Participants attend the official opening of an extraordinary African Union (AU) summit on agriculture in Kampala, Uganda on Jan. 9, 2025. The summit on agriculture opened Thursday in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, as experts and government officials seek measures to boost the continent's development in the sector. (Photo by Hajarah Nalwadda/Xinhua)
KAMPALA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- An extraordinary African Union (AU) summit on agriculture opened Thursday in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, as experts and government officials seek measures to boost the continent's development in the sector.
The three-day meeting, which started with the ministerial meeting and will culminate in the heads of state and government meeting, will review the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), the continent's blueprint plan to fast-track agriculture development.
Ugandan Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, who opened the meeting, urged countries to work together to implement the policy proposals that they have come up with. She said it is deplorable that the continent, which is endowed with arable land and water bodies, relies on food imports from elsewhere in the world.
"This summit should come up with concrete proposals on how Africa can come out of such a situation. For us to guarantee our future as Africans, we must feed ourselves," Nabbanja said.
Frank Tumwebaze, Uganda's minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries, said the Kampala meeting will come up with a strategy and action plan to implement the CAADP for the next decade.
The meeting, held under the theme "Building Resilient Agri-Food Systems," comes after the first CAADP strategy was launched in 2003 as part of the strategies towards the realization of the African Agenda 2063, according to the minister.
"It is by focusing on execution that we can make a meaningful impact on our continent. This calls for advances in technological research and practices, agricultural practices that are resilient to climate change and other shocks," Tumwebaze.
Ethiopian Minister of Agriculture Girma Amente said agriculture plays a critical role in the sustainability of a bigger part of the continent's population and the continent should address the challenges of climate change in the face of new global challenges.
Josefa Sacko, AU commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy, and Sustainable Environment, said the new draft strategy that will be presented to the heads of state and government for approval is a result of a 2024 African Union Commission (AUC) report indicating that no AU member country would achieve the Malabo CAADP goals by this year.
Sacko said the leaders directed the AUC to develop a new 10-year strategy that would respond to the challenges facing Africa's Agri-Food Systems.
World Bank data show that over 70 percent of the continent's population derives its livelihood from agriculture. ■
Frank Tumwebaze, Uganda's minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries, speaks during the official opening of an extraordinary African Union (AU) summit on agriculture in Kampala, Uganda on Jan. 9, 2025. The summit on agriculture opened Thursday in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, as experts and government officials seek measures to boost the continent's development in the sector. (Photo by Hajarah Nalwadda/Xinhua)
