Corporate or Community-Led? Africa’s Agricultural Future at a Crossroads
Late last month, officials from across the continent gathered in Zambia to discuss the next decade of Africa’s agricultural policy. Yet what was marketed as an “inclusive multi-stakeholder consultative process” bringing together a diversity of African voices was instead a contentious process driven by external influences and corporate agendas.
The African Union (AU) body coordinating the talks – the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy, and Sustainable Development (DARBE) – is severely underfunded and understaffed. Consequently, much of the facilitation and funding was outsourced to USAID-backed agencies and organisations like the influential Gates Foundation-funded Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Throughout the meeting in Lusaka, the sway of these Western entities in driving the process was palpable, overshadowing the voices of African farmers, civil society, and grassroots organisations.
The Zambia conference was arranged by the AU to discuss the next ten years of agricultural policy across the continent. In 2003, African leaders agreed to the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), committing to allocate 10% of their national budgets to agriculture with the aim of achieving 6% annual growth in productivity. In 2014, governments reaffirmed their joint strategy by signing the Malabo Declaration that set the stage for the following decade of efforts to transform African agriculture.