Inaugural Biennial Review Report of the African Union Commission on the Implementation of the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared prosperity :(DRAFT endorsed by the STC, reviewed after additional country reports submission):The 2017 progress report to the Assembly Highlights on Intra-African trade for agriculture commodities and services: Risks and Opportunities and Improved Livelihoods. Assembly Decision (Assembly/AU/2(XXIII)) of June 2014

Abstract

The African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government adopted the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) in 2003 in Maputo, Mozambique as the Flagship Programme of the African Union for agriculture and food security. The Maputo Declaration on CAADP sets broad targets of 6 percent annual growth in agricultural GDP, and allocation of at least 10 percent of public expenditures to the agricultural sector. From 2003 to 2013, CAADP implementation demonstrated that Africa had well-crafted, home-grown framework guiding policies, strategies and actions for agricultural development and transformation. This was instrumental in raising the profile of agriculture to the centre of development agenda at national, regional and global levels. It also facilitated mobilisation and alignment of multi-stakeholders partnerships and investments around national agriculture and food security investment plans (NAIPs) that have been developed through the CAADP process. In 2013, after a decade of implementation, demand for more clarity was expressed by AU Member States and stakeholders in terms of further elaboration and refinement of the CAADP targets, and assessment of technical efficacies and political feasibilities for success in agricultural transformation. In addition, there was a need to move from planning to effective implementation for results and impact in changing people's lives because most of the NAIPs were not fully implemented. This underperformance was due to various reasons such as inadequate funding, no appropriate institutions and policies, low leadership capacity, weak mutual accountability system and culture, among other. This is why, AU Heads of State and Government adopted the Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation (Doc. Assembly/AU/2(XXIII)) in June 2014 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. The Malabo Declaration sets the Africa 2025 Vision for Agriculture which is implemented within the Framework of CAADP as a vehicle to implement and achieve the First Ten Year Implementation Plan of Africa's Agenda 2063. Among other commitments, the leaders committed to Mutual Accountability to Results and Actions by conducting a biennial Agricultural Review Process that involves tracking, monitoring and reporting on implementation progress in achieving the provisions of the Malabo Declaration. This Commitment translates, this time, a stronger political will for AU Leaders to effectively achieve Agricultural Growth and Transformation on the Continent by 2025 for improved livelihoods and shared prosperity for African citizens. Therefore, the African Union Commission and the NEPAD Agency together with the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Member States, in collaboration with partners designed for the first time ever a Biennial Reporting Mechanism, established a pool of technical experts, helped strengthen the culture of mutual accountability, and developed the "Inaugural Biennial Report on the Implementation of the Malabo Declaration". Through this report, we are pleased to provide the status of the progress made by Members States of the Union in implementing the Assembly Decision on the Malabo Declaration. We wish to acknowledge the tremendous efforts made by all Member States, despite the numerous challenges faced to increase readiness for providing individual quality country report, and we particularly wish to acknowledge efforts of the Republic of Rwanda for reporting highest performances in 2017 for achieving the Malabo Declaration. On a separate note on behalf of African Union institutions and the Member States, we sincerely wish to thank the development and technical partners including AGRA, FAO, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, IFPRI/ReSAKSS, GIZ, World Bank, USAID, AfricaLead, the technical network experts, and CAADP Non State Actors Coalition, for their valuable support in this endeavour. We humbly submit this draft Inaugural Biennial Report on progress made for implementing the June 2014 Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared prosperity and Improved Livelihoods, for consideration by the constituencies of the Union.