CAADP

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The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) is the most ambitious and comprehensive agricultural reform effort ever undertaken in Africa. An initiative of the African Union (AU) and New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), it represents a fundamental shift toward development that is fully owned and led by African governments. It reflects African governments’ recognition of agriculture as central for the alleviation of poverty and hunger and hence for reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

  1. The pursuit of six percent average annual growth in the agricultural sector at national level; and,
  2. Allocation of ten percent of national budgets to agriculture.

A framework rather than a roadmap, CAADP is composed of a set of key principles and targets for achieving these aims by 2015. It is at once flexible enough to accommodate the need for approaches toward poverty and hunger alleviation to be tailored to regional and national contexts, and broad enough to address policy and capacity issues across the entire agricultural sector and across the entire African continent.

CAADP’s vision of agriculture as a driver of poverty and hunger alleviation is underpinned by four pillars.

You can learn more about each pillar directly from the CAADP website by clicking on the respective links.


Latest articles

Debating land governance at CAADP
Debating land governance at CAADP
March 25, 2015 / CAADP
Future Agricultures was represented at the 11th CAADP Partnership Platform in Johannesburg on 24 March 2015, by Ruth Hall, convenor of the Land theme. Prof Hall spoke at a side event on ‘Improving Land Governance for Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural

CAADP Policy Brief series
CAADP Policy Brief series
October 4, 2013 / CAADP
Our CAADP policy briefs respond to the developing issues addressed by the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme, exploring the implications of new research for policy-making and practice. So far 12 briefs have been published, and many translated into French: they

African agriculture: lessons learned
African agriculture: lessons learned
September 27, 2013 / CAADP
Future Agricultures researcher Steve Wiggins gave a talk on “African agriculture in a changing global context: lessons learned” at a briefing in Brussels on 2 October. The 33rd CTA Brussels Development Briefing on “The key Drivers of Agricultural transformation in

Future Agricultures at ICAAAE conference
Future Agricultures at ICAAAE conference
September 17, 2013 / CAADP
Future Agricultures was at the 4th International Conference of the African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE), held on 22-25 September 2013 in Tunisia. Sam Asuming-Brempong attended the conference to highlight recent work on the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). Dr

CAADP at 10: Progress toward agricultural prosperity
CAADP at 10: Progress toward agricultural prosperity
January 16, 2013 / CAADP
In 2003, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) was set up to address fundamental obstacles to African agricultural development. Poor productivity, and a lack of investment, were identified as major problems. Now, 10 years on, a new paper, CAADP

FAC at the 8th CAADP Partnership Platform
FAC at the 8th CAADP Partnership Platform
April 13, 2012 / CAADP
Future Agricultures members were at the 8th CAADP Partnership Platform meeting in Nairobi, 3-4 May 2012. We have published three new Policy Briefs on pastoralism and technology transfer: Pastoralism in the Horn of Africa: diverse livelihood pathways From technology transfer

Farmer First: Shifting Paradigms in Agricultural Technology Development
March 19, 2011 / CAADP
Edited by Kate Wellard Technology – seeds, breeds, fertility inputs, disease control, water management – is key to getting agriculture moving. Major investments have been made to support technology development and transfer, but impacts have been patchy. Lessons from across

Food and Hunger: Protecting Livelihoods Through Agricultural Growth
March 19, 2011 / CAADP
Edited by Kate Wellard Agricultural growth is critical to reducing poverty and hunger. But even in Asia, where the Green Revolution drove economic development and reduced hunger, it is clear that growth alone is not sufficient to eliminate hunger and

Pathways to Commercialisation: Supporting Small Farmers
March 19, 2011 / CAADP
Edited by Kate Wellard Accelerated growth in agriculture is critical to meeting the MDGs in Africa. Intensification and commercialisation of smallholder agriculture are seen by many governments and international agencies as the principal means of delivering this. However market-based approaches

Policy into Use: Accelerating Agricultural Growth through CAADP
March 19, 2011 / CAADP
Edited by Kate Wellard Agriculture is the mainstay of most African economies. Millions of smallholders depend on farming for their livelihoods, it underpins food security and poverty alleviation efforts, and supports wider economic development. But agricultural growth has generally been

Land and Livelihoods: Securing Broad-based Sustainable Growth
March 19, 2011 / CAADP
Land and Livelihoods: Securing Broad-based Sustainable Growth Edited by Kate Wellard Land is central to sustainable development. Agriculture and other land-based activities underpin most rural people’s livelihoods strategies. With investment in appropriate technologies, sustainable management and the right land policies,

Rural Futures: unlocking a continent’s hidden promise (A. Teshome’s report)
September 23, 2010 / CAADP
Amdissa Teshome, on behalf of Future Agricultures, was invited to this workshop by the NEPAD Planning and Coordination Secretariat (NPCS). This is the first time that FAC has been invited without us contacting the AU/NEPAD/CAADP so it is a progress

Rural Futures: unlocking a continent’s hidden promise (Report by Amdissa Teshome)
September 23, 2010 / CAADP
Amdissa Teshome, on behalf of Future Agricultures, was invited to this workshop by the NEPAD Planning and Coordination Secretariat (NPCS). This is the first time that FAC has been invited without us contacting the AU/NEPAD/CAADP so it is a progress

Opportunities for FAC to engage with CAADP Process
March 26, 2010 / CAADP
Following the 3rd CAADP review and partnership platform meeting, March 2008, four engagement opportunities for Future Agricultures in the CAADP process were identified. Engagement Opportunity No. 1: Emphasis on farmer organizations is a potential area for Future Agricultures contribution to

ReSAKSS – Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System
ReSAKSS – Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System
March 23, 2010 / CAADP
The Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS) is an Africa-wide network established to provide readily available analysis, data, and tools of the highest quality. It promotes evidence-based decision-making, improves awareness of the role of agriculture for development in

Integrating FAC Themes with CAADP pillars
March 16, 2010 / CAADP
Future Agricultures has attempted to align its thematic areas with CAADP pillars. For example, the Policy Process theme is a perfect complement to the pillars since none of them explicitly address policy formulation. This weakness was in fact raised during the

CAADP Country Specific Engagement
March 16, 2010 / CAADP
The Consortium commissioned its representatives in the three countries (Ethiopia, Malawi, and Kenya) to undertake a very basic investigation of the status of each country. This involved, interviewing CAADP focal persons, if any, and other relevant institutions. Malawi Malawi signs

2009 CAADP Africa Forum
2009 CAADP Africa Forum
March 16, 2010 / CAADP
On November 30 in Nairobi, more than 160 delegates from across Africa met for the fourth CAADP Africa Forum, organized by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) from 30 November-4 December 2009. The Forum’s theme is ‘The Bottom of

What is CAADP?
What is CAADP?
March 11, 2010 / CAADP
 The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) is the most ambitious and comprehensive agricultural reform effort ever undertaken in Africa. An initiative of the African Union (AU) and New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), it represents a fundamental shift toward

CAADP Review And Partnership Platform Meeting (March 17-20, 2008)
CAADP Review And Partnership Platform Meeting (March 17-20, 2008)
April 1, 2008 / CAADP
{jathumbnail off}The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) is an AUC/NEPAD initiative designed to encourage investment in key areas (pillars) that can make the earliest difference to Africa’s agricultural crises. CAADP was adopted by the Head of States as a