8.2 C
Johannesburg
June 15, 2026

Agribusiness Featured

AU official calls for implementation of Africa’s agricultural development pledges

by Brenna

The African Union (AU) has called for concerted efforts to deliver on Africa’s commitments on agricultural development.

The call was made by Josefa Sacko, the AU commissioner for agriculture, rural development, blue economy and sustainable environment, during a meeting on the progress of Africa’s flagship agricultural development initiative, known as the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), according to an AU statement issued late Friday.

African heads of state and government endorsed CAADP back in July 2003 in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. Building upon the Maputo Declaration, African leaders endorsed the Malabo Declaration in 2014, which made seven bold commitments with the first one being a recommitment to CAADP.

“We have two years remaining to close off the Malabo Declaration. Our member states are far from achieving the set seven Malabo commitments, and this calls for a robust intervention on what we could possibly do to support them in staying the course in their agricultural performance and create evidence-based solutions where we can draw lessons to enable a strong post-Malabo agenda,” Sacko said.

Noting that CAADP has been a pivotal framework for catalyzing agricultural transformation across the continent, Sacko said the initiative’s overarching objectives envisage reinvigorating agricultural growth, ensuring food security, and promoting rural development across Africa.

According to the AU commissioner, the Malabo Declaration emphasized mutual accountability among stakeholders and introduced ambitious commitments to eradicating hunger, reducing child malnutrition, halving poverty by 2025, tripling intra-African trade, and enhancing resilience to climate variability and other shocks, among others.

Sacko said the emergence of crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts, and climate change impacts, necessitates further cooperation and engagement toward the success of CAADP.

“In line with the emerging trends, the time remaining for the Malabo Declaration to expire, and given that the CAADP agenda is fully embedded into the Agenda 2063, it is important that we discuss the roadmap leading to the design of a post-Malabo agenda,” she said.

Related posts

Wide Range of Syringes for the treatment of animals

Brenna

Tanzania seeks to be key rice producer in Africa

Brenna

How Sustainability Can Boost Profit Margins for African Food Processors By Staff Reporter -June 3, 20260356 By Jay O’Nien, Sustainability Officer, Bühler Group Across Africa’s food and feed processing sectors, sustainability is increasingly moving to the centre of operational decision-making. Importantly, this shift is not being driven by environmental commitments alone. In many cases, it is being driven by something far more immediate: operational efficiency, profitability, resilience, and long-term competitiveness.Food Processors For processors across the continent, energy costs remain volatile and often high. Water availability is emerging as a significant operational concern in across regions. Post-harvest losses continue to place pressure on both profitability and food security. At the same time, export markets and international buyers are introducing more stringent requirements around traceability, carbon footprint, and resource use. Against this backdrop, sustainability is no longer simply about compliance or reputation. It is increasingly becoming a core business consideration. At Bühler, our sustainability strategy is built around what we call the “50/50/50” commitment: our goal to have solutions ready that can reduce energy consumption, waste, and water use by 50% across customer value chains. The important point is that many of these technologies already exist today.Food As part of our 2025 lifecycle assessment work across 15 industrial value chains in food, feed, and advanced materials, we found that reductions of at least 50% were achievable in one or more key environmental dimensions in 11 of those value chains. In every assessed value chain, more than 35% savings were achievable in at least one category. Sustainability and operational improvements go hand in hand These findings matter because they demonstrate that sustainability improvements are often directly linked to operational improvements. Lower energy consumption means lower operating expenditure. Better yield means less raw material loss. Reduced waste frequently translates into improved process efficiency and higher profitability. In practice, the most accessible opportunities for African processors lie in fundamental operational areas. Drying efficiency, grain storage, yield optimisation, energy monitoring, process control, and waste reduction all offer meaningful potential returns. Improved storage and drying infrastructure, for example, can significantly reduce post-harvest food losses, an issue with both economic and food security implications across the continent. Yield improvement is particularly important because it creates both economic and environmental benefits. Every tonne of raw material lost during processing represents wasted land, water, energy, fertiliser, logistics, and labour upstream in the value chain. Improving process efficiency therefore helps reduce environmental impact while strengthening commercial performance.Grains & Pasta Importantly, sustainability adoption in Africa is not uniform. Conditions vary significantly between countries, sectors, and processors. Access to reliable and affordable energy remains a challenge in numerous markets. Financing constraints can make capital-intensive upgrades difficult to prioritise. Water stress continues to affect both agricultural production and industrial operations in several regions. Reliable baseline data is critical One of the less discussed challenges is measurement itself. Without reliable baseline data on energy consumption, water use, waste generation, or yield loss, it becomes difficult for processors to identify where improvements are possible or to build a credible investment case for change.

Brenna