The Government of Uganda has today signed the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Compact. The Compact was signed at the end of the country’s two-day CAADP Round table meetings. President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda highlighted that the CAADP framework provides for a genuine path towards robust and sustained agriculture-led economic growth. Museveni was represented by the third deputy Prime Minister, Kirunda Kivejinja, who delivered his speech. Uganda’s agriculture sector contributes about 20% to the country’s GDP, employs 73% of the population and it also accounts for 48% of exports revenue. It is a key driver of growth and poverty reduction.

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD’s) CAADP 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. “The vision of CAADP is in line with, and is supported by Uganda’s National Development Plan (NDP) and the Development Strategy and Investment Plan (DSIP) for the Agriculture Sector 2010 - 2015," said the third deputy Prime Minister. In line with the NDP/DSIP targets of improving the lives of people in the rural areas the Government of Uganda is planning to increase agricultural sector growth from the current 2.6 percent to at least 6.0 percent per annum by 2015.

To achieve the DSIP targets, Uganda plans to increase budgetary allocation to the Agriculture Ministry closer to 10% of the national budget in the financial year 2010/2011, from 4% in 2008/2009. The total budget for agriculture in 2010/2011 was sh310b, compared to sh223b in 2008/2009. The planned increases were announced by Uganda’s Agriculture Minister, Hope Mwesigye and the State Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Ephraim Kamuntu. Speaking at Uganda’s CAADP Round table the African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Tumusiime Rhoda Peace revealed that Uganda was the 16th African Union member state to sign the CAADP Compact and that each of the eight AU recognized regional economic communities now had a country that had signed a CAADP Compact. Uganda is also the fifth member state in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) region to sign the CAADP Compact, alongside Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia more recently Swaziland.

The Secretary General of COMESA Sindiso Ngwenya, called upon the private sector, farmers’ organizations and the private sector to take advantage of various COMESA initiatives such as the COMESA Business Council, the Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa and the COMESA Customs Union in their CAADP implementation processes. Speaking on behalf of the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA), Prof. Richard Mkandawire, Head of Agriculture/CAADP at NEPAD called upon the development partners, the farmers and the Government of Uganda to mobilize the necessary global and domestic resources that are required to implement Uganda’s agricultural priorities. Source : NEPAD, Kampala, 31st March 2010