Yaoundé, Cameroun - Participants in the seventh Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Partnership Platform meeting have urged African leaders to put more resources into agricultural research as a way of boosting food production and reducing poverty and hunger. “The continent has great potentials which have not been fully tapped. We have the land, we have the people and a good environment. All we need to do is to increase investment in agriculture, increase investment in agricultural research and provide the enabling environment,' the Director General of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), Professor Monty Jones, said. He said agriculture remained one of the best ways in which African economies could be developed and in return create more jobs and improve the living condition of the close to nine hundred million population in the continent.

The participants, drawn from across Africa and beyond, were unanimous on the need for African leaders to take steps to address the issue of brain drain, provide incentives for farmers, scientists and researchers.

“Poor governance and bad leadership are robbing the continent of the desire benefits that could accrue from research. What we need is a sense of urgency in translating the little research we have done into reality, so that we can achieve food sufficiency,' another agriculture expert from Nigeria, Dr. Sunday Uhiene, said.

'We need to borrow a leaf from other parts of the world, where research have been used to drive developme,' he said.

The participants also stressed the importance of investing in infrastructure such as roads, hospitals, water, housing and modern technology. They said that several studies carried out by researchers, scientists and in universities most often do not get to the end users, due to the lack of communication and transport.

“We have credible technology, but we need radical intervention to get it disseminated widely and to do this we need to put the infrastructure in place. The poor infrastructure in Africa is hindering progress of these materials getting out,' Professor Jones added.

The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) is an initiative of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). It was set up in 2003,with focus on four pillars to develop agriculture in the continent.

Pillar four of the CAADP agenda centered on improving agriculture research, technology dissemination and adoption.

Twenty five African countries have signed the CAADP compact, with 18 countries developing its investment plans as a step towards moving into the implementation stage.

Also speaking on boosting non-state actor participation in the CAADP process, Buba Khan of the Action Aid, underscored the role the private sector, the civil society, local and international Non-governmental organizations as well as donor agencies can play in achieving the goals of developing agriculture on the continent.

“Agriculture can play significant role in developing the continent. As private sector operator, we have a key role to play. The youths are running away from agriculture because of low returns. We want to focus on large commercial agriculture like cocoa, rubber and oil palm. A 5,000 hectares of cocoa plantation can creates 10,000 jobs for the Youths, but transparency is a major problems”, Khan added.

Speaking on Rural Employment in Africa with Special Focus on Youth and women, Beatrice Eyong of United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), said the issue of land use tenure, access to financing and capacity building needed to be given priority for women.

“We have to pay special attention to the issue of land; there is an urgent need for reforms to give more access to Youth and women. In most countries, the issue of gender equality has not been incorporated in the National Policy. Despite the fact that women play key role in African agriculture production and productivity, many of them do not have access to market information and market to sell their produce and this has to be addressed”, the Cameroonian born UNIFEM official added.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in Sub Saharan Africa, women produce up to 80% of the basic foodstuff. In addition, they provide about 70% of all agricultural labour; however agricultural policies and plans still neglect gender issues.

Pana 26/03/2011