PRESS RELEASE Nº07/23rd AU SUMMIT

Modernising agriculture will attract young women and men

Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, 25 June 2014: Employing the latest technology and modern machines in farming will attract more young women and men into the industry, said the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma today, while addressing the Summit of NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC) holding in the margins of the 23rd ordinary session of the African Union Summit, in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

The AUC Chairperson called for more access to land and credit facilities as concrete support to women, who constitute the majority of the population engaged in farming. Speaking on the AU’s 2014 theme of “Agriculture and Food Security”, the Chairperson said “speaking and acting together would make a difference on the ground.”

Opening the NEPAD summit, the President of the HSGOC and President of Senegal Mr Macky Sall highlighted the impact of CAADP in driving Africa’s economic and social development. He stressed the need for structural transformation to set the basis for sustainable development beyond the current average 5% growth rate.

President Sall noted that the high level round table was aimed at sharing experiences on structural transformation, which also depends on financing and implementing Africa’s Programme for Infrastructure Development (PIDA). He recalled the Dakar Financing Summit as a major moment for the mobilisation of international financing to support 16 key regional projects.

The Chairperson of the African Union, Mauritania's President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, said agriculture occupies a priority place in Africa's economy, and has no other equivalent in combating poverty. However, he challenged member states to think more strategically to do more, given that 10 years after the adoption of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), the results were still below set indicators.

The NEPAD Agency will be supporting agricultural transformation through the implementation of the CAADP results framework: 1) Agricultural transformation for accelerating growth (production and productivity); 2) Harnessing markets and trade opportunities; 3) Enhancing investment financing in agriculture; 4) Food Security and Nutrition: towards ending hunger and malnutrition in Africa; and 5) Enhancing Resilience of Africa’s agriculture to climate change shocks and other natural hazards.

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