The African Union on Monday, 30, January, 2018, launched the Africa Agriculture Transformation Scorecard (AATS) and presented the Inaugural Biennial Review Report on the implementation of the June 2014 Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods.
H.E Hailemariam Desalegn, Ethiopian Prime Minister and AU Leader of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), presented the AATS and Biennial Review Report to the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa today.
The AATS, the first of its kind in Africa, captures the continent’s agricultural progress based on a pan-African data collection exercise led by the African Union Commission’s Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture (DREA), NEPAD Agency and Regional Economic Communities in collaboration with technical and development partners. Countries were assessed on the seven commitments in the Malabo declaration, across 43 indicators.
The AATS tracks progress in commitments made by AU Heads of State and Government through CAADP and the Malabo Declaration to increase prosperity and improved livelihoods for transforming agriculture. The indicators chosen to track the performance categories were defined on the basis of the strategic objectives derived from the Malabo Declaration.
The report reveals that only 20 of the 47 Member States that reported are on track towards achieving the commitments set out in the Malabo Declaration. Rwanda leads the top 10 best performers with a score of 6.1, followed by Mali (5.6), Morocco (5.5), Ethiopia (5.3), Togo (4.9), Malawi (4.9), Kenya (4.8), Mauritania (4.8), Burundi (4.7), and Uganda (4.5). The report sets the 2017 benchmark at 3.94 out of 10 as the minimum score for a country to be considered on track towards achieving the Malabo commitments by 2025.
Regionally, East Africa performed best with a score of 4.2, followed by Southern Africa with a score of 4.02.
Meanwhile, AUC Deputy Chairperson, H.E Kwesi Quartey presented awards to the best performing countries in accelerating agricultural transformation on the continent.
Best performance based on the overall score to achieve the Malabo Declaration goals and targets by 2025 was scooped by Rwanda, with Mali as runner up and Morocco, second runner up.
Based on the Theme of the 2017 Biennial Report “Highlight on Intra-African Trade of agriculture commodities and services: Risks and Opportunities,” the award was scooped by Lesotho with a score of 5.2, scoring the best on Malabo Commitment 5 on Intra-African Trade of Agricultural goods and services aggregating performance on (i) the value of goods and services traded with other AU Member States, (ii) the facilities to improve trade with other AU Member States and (iii) the stability of prices of food commodities for 2015.
Botswana won the award with a score of 8.7, for recording the best performance in Facilitating Intra-African Trade of Agricultural goods and services aggregating performance on (i) physical infrastructure, (ii) information and communication technologies, (iii) border administration, (iv) bilateral trade related agreement with other AU member states and (v) immigration facilitation.
In the Malabo Declaration, AU Member States committed to report on a biennial basis, the progress in achieving the 7 commitments of the Declaration with the first report presented at the 30th AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government. Preceding this, “Inaugural Biennial Report on the Implementation of the June 2014 Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared prosperity and improved Livelihoods,” was the meeting of the 2nd Ordinary Session of the Specialized Technical Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment that endorsed it in October 2017, in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia).
In 2017, the AUC conducted and facilitated 6 training sessions respectively in West (in French and English), East, Central, Southern and North Africa regions, with 156 national experts trained including CAADP Focal Persons, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialists and Statisticians from Ministries of Agriculture and other line ministries.
Fifty one (51) AU Member States participated in the training and familiarized themselves with the Malabo Declaration, targets and indicators, and the biennial review reporting format, which has further embedded the culture of mutual accountability in Africa.
AUC Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, H.E Josefa Sacko, congratulated the countries for their efforts in implementing the Malabo Declaration Commitments and said the AATS would help in sharing lessons and best practices as well as aid countries on what priorities need critical attention.
Recommendations and targets
Some of the key recommendations from the report are for African countries to increase investment and finance in agriculture; to improve access for men and women engaged in agriculture to financial and advisory services; and to improve data collection systems.
Source: AU
