omilola at fao summit

Babatunde Omilola presents at the Special Session on Africa of the High-Level Expert Forum on "How to Feed the World in 2050", October 12-13, 2009

In the past month, CAADP implementation has been progressing rapidly at the national, regional and continental levels in Africa with high potential to serve African agricultural development, food security and poverty reduction. Several African countries have held CAADP Roundtables culminating in the signing of their country CAADP compacts. As all efforts are now on deck to accelerate poverty and hunger reduction in Africa, it is important to ensure good coordination, cooperation and communication among the broad array of stakeholders concerned with agriculture and rural development in Africa.

For this purpose, ReSAKSS is convening a two-day conference on “Exploring New Opportunities and Strategic Alternatives to Inform African Agricultural Development, Planning and Policy” on November 23 and 24, 2009 at the United Nations Conference Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Among other outcomes, the conference will further shed light on the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders in relevant Africa-wide process and their capacities to undertake their roles (including capacity to demand, provide and utilize knowledge).

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Benin, The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Mali and Niger have held CAADP Roundtables culminating in the signing of their country CAADP compacts since late-September. Nigeria is also expected to hold its CAADP Roundtable and sign its country CAADP compact during the last days of October 2009. This will bring the total number of countries, which have signed CAADP compacts up to12 at the end of October 2009. Several other countries, including Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, Swaziland and Zambia are also scheduled to hold their CAADP Roundtables before the end of 2009 or early 2010.

For more information, please visit the ReSAKSS website or the CAADP news site.

COMESA CAADP Status 10 09

ECOWAS CAADP Status 10 09

Representatives from the US government and the G-20 highlighted the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) as a model for collaborating with governments to increase agricultural production, food security, investment and poverty reduction at several key events in late September.

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The ReSAKSS conference on “Exploring New Opportunities and Strategic Alternatives to Inform African Agricultural Development, Planning and Policy” in Africa will take place on November 23-24, 2009 at the United Nations Conference Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This international conference will serve as a high-level multi-stakeholder platform for discussing opportunities and strategic policy and growth options for agricultural development in Africa, while also reviewing progress towards the achievement of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) targets and the first Millennium Development Goal.

View the agenda or visit the conference blog for more information.

In preparation for the World Summit on Food Security on November 16-18, 2009, the FAO invited a select number of senior high-level experts in relevant disciplines from around the world for a two-day forum from October 12-13, 2009 titled, “How to Feed the World: 2050”.

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ReSAKSS-East and Central Africa (ReSAKSS-ECA) node, the East African Business Council (EABC), the East African Community (EAC) and the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in East and Central Africa (ASARECA) are jointly organizing a regional workshop to be held on November 4, 2009 in Arusha, Tanzania to disseminate the results of the study on Non Tariff Barriers (NTBs) in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

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ReSAKSS-ECA and the Research and Method Group (RMB) of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) are conducting a GIS/GPS training workshop from October 26-31, 2009. The 25 participants come from the EAC member states of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

A Regional Symposium on Livestock Marketing in the Horn of Africa was held in Nairobi between the 21st and 23rd of October 2009 at Kenya Commercial Bank Training Centre, Karen.

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ReSAKSS Issue Brief number 17 analyzes the feasibility of the CAADP 6 percent agricultural growth target and its potential impact on the Zambian economy. The brief shows that the agricultural growth target is attainable for the country and that it can significantly reduce poverty.

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The Global Donor Platform for Rural Development has published a new Issue Paper which analyzes the latest text from the ad hoc working groups (AWG) overseeing climate change negotiations, such as the informal meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bonn, Germany in August, 2009. The paper identifies the issues that the meetings need to address on agriculture and poses a number of questions that need to be further considered.

Download the full paper on the Donor Platform website.

Marathon Picture 017

ReSAKSS-ECA Staff at the marathon

On October 25, 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya, three brave ReSAKSS-ECA staff participated in the Greatest Race on Earth. Julliet completed the 10-kilometer race and Sika the 21-kilometer race. They each received an award for completing the race: Julliet a certificate and Sika a medal. Lucille Kirori was there for logistics and moral support.

More information on the Greatest Race on Earth can be found online here.

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