declaration, replacing the Malabo CAADP declaration.
“I wish to acknowledge the support of technical and development partners that provided the expertise and financial resources that facilitated the various activities that led to the formulation of the 10-year CAADP Strategy and Action Plan. The partners are too many to thank individually. Without their support, it would have been difficult for the African Union to deliver with the short time we had.
“The Summit is exactly 3 weeks from today. I am happy to state that the African Union Commission is ready. The Summit is happening and I am very excited. I want to thank Uganda’s National Organizing Committee, under the able leadership of Major General David Kasura Kyomukama, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. My team has worked very closely with his team to make sure all preparations are going well. We appreciate the collaboration and cooperation between the African Union Commission and Uganda’s National Organizing Committee. In particular, I want to thank, Dr. Godfrey Bahiigwa, African Union’s Director of Agriculture and Rural Development, who happens to be Ugandan, for his unwavering dedication in the preparations of the technical documents and the Summit,” HE Sacko said.
In February 2024, the African Union Commission presented the 4th CAADP biennial review report to African Heads of State and Government during the 37th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly. They noted with concern that no single country was on track to meet the Malabo CAADP goals and targets by 2025. As such, they directed the African Union Commission and the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), working with partners, to develop a post-Malabo CAADP agenda that would respond to the challenges and opportunities facing Africa’s agrifood systems.
In response to the directive of the Heads of State and Government, the Africa Union has led the development of a new 10-year CAADP Strategy and Action Plan: 2026-2035 whose vision is to build resilient and sustainable agrifood systems for a healthy and prosperous Africa, in line with the aspirations of Agenda 2063. Under the leadership of Hon. Frank Tumwebaze, the CAADP Strategy and Action Plan and the draft Kampala CAADP Declaration were endorsed by African Ministers responsible for Agriculture, Rural Development, Water, and Environment during their extraordinary session of the Specialized Technical Committee that was held on October 25, 2024, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Overall, the 10-year CAADP Strategy and Action Plan aims to boost food production, expand value addition, boost intra-Africa trade, create millions of jobs for our youth and women, build inclusive agrifood value chains, and build resilient and sustainable agrifood systems that will withstand shocks and stressors now and in the future.
In his address at the same gathering, Hon. Frank K. Tumwebaze, Uganda’s Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries and Chairperson of the African Union Specialized Technical Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment revealed that the Extraordinary Summit will be attended by all the African Union Member States at Head of State and Government level or their delegates; and attract at least two thousand (2,000) participants including agricultural practitioners, researchers, development partners, and the media.
The theme of the CAADP Strategy and Action Plan 2026 – 35 and the Assembly is: “Sustainable and Resilient Agrifood Systems for a Healthy and Prosperous Africa.” As part of the Summit, the Government of Uganda and the African Union Commission (AUC) will host two major side events on “Women and Youths in Agrifood Systems” and “Refugees/Forced Migration and Agrifood Systems in Africa”. These two will be held under the sub-theme: “Building Resilience of Agrifood Systems through Commercialization.”
“On a good note, the 2023 biannual review rated Uganda’s implementation of CAADP as “progressing well” – thanks to several Government policies and programmes that foster resilience to climate change, inclusivity, and the integration of several CAADP initiatives in the National Development Plan,” Hon Tumwebaze said.
This summit builds on recent ones like the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and G77+China which we hosted in January this year. Therefore, Uganda has built a strong capacity in terms of facilities, infrastructure, and technical expertise to host big international events. The event will also provide Uganda with an opportunity to further boost our credentials to host conferences and a tourism and investment destination while also remaining as a key reference point for the continent for the next decade through the ‘Kampala CAADP Declaration’.
Maj. Gen. David Kasura-Kyomukama, Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture’s Permanent Secretary, said the state of preparedness to host the Summit by Uganda can be classified as commendable – the same rating given by the African Union Commission when they undertook an assessment mission to the country on 11th to 15th November 2024.
:”Virtually everything that needs to be in place to host the Summit is now in place. In fact, as we conduct this engagement, we have a team of the National Organizing Committee undertaking a “dry-run” in order to establish any areas that need plugging up before the event that is now barely three weeks away,” he said.
Key dignitaries at the launch event included Hon. Jeje Odongo, Uganda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs; Hon. Frank Tumwebaze, the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries; and Chair of the AU Specialized Technical Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment, as well Hon. Chris Baryomunsi, Minister of Information, Communication and Technology and National Guidance.
