For the third time in a row, Rwanda emerged the best performing country in implementing the seven commitments of the June 2014 Malabo Declaration, which seeks to end hunger and halve poverty by 2025 through advancing agriculture.
The third Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Biennial Review Report launched on Thursday, March 10, 2022, assessed the performance of 51 countries surveyed in 2021 up from 49 countries in 2019 and 43 in 2017. It is the main mutual accountability tool to track the progress of the African Union (AU) Member States in implementing the Malabo Declaration.
The Malabo Declaration provides the direction for Africa’s agricultural transformation for the period 2015 – 2025, within the Framework of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), as a vehicle to contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the First Ten-year Implementation Plan of Africa’s Agenda 2063.
Goals and targets
“For this BR cycle, Rwanda is standing out, once again, as the best overall performing country in the continent with regard to implementing the seven commitments of the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods,” the report stated.
In this report, countries are considered ‘on-track’ to meet the goals and targets of Malabo Declaration by 2025 if their total score is equal to or higher than the benchmark of 7.28; or ‘progressive’ when their score is equal to or more than 5 but less than 7.28; or ‘not-on-track’ if their score is less than 5.
According to the report, while only Rwanda was on-track to meet the goals and targets of Malabo Declaration by 2025, with a score of 7.43 out of a maximum of 10, 19 countries are classified as progressive.
With an overall score of 4.32, the survey concluded, the continent was not-on-track to meeting the Malabo goals and targets – which include ending hunger on the continent – by 2025.
“Rwanda is committed to implement the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) initiative. Our national programs and processes are well aligned with the continental commitment,” said Gerardine Mukeshimana, Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources.
“Given the importance of increased public and private investments in transforming African agriculture, there is urgency for Member States to address the problem of inadequate access to finance for the agricultural sector,” the report recommended.
