Press release

Togo’s roundtable meetings on the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) have successfully ended with the endorsement of the Togo CAADP Compact. The roundtable meetings which were held from the 29th to the 30th of July attracted close to 150 agricultural experts, policymakers, and representatives from the Government of Togo, the African Union (AU), the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and development partners. The Compact is a mutual commitment between the Government of Togo and the various national, regional and international agencies that are committed to the CAADP Agenda.

The Compact was signed by Togo’s Ministries of Finance and Agriculture, the AU-NEPAD, ECOWAS, a representative of the development partners and representatives from the private sector and civil society. Since the establishment of CAADP at the AU 2003 Summit in Maputo, Togo is the second country to sign the CAADP compact agreement after Rwanda, which made the first concurrence in 2006. "This is clearly a landmark moment in the progress of CAADP. The signing of this Compact highlights not only Togo’s commitment towards poverty eradication through agriculture, but also Africa’s focus on the Maputo declaration and broader global agenda towards issues of food security" said Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, NEPAD’s Chief Executive Officer.

As per the 2003 AU Maputo declaration NEPAD’s Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program is based on two major principles : the pursuit of a six percent average annual growth rate at the national level in the agricultural sector, and the allocation of ten percent of national budgets to agriculture. CAADP’s agenda reflects a fundamental shift in the way Africa’s leadership looks at agriculture and its potential contribution to ending poverty, hunger, and malnutrition. The program—fully owned and led by African governments—is at the heart of efforts to achieve growth and national development in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

According to Prof. Richard Mkandawire, the Adviser for Agriculture at NEPAD, Togo’s Compact highlights a shared framework for strategic planning and implementation, and for partnership and development assistance in the country’s Agriculture sector. "A key aspect of this will include genuine support towards Togo’s National Program of Agricultural Investment (NIPA) for the purposes of designing quality investment programmes that are in line with the country’s priorities", he added.

NIPA is a program developed by the Togolese government is a strategic planning framework for a long term agricultural investment and a platform for cooperation between the partners in the agricultural sector of Togo. Ends. NEPAD News, Lome, 31st July 2009