Africa: AU Members Urged to Prioritise Agriculture

Maize is the staple food of several African countries.

Addis Ababa — The African Union (AU) has called on the member states to prioritise agriculture in order to grow their economies.

The AU commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Ms Peace Tumusiime, said experience from elsewhere indicated a positive correlation between development and modernisation of agriculture.

She made the remarks last week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ahead of the Heads of Sates Summit.

"Most of the countries that have developed first focused and modernised their agriculture," said Ms Tumusiime.

The economy

"If you develop agriculture first, it will become a springboard for growth of other sectors and the economy in general," she said.

The AU commissioner urged African countries to continue implementing the Malabo and the Maputo declarations in which they pledged to invest more for the transformation of agriculture on the continent.

Agriculture in Africa has been growing by around 4 per cent annually over the past few years.

The rate was envisaged to rise to least 6 per cent per annum, absorbing one third of the unemployed people on the continent, as indicated in the 2003 Maputo Protocol.

Demographic dividend

"Agriculture growth of 4 per cent is not bad. "Agricultural productivity is increasing in the continent. The fact that we see locally processed foods in our supermarkets, which was not the case before, shows that we are on right track," said Ms Tumusiime.

The focus of this year's AU Summit is the youth with the theme: "Harnessing the demographic dividend through investments in youth".

Agric in uganda

About the sector. The agriculture sector contributes about 23 per cent to Gross Domestic Product, accounting for 50 per cent of the country's exports and employs about an estimated 70 per cent of the population.

Evidence suggests GDP growth from agriculture is twice as effective in reducing poverty as GDP growth is linked to non-agricultural sectors.