Liberia: CAADP 4th Biennial Review Process Launched in Liberia

 

 

The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) fourth Biennial Review (BR) process has been launched in Liberia with the call for all stakeholders to cooperate in providing the needed data on agriculture and nutrition in Liberia.

The fourth BR process and awareness workshop was launched recently at the central office of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) attended by diverse stakeholders from the food and nutrition sectors. 

The road map, for the collection of data and the role of non-state actors in carrying advocacy and awareness to enhance the understanding of the public about CAADP was also adopted by the stakeholders.

Difficulty in accessing data from various government ministries and agencies in the food and nutrition sectors is said to still remain a challenge. 

However, Liberia’s performance based on previous biennial review reports are graded poor, except in recent time a little progress is being reported.

The CAADP framework aims to promote agricultural development on the continent to reduce poverty, create more jobs and to improve food and nutrition security. 

It was established in 2003, in Maputo, Mozambique by African presidents. The framework commonly referred to as the “Maputo Declaration” mandates every government to allot 10 percent of their total national budget for agriculture to obtain 6 percent GDP annually and to develop a National Agriculture Investment Plan (NAIP).

The framework was later revised to the “recommitment” to Accelerate Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods. This is commonly known as the Malabo Declaration for Food and Nutrition Security.

This recommitment led to the setting up of targets, along with seven commitments based on what African leaders referred to as a commitment to implementation, delivery and results.

One of the key commitments was #7, which is “Commitment to Mutual Accountability to Actions and Results.” 

This commitment calls for a systematic regular review process after every 2-years initiated to complete with a scoring system in order to track the progress being made by African governments in achieving, what is referred to as, the CAADP/Malabo goals.

Liberia signed to the CAADP framework in 2003 and later recommitted to the process since. But, the country like many others on the continent has not done enough when it comes to the issue of implementation. 

Though the country has developed the Liberia Agriculture Sector Investment Plan (LASIP), a domestication of the framework yet public support for agriculture has since been lacking or limited. Support largely depends on donor funding.

Notwithstanding, stakeholders seemed optimistic that Liberia can do better in the future to achieve the objective of the framework.

The CAADP BR Focal person Mbakai Woyee, told stakeholders during the launch that the country is making progress in some areas based on projects and programs funded by donors. However, she noted that those efforts have not proven sustainable.

“We can’t continue to depend on donors to accelerate growth in the sector and to reduce malnutrition. We will need to have public spending for agriculture in line with the mandates of the framework. I noticed that some of the indicators are being met by the country but we have not been able to prove it by providing data.

Woyee used the meeting to call on the stakeholders to work with the Ministry of Agriculture in collecting the necessary data so as to show a better performance for the country.

She also stressed the need for non-state actors, which include farmers, private sector, civil society members and the media to take the lead in providing education to the public about the significance of the CAADP processes.

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