Highlights

Tripoli, 27th June 2009 "The outcome of the CAADP Day will feed into the agenda of the Heads of State at the 13th Session of the Assembly in a couple of days as they address themselves to the theme of the summit, which is 'Investing in Agriculture for Economic Growth and Food Security", said Erastus Mwencha the Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission during his opening remarks at the CAADP day.

In attendance at the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Day proceedings which were held at the Corinthia Bab Hotel in Tripoli, Libya were more than 200 participants including African Ministers of agriculture, regional economic communities, civil society organizations, development partners and farmers.

CAADP is a programme of the African Union's (AU) New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). Under the guidance of the AU-NEPAD, the CAADP Day provided the participants with an opportunity to engage each other on progress and challenges faced to date in the implementation of CAADP.

Speaking on behalf of the host country the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mr. Abubakar Al Man Souri the country's Minister of Agriculture highlighted the relevance of value- addition and production in up-scaling agriculture in Africa.

"We have to increase investments and intra-African trade in agriculture if we are going to achieve sustainable development in Africa", he added.

In his remarks to the participants, Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, the CEO of NEPAD reiterated the relevance of CAADP to Africa before going on to highlight the role of the private sector in agriculture.

"We also need to boost our regional and domestic markets through the development of policy reforms, institutional innovations and infrastructure investments that can help to raise productivity and profitability in the agricultural sector", said Dr.Mayaki.

According to Prof. Richard Mkandawire of the Agriculture Unit at NEPAD, the deliberations and decisions from the CAADP Day will be put forward at the Heads of State Summit as part of the on-going process to renew continental commitments to the CAADP target of increasing agricultural sectoral growth by 6% per annum.

Development partners in attendance called upon the stakeholders of African agriculture to push for the roll out of CAADP implementation at the national-level.


For more information contact:
Dr. Andrew Kanyegirire, CAADP Communications Manager,
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Website: www.nepad-caadp.net
Mr. Louis Napo Gnagbe, Media Manager,
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