By Prossy Nandudu and Joshua Kato
Food and nutrition security will remain a challenge on the African continent, if states continue to ignore budgeting for the sector.
This was highlighted by heads of state from the African Union, who gathered at the Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort on January 11, early this month.
The heads of state were in Uganda for the African Union (AU) Extraordinary Summit on the Post-Malabo Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) agenda.
The summit, which began on January 9, with a meeting of African ministers of agriculture, continued with a session involving Africa’s foreign affairs ministers.
On January 11, the heads of state adopted the CAADP Strategy and Action Plan: 2026-2035, along with the Kampala CAADP Declaration on Building Resilient and Sustainable Agrifood Systems in Africa.
According to the African Union, Africa has 60% of the world’s arable land, which is ideal for agricultural production. However, this potential has not been fully realised due to limited investment. As a result, Africa spent $38.7b on food imports in 2022, up from $36.3b in 2021, according to reports from the African Development Bank.
This high expenditure has been attributed to low productivity, which is due to limited investments in addressing challenges, such as climate change, pests and diseases, declining soil fertility, limited markets and poor or insufficient investment in post-harvest handling practices.
Transforming the sector?
According to the CAADP Malabo Declaration, the heads of state committed to allocating at least 10% of their annual budgets to agricultural development, through the CAADP.

The goal of CAADP is to reduce poverty and hunger, triple intra-African trade in agricultural goods, improve nutritional status and eliminate child undernutrition by the end of this year.
While some countries, like Rwanda, have met this commitment by setting aside 8.07% of their annual budget for agriculture and others such as Morocco (6.99%) and Egypt (8.3%) are making progress, many countries have yet to fully implement the commitment.
This is according to Josefa Sacko, the commissioner for agriculture, rural development, blue economy, and sustainable environment of the African Union Commission.
She noted that countries making progress, include Uganda, Benin, Tanzania, Ghana, Mali, Sierra Leone, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Burundi, The Gambia, Kenya, Malawi, Tunisia and Nigeria,. Taye Atske-Selassie, the president of Ethiopia, also supported this view during the summit.
He called for renewed efforts to achieve food sovereignty in Africa.
He stressed the importance of understanding the changes in the sector, driven by population growth, shifting consumption patterns, environmental and climate changes and conflicts to achieve the aspirations of the CAADP Kampala Declaration.
Selassie identified several key areas that heads of state should focus on.
These include addressing the challenges posed by rapid urbanisation, such as the increased demand for freshly processed foods and ready-to-eat meals, as well as understanding how these needs can be met through smallholder farmers and expanding domestic markets, driven by sustained economic growth and a growing middle class.
Another area is the adoption of digital or precision agriculture.
Selassie highlighted how countries like Egypt and Morocco, have already transformed their food systems by using digital tools to trace products, improve supply chains and ensure food safety.
Apart from funding, what does it take to have a vibrant agricultural sector on the continent?
Dr Agnes Kalibata, the outgoing president of AGRA Africa, called for investments in climate change adaptation to help farmers cope with changing weather patterns that are affecting productivity.
Antonio Querido, the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Uganda country representative, added that investment in water for production will be a key driver in addressing the prolonged episodes of drought and unreliable rainfall.
For Uganda, Querido mentioned that they are already working with the Government to increase water coverage, especially in water-stressed areas in Eastern Uganda, such as Karamoja.
President weighs in
In addressing water shortages on the continent, President Yoweri Museveni implored African leaders to make use of technology, to tap into the waters of the Congo River, which he described as a wasted resource.

He explained that the Congo River has 3,000 billion cubic metres of water per year, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
He questioned why African heads of state have not engaged with DR Congo to access this otherwise wasted resource.
He also called for the use of desalination technology to help other countries tap into the abundant water resources.
“Desalination happens in nature, done by the sun evaporating ocean water into vapour, which eventually becomes rain. Why doesn’t Africa intensively study this? If the cost of desalination decreases, Egypt and other coastal countries will become upstream countries, while we, who harbour the origin of the Nile, will become downstream countries,” Museveni explained.
The leaders and agriculture stakeholders made these comments during the summit, which also adopted and endorsed the CAADP Kampala Declaration.
In this declaration, heads of state committed to implementing the new CAADP agenda over the next 10 years.
Commitments
Commitments by heads of state under the new CAADP include, increasing food production by 45% by the end of 2035 through the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices, reducing post-harvest loss by 50%, tripling intra-African trade in agrifood products and inputs by 2035, in line with the AfCFTA and raising the share of locally processed food to 35% of agrifood GDP by 2035.
Regarding resource mobilisation, heads of state committed to mobilising $100b in public and private investment in African agrifood systems by 2035.
They also pledged to ensure that at least 10% of annual public expenditure is allocated to agrifood systems and that at least 15% of agrifood GDP is reinvested annually into the sector.
Healthy diets
In terms of food and nutrition security, the heads of state committed to reducing stunting by 25%, wasting by 25% and overweight by 25%, while ensuring that 60% of the population can afford a healthy diet by 2035.
To build resilient agrifood systems, they committed to ensuring that Africa’s agrifood systems are resilient to climate, socio-economic and environmental shocks.
They also pledged to have at least 30% of agricultural land under sustainable management and 40% of households protected from shocks by 2035.
By 2028, all member states of the African Union and Regional Economic Communities will integrate the Kampala CAADP Declaration into their national and regional agrifood systems investment plans and adopt best practices in the governance of agrifood systems based on CAADP principles.
Furthermore, by 2030, all countries will incorporate the CAADP Biennial Review process into their national agriculture joint sectoral review platforms, among other commitments.
LEAD PHOTO CAPTION: President Yoweri Museveni with the President of Angola, João Lourenço, during the summit at the Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort on January 11, this year.