The Prime Minister of Uganda, Robinah Nabbanja, has asked delegates attending the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) summit to adopt technologies and means that will enhance food security in the region.
On Thursday, January 9, 2025, at Speke Resort Munyonyo in Kampala, the PM, Nabbanja, while opening the summit, said member states need to do better to attain the Agenda 2063 that seeks to drive agricultural transformation across Africa.
“Therefore I want to urge you, sector ministers across the continent, to guide us on where we need to readjust in order for us to meet our own targets and let us work together deliberately to get what we want as a continent,” Nabbanja said.
Nabanja also urged ministers from different African states to reduce their overreliance on food imports by building a resilient agricultural sector.
“As a continent, I want to urge you African ministers to work very hard and reduce overreliance on food imports from outside the continent, and we must position the continent in such a manner that our agricultural sector is resilient to climate change and other shocks and is adoptive to advances in technology,” Nabanja added.
The Chairperson of the summit and Agriculture, Uganda’s Minister of Agriculture, Frank Tumwebaze, said that CAADP was adopted in 2003 towards the realization of Africa’s Agenda 2063, and we have less than 38 years to realize the agenda, and as of now every country should be in implementation mode.
“The document we are going to discuss during this assembly calls us to move with the times and ahead of the times, and it calls for the adaptation and building of agricultural systems that are resilient to climate change,” Tumwebaze said.
The CAADP aimed at increasing food security and nutrition, reducing rural poverty, creating employment, and contributing to economic development while safeguarding the environment. CAADP aims for a 6% annual growth rate in the agricultural sector, with African Union member states allocating at least 10% of their budgets to agriculture.
The CAADP Kampala summit 2025 will run from January 9, 2025, to January 11, 2025, and is being attended by delegates from 43 African states.
The main objective of the summit is to endorse the draft Kampala CAADP declaration that provides a vision for transforming Africa’s agrifood systems for the period 2026-2035 and also to endorse a ten-year CAADP Strategy and Action Plan: 2026-2035, which provides details on how to achieve the goals and targets in the draft Kampala CAADP declaration.
