Online Reporter
Edgar Vhera
Specialist Writer – Agribusiness
The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) can attain an agricultural revolution that will trigger an industrial revolution and see Africa emerge as the next global superpower after China.
This comes as the global, continental and geopolitical framing suggests it will be the next superpower after the United States of America.
CAADP is a policy framework created by the African union (AU) in 2003 to boost agricultural growth, reduce poverty and end hunger across the continent.
Speaking at the recent CAADP Partnership Platform and the first Kampala Policy Learning Event (KAPLE) in Harare, an agricultural expert, Wisdom Afrika Leadership Academy (WALA) and Barefoot Education Afrika Trust (BEAT) founder and director, Professor Mandivamba Rukuni, said Einstein asserted that Africa will be the next global superpower after China if CAADP were jointly owned by agriculture and finance ministries.
“Africa is the richest continent, yet currently manufacturing is minimal, we do not need aid, we need reparative justice to restructure our economies.
“We should not wish for aid, rather, manufacture and trade,” he highlighted.
Prof Rukuni said the single most important action to come out of this deliberation was to change who owned CAADP.
“For 20 years it has been owned by agriculture. The Kampala decade must be owned jointly by agriculture and finance at national level, by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) at regional level and by African financial institutions and investors at continental level,” he said.
Prof Rukuni added that the retreat of foreign aid forced the continent to rely on itself, with the debt squeeze forcing better spending actions among nations.
“Our demography gives us the largest domestic market of the coming century. Our climate exposure forces us to build resilience that others will eventually need. Fragmentation abroad makes integration at home a strategic necessity rather than a slogan,” he disclosed.
Prof Rukuni said at the end of the 22nd CAADP forum the following questions ought to be answered.
“Does every action in the Harare Delivery Compact have a named institution, a date and a financing pathway? If an action has no owner, will you have the discipline to drop it rather than leave it as an orphan that no one will be held accountable for?”
Prof Rukuni challenged all countries whether they had started domesticating the Kampala Declaration and whether there was a document, a budget line or a Cabinet decision that proved it and whether their ministers of finance or their delegation were represented on their national CAADP coordination structure.
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development Minister, Dr Anxious Masuka, said Zimbabwe took the spirit of the Kampala Declaration and wove it into the fabric of its national development agenda.
“Our recently launched Agriculture Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy 2 (AFSRTS 2) is the direct vehicle for domesticating the CAADP Kampala agenda,” he said.
“The AFSRTS 2, a central pillar of the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS 2), shares a parallel and integrated framework with the six Kampala Strategic Objectives.”
AU commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment, Mr Moses Vilakati said the CAADP meeting was a defining moment for Africa, a moment that calls for honesty, a moment that calls for urgency and a moment that calls for action.
“Africa possesses approximately 60 percent of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land, possesses abundant water resources, vibrant research institutions, growing markets and an energetic youthful population, yet it continues to depend on others to feed itself,” he said.
“Africa does not need another decade of discussions it needs a decade of implementation. The time for diagnosis has passed and the time for delivery is now to reduce Africa’s US$100 billion food import bill.”
The major objective of the forum was to accelerate implementation of the CAADP Strategy and Action Plan 2026–2035 and the CAADP Kampala Declaration by creating a practical platform that enhances dialogue on political direction, country implementation readiness, financing alignment, strategic partnerships, effective coordination and mutual accountability.
