Agriculture at the heart of the agenda of Pan-African Institutions

At the launch in Abidjan of the 2018 report of the African Economic Outlook, the president of the African Development Bank, Akinwuni Adesina, declared that “agriculture must be at the forefront of Africa’s industrialization”. Awarded by the 2017 World Food Prize, Akinwuni Adesina has placed agriculture at the heart of its priorities, particularly through its “Feed Africa” goal but also “Industrialize Africa” through its High-Five for Africa program.

The main theme of the report was on infrastructure, whose needs in Africa are estimated at between $ 170 and $ 230 billion a year. Heavy investments that are cost-effective and indispensable for economic growth, as well as support for the development of the agricultural value chain. While 70% of the population is in rural areas, investing in the agricultural sector is essential to prevent the African countryside from becoming an area of misery.

More recently, at the 30th summit of the African Union (AU), its new president, the Rwandan head of state Paul Kagame, presented his agricultural agenda for the continent. Several flagship projects for the agricultural sector have therefore been announced. Among them are the Africa Agriculture Transformation Scorecard (AATS). These AATS will provide a more accurate picture of the evolution of the agricultural sector in Africa, using 43 indicators and 23 performance categories. The data will be collected by the joint work of the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture of the AU Commission, Nepad and the Regional Economic Communities, in collaboration with development partners.

In addition, Morocco was rewarded at this summit by the AU for its performance in implementing the Malabo Declaration on Accelerating Agricultural Growth in Africa. The “Green Morocco Plan” has been cited as a model for the countries of the continent, according to several African leaders who took part in the AU summit. That was an opportunity for Morocco to benefit from a positive light as the negotiations on the accession of the kingdom to ECOWAS are ongoing.