African Parliamentarians at the forefront: implementing the Post-Malabo Agenda

With the new Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) strategy and action plan endorsed in Kampala last week, what will be the role of stakeholders to ensure its implementation? To answer this question, the Zero Hunger Coalition organised an event on the sidelines of the Extraordinary African Union Summit to discuss how African parliamentarians can leverage their mandates for greater involvement and impact on food systems transformation at the national and regional levels.  

This side-event was co-organised alongside the African Food Systems Parliamentary Network (AFSPaN), the African Union, Action Aid, AGRA, CARE, Oxfam Africa, PolicyLink, the Shamba Centre for Food & Climate, Trust Africa, and the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub.  

“Parliamentary action is pivotal in advancing the resilient and inclusive transformation of African agrifood systems under the Post-Malabo strategy. We can help promote effective governance, policymaking and resource allocation to achieve our objectives,” Hon. Jeremy Lissouba, Member of Parliament from the Republic of Congo and Secretary General of  AFSPaN, stated in his opening remarks.  

He was joined on stage by Paul Valentin Ngobo, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries, from the Republic of the Congo, Dr. Dora Siliya, former Minister of Agriculture and former Member of Parliament in Zambia, Stefanos Fotiou, Director of the UN Systems Food Coordination Hub, Hon. Neema Lugangira, Member of Parliament in Tanzania and Vice Chair of AFSPaN, and Sir David Nabarro, Strategic Director at the 4SD Foundation. 

In the keynote address, Hon. Abdallah Barkat Ibrahim, member Parliament representing Hon. Chief Fortune Zephania Charumbira, President of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), asked a key question: why will the CAADP strategy and plan succeed when it has not managed in the past? For him, this transformation has no option but to succeed.   

Challenges facing the continent  

As many of the speakers noted, the challenges facing Africa in its agrifood systems transformation are immense.  

With a food import bill of nearly USD 2 billion in the Republic of Congo, H.E. Ngobo noted the high level of African dependency on food. Part of the reason for this dependency is due to the increased urbanisation underway in many countries. “In Congo, approximately 70% of the population lives in cities. Because many youth have a negative vision of agriculture, they do not want to work in farming. We need to change this perception,” he added.  

Finance is needed to support food systems transformation. However, as Hon. Barkat Ibrahim noted, these resources must be mobilised from domestic sources. For Hon. Lugangira, budgets are not sufficiently ring-fenced in certain areas which allows the government to change allocation. This has been the case with nutrition which many governments have not prioritised.  

Recommendations for parliamentarians  

According to Dr. Siliya, the food economy in Africa will be worth about $1 trillion by 2030. “This is a key sector that can help create wealth, jobs and reduce poverty. However, we need to understand that this is a ‘mission economy’ to quote from the economist Mariana Mazzucato, and we need to get back to the basics.”  

Parliamentarians have a key role in terms of accountability and transparency. For Dr. Siliya, parliamentarians need to monitor their government in terms of consistency of policies and bring legislation forward to support investment in agriculture and adjacent areas such as water. Food security must be on the top of the political agenda, she noted.   

Hon. Lugangira called on parliamentarians to promote multisectoral coordination. “We need multisector coordination for food systems transformation. Taking nutrition as example, we can only tackle malnutrition if we involve the health as well as the agriculture, livestock and water ministries. Let's drive a coordinated approach," she noted.   

The other panelists agreed and stressed the importance of partnerships. H.E. Ngobo noted that parliamentarians and governments must align for common solutions and to better serve communities. For Sir Nabarro, “In food and nutrition, the people who matter are the people in government, but are also farmers, activists, young people and women. We need to have them as partners in the process.”  

Role of National Pathways for Food Systems Transformation  

Mr. Fotiou highlighted the role of the National Pathways for Food Systems Transformation as a basis for the CAADP implementation. As he noted, “Food Systems Pathways are multistakeholder, multisector, inclusive and diverse.”  

He called on countries to use them as living documents for country action that can be adapted based on new data and ideas. “A win-win for the National Pathways and CAADP is that CAADP process at the national level uses the pathways as a starting point. The pathways aligned with the Kampala process should enable countries to convene different stakeholders and promote a unified approach.”  

The people’s representatives  

According to Sir Nabarro, Africa is on the brink of transformative change. “We must enable parliamentarians to have the tools they need to support agrifood systems transformation. They bring accountability that is needed. As the people’s representatives, they need to be at the core of the process,” he stated.  

Hon. Lissouba ended the discussion with a call for action. “We know what the challenges are and what the priorities must be. Now, it is time to act,” he concluded.