Decision on the Conference of Ministers of Agriculture

DECISION ON THE CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS OF AGRICULTURE
DOC. EX.CL/267 (IX)

The Executive Council:

1. TAKES NOTE of the Report;

2. ENDORSES the decisions adopted by the Ministerial Conference

3. ACKNOWLEDGES the concerns of the Ministers of Agriculture on the prevailing high level of food and nutrition insecurity situation in many parts of the continent.

4. RECOGNIZES WITH APPRECIATION the strategic initiatives that are being undertaken at national and regional levels to enhance food production, nutrition, and access;

5. RECOMMENDS strengthening the capacity of the Commission, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in order to improve coordination of initiatives in food and nutrition security; and ENCOURAGES member states and RECs to develop intra and inter regional trade in food products;

6. CALLS UPON the Commission, RECs and Member States to strengthen and develop early warning systems for food and nutrition security;

7. FURTHER CALLS UPON Development Partners to provide technical and financial support to the implementation of the CAADP-Sirte integrated implementation Plan;

8. REQUESTS the Commission, NEPAD and the RECs to assist Member States in advocating and mobilizing resources for implementing the national programmes as well as monitoring the progress;

9. NOTES the FAO support to the Commission and NEPAD in the implementation of the CAADP-Sirte joint plan of action, the development of National Medium Term Investment Programmes and preparation of Bankable Investment Projects Profiles (BIPPs) as an entry point for implementation of CAADP-Sirte plan and APPEAL to member states and development partners to integrate these initiatives in national budget and the development assistance, respectively;

10. URGES Regional Economic Communities and Member States to realign their regional and national research priorities to the Framework for African Agricultural Productivity with the support of the Forum for Agriculture Research in Africa (FARA);

11. TAKES NOTE of the development of an Agriculture Expenditure Tracking System (AETS) for the 10% budgetary allocation to agriculture and RECOMMENDS the adoption of the AETS as the basis for annual collection of data on allocations for agriculture by Member States;

12. CALLS UPON Member States to speed up the implement of the Maputo Declaration on the 10% budget allocation for agriculture.