Kenya retains COMESA import quota on tax free sugar

The government of Kenya has received permission from COMESA to maintain in place the country’s current sugar safeguard measures for a further 2 years. However this has been made conditional upon an intensification of efforts to privatise and modernise the sugar sector, which has been making only slow progress since the initial activation of safeguard arrangements.

The Kenyan government has recently ‘published new laws allowing strategic investors to take up at least a 51 per cent stake in the five government run sugar companies that are scheduled for sale’, and a government spokesperson maintains that the privatisation process could be completed within 6 months. However, bottle-necks related to parliamentary procedures could delay progress.

Press reports noted that the conditionalities agreed by the COMESA Council were similar to earlier conditionalities linked to the previous extension of the safeguard measures.

Efforts are also under way to both improve the sector’s productivity and diversify the product range. Sugar sector operators are being required to ‘deepen research on high sucrose and early maturing cane varieties, while the Kenya Sugar Board (KSB) and the Kenya Sugar Research Foundation (Kesref) should spearhead adoption of research findings by cane growers’.

Press reports also indicate that investment is under way at Mumias Sugars to produce both beverage-grade alcohol and ethanol alongside sugar.

In September, meanwhile, it was announced that Mauritian sugar company Omnicane is planning to invest US$180 million in a sugar plant in the coastal region of Kenya. The project is to include ‘the establishment of an 18-megawatt bagasse power facility and a 30,000-litre ethanol production plant’, and Omnicane’s investment ‘is expected to boost the sugar production in the country, which presently is dominated by Mumias Sugar’. This is reportedly ‘one of the biggest foreign direct investments in Kenyan agro industry’.

Omnicane is expected to use its experience of modernising the sugar sector in Mauritius in the Kenyan context. Sugar production is to make use of irrigated land, based on a ‘nucleus system’ which ‘allows for planning and steady supply of uniform quality cane’.

Afriquejet

Agriculture forms 32% of COMESA GDP

by Winile Mavuso

The agricultural sector accounts for more than 32% of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)’s gross domestic product (GDP) and employs 80% of the labour force.

This was revealed by COMESA Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya during the fourth joint meeting of ministers of agriculture, environment and natural resources held in Swaziland.

He said the sector also accounts for 65% of foreign exchange earnings and contributes more than 50% of raw materials in the industrial sector. Ngwenya said, however, the region was confronted with challenges of climate variability, inadequate investment financing and land degradation.

Swazi Observer

COMESA to spearhead new policies for GM crops for eastern, southern Africa

by Cosmus Butunyi

A new set of policies governing commercial production and trade in genetically modified agricultural produce is set to come into force in East and Southern Africa.

The process of formulating the guidelines, which will also be applied for emergency food aid containing genetically modified organisms that enters the region, are being spearheaded by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) through a specialised agency responsible for trade in agricultural commodities, the Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa (Actesa).

Already, a team of experts from the region have developed draft policies that are awaiting endorsement by the Comesa council of ministers and heads of state summit. Actesa chief executive Dr Cris Muyunda, said that the new rules would accelerate the adoption of genetic engineering in the region in a bid to facilitate trade in agricultural commodities.

Presently, the value of intra-regional trade stands at $15 billion, out of which agricultural produce takes 40 per cent.  Muyunda said that was very low compared with the amount of food imports brought into the region, estimated at $20 billion.

“We are not supposed to import food, we have enough land to grow our own. The potential for increasing trade in agricultural products is very high,” he stated, adding that poor productivity had contributed to the current state of affairs.

The director of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications Dr Margaret Karembu said that this had resulted in Africa being the most burdened in terms of global hunger distribution.

Experts have stated that genetic modification provides an avenue through which agricultural productivity can be boosted to improve food security as well as trade in agricultural produce.

African countries are currently at different levels of adopting modern biotechnology, and so far, only three countries have embarked on commercial production: South Africa, Burkina Faso and Egypt. Out of these, only Egypt falls within the Comesa region.

Dr Michael Waithaka, a programme manager in charge of policy analysis and advocacy at the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (Asareca), said that a roadmap would be developed towards promoting commercial production of genetically modified organisms.

However, adoption of the technology has remained slow over the years, a trend that has been attributed to concerns over the technology’s effects on the environment and human health. This is despite biotechnology being recommended in important fora due to its potential to improve agricultural production in Africa.

Comesa panel of experts on biotechnology chairman Dr Abbas Kodjo said that heads of African states and governments under the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) have in the past recommended it for development. Kodjo added that the United Nations general assembly has also passed two resolutions calling for strengthening of biotechnology.

The East African

Export markets not threatened by introduction of GM crops,COMESA study concludes

A study by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) has allayed fears that introducing genetic technology in agriculture may lead to market losses.

It indicates that even should such products be rejected, the decline in exports from the three East African countries would be insignificant. The study says there is little justification in the precautionary stance taken by countries, ostensibly in the conviction that they are preserving their trade interests and niche markets.

The low level of trading risk is attributed to the fact that most of the agricultural exports that importers may reject as possibly containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have not been commercialised as yet. These include tea, coffee, cocoa, pyrethrum, sugar tobacco, bananas and a wide range of horticultural products.

GM varieties of these commodities have not been developed and commercialised anywhere and so far there has been little commercial interest to develop them. The study analysed the value and volume of agricultural food and feed exports by African countries to various regions of the world including the EU.

The findings revealed that the share of total export value that might be rejected translates to 1.1 per cent for Kenya, 6.5 per cent for Uganda and 6.2 per cent for Tanzania.

European countries have been the most vocal in the campaigns against GM crops, even though some European countries such as Poland have started growing GM maize.

Last year marked the second highest global increase in area under GM crops in the last five years, with the total area now being estimated at 114 million hectares.

There are now 12 countries in the developing countries that are planting biotech crops, compared with 11 in the industrialised countries. Last year's growth rate in the developing world was three times that of industrialised nations (21 per cent compared to 6 per cent.)

Out of the global total 12 million beneficiary biotech farmers in 2007, over 90 per cent were small and resource-poor farmers from developing countries. Of these, most were cotton farmers followed by those growing biotech maize and soybeans.

According to Kenyan scientist Prof Calestous Juma, biotech crops must play an even bigger role in the next decade if African countries are to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of cutting hunger and poverty by half by 2015.

In Kenya, the regulatory frameworks are still in construction stage. The Biosafety Bill was time-barred in the last parliament, with the house being dissolved just as the Bill was going through its third and final reading.

The Citizen

COMESA permits Kenya to charge protectionist wheat import tariffs

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa has allowed Kenya to continue imposing high duties on wheat flour imports from Egypt and Mauritius, the two main low-cost producers of the commodity in the trading bloc. Under the arrangement, Kenya may impose a 60 per cent duty on the imports in addition to other taxes.

Kenya could continue with the run until the end of 2008, after which they will be reviewed by the trading bloc’s Trade and Customs committee, its main policy-making body on trade issues.

Last year, Kenya requested a review of its sugar sector by the secretariat to determine whether the industry was competitive enough to allow duty-free sugar imports from COMESA. Consequently, the COMESA Secretariat commissioned a study to assess the competitiveness of the sugar industry in Kenya.

On the import side, Sudan registered the largest market share of 17 per cent followed by Uganda at 12 per cent.

Intra COMESA trade has continued to experience robust growth with agricultural commodities such as tea, tobacco, sugar, rice, coffee, cotton and wheat topping the tables.

Commodity Online

Kenya explores COMESA flower market

More of Kenya’s flowers will go to the Common Market for Eastern and Central Africa countries in a new initiative by Kenya Flower Council and the Kenya Flower Vendors Association.

At an exhibition dubbed Soko la Maua flower market in Nairobi, the two organisations showcased flowers grown in the countries and said that it was the beginning of an annual event where consumers in the region will be introduced to the culture of using flowers to express emotions such as love, sadness and goodwill.

Council chairman Erastus Mureithi said the flower culture has failed to take root in Africa, despite its being deeply entrenched in Europe, where more than 90 per cent of Kenya’s flowers are sold.

Kenya is the world’s largest flower exporter, accounting for 32 per cent of all flowers sold in the European Union. It has recently ventured into the US too.

Under the new arrangement, the Flower Council will assist vendors to acquire quality flowers and arrange them in accordance the with latest trends in international markets. According to Jane Ngige, chief executive officer of the Council, domestic consumption of flowers holds potential investment opportunities, especially for the young people who are the project’s main target.

She said that flowers that are not exported because of minor defects could be prepared to suit local buyers instead of being discarded as is the current practice. Ngige said that if tapped, the COMESA project could prove a viable alternative to the stringent export market, which is currently threatened by the carbon miles debate, among other changing standards.

If the region embraces the flower culture the way the council envisions, a new generation of growers could be supported. According to Mrs. Ngige, the council is prepared to assist them to comply with a code of practice that encourages farmers to take care of the environment by rehabilitating wetlands and adopting new technologies like containerised growing, where water is re-used. This crop of farmers will be specifically growing flowers for local consumption.

The development could tilt the balance to the same side as the vegetables and fruits sector, where just under a third is exported.

According to the Horticultural Crops Development Authority, local consumption of fruits and vegetables is estimated to be worth Ksh120 billion ($1.79 billion) compared with export earnings of Ksh49 billion ($731million).

The biggest challenge — which the council says it is up to — is promoting a flower culture in a region where the whole thing is considered alien. “We want to enable people in the region to appreciate the beauty of flowers that are produced in their own countries,” Mrs. Ngige said.

Except on Valentine’s Day — February 14 — observed internationally as a lovers’ day with red roses, it is rare to see people carrying flowers. Even on Valentine’s many people frown at the idea. But what might not be commonly known is that it is more expensive to buy a flower here than it is in Europe on that day. A batch of red roses goes for Ksh 500 ($7.5) while a single stem sells at between Ksh 50 and Ksh100 (75 US cents-$1.5)

Part of the local flower promotion will include educating consumers on preservation, considered a major reason for shunning the commodity. Properly preserved, flowers can last for up to two weeks. The vendors will be trained in handling technicalities. Both vendors and consumers will be educated on the symbolisms of different colours and varieties of flowers. Except for the red rose which signifies love, the majority of people are totally ignorant about other colours and the various combinations.

Farmers who attended the Soko la Maua show are excited about the prospects of exporting flowers within the COMESA region, especially to countries not requiring airfreight, considered the biggest expenditure in the business. Flowers from the City Market in Nairobi go as far as Zambia, Tanzania and Uganda — albeit in small quantities because the business has not been adequately promoted.

The flower vendors are now rooting for a location where consumers can access flowers easily.

The East African

COMESA to harmonise dairy standards

Twelve COMESA countries are seeking to harmonise standards in their dairy industries to facilitate trade in milk-derived products. The countries’ bureaux of standards will be meeting mid next month in Lusaka, Zambia, to discuss the issue.

Dr Kipkirui arap Lang’at, the executive director of the Eastern and Southern African Dairy Association, said, “It will be easier to move dairy products from areas of surplus to areas where there is a deficit in COMESA,” he said.

The bulk of dairy products traded in COMESA countries comes from outside the region and the standardisation process is expected to turn this situation around, said Lang’at.

The move is expected to boost the value addition drive in the dairy industry and increase the scope for earnings. “The industry must find ways of processing milk so as to have long life milk and other products that can be stored longer and be transported for longer distances,” said Lang’at.

Harmonisation of standards will involve areas such as butter fat content, acceptable bacterial load, hygiene standards, storage, transport temperatures and handling equipment. The standards will be based on well established scientific processes, which will offer an assurance of quality.

Kenya Dairy Board managing director Machira Gichohi said the move was part of a wider plan which started with the harmonisation of standards in East Africa. “After we standardise the dairy industry in COMESA, we want to move to the whole of Africa and then from there we will target international standards,” he said.

Already, dairy boards in East Africa have harmonised their dairy products standards and cross border trade has been going on smoothly. This facilitated the expansion of Kenyan dairy producers into the East African region.

Business Daily Africa

COMESA launches agricultural market information service

Farmers and traders in the COMESA region can now make informed decisions on trading in agricultural commodities following the emergence of a prompt market information service.

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa has designed a Regional Food and Agricultural Marketing Information System, (FAMIS), an electronic web based system that features key information on major agricultural commodities, trade and investment opportunities in the region. The system is supposed to help farmers in member countries access relevant agriculture marketing information, reducing the information gap that middlemen exploit to make a windfall at producers’ expense.

Issues relating to awareness of the service and ignorance in rural areas will be among challenges the system implementers will need to overcome. The system is part of harmonisation of the agriculture market access systems that have been developed elsewhere by other companies in the region.

Agriculture accounts for 32 per cent of total wealth generated by the COMESA region’s 400 million citizens. Out of the total intra-COMESA trade of $8 billion, about $3 billion is food and agricultural raw materials. Agricultural goods are the second largest category of products traded.

The information is distributed through cellphone SMS based, on data gathered before 9am every day except Sundays and public holidays. Thereafter farmers can either request the information through dialing a prescribed number or subscribe to automatically receive SMS messages. The information is also monitored by the Ministry of Agriculture for the purposes of verification.

The other ways to access the information is through a system known as Interactive Voice Response, which is a pre-recorded message system accessible through mobile and landlines at a cost slightly above normal operator charges.

Cidano Gakuru of the Agriculture Sector Coordinating Unit at Kenya's Ministry of Agriculture said market information is the “most crucial,” but the problem is that "most farmers are ignorant." Although he could not ascertain the number of users today, he said the ministry was encouraging spread of such information because it helps to enforce pricing benchmarks on commodities.

Business Daily Africa

COMESA to harmonise standards on agricultural products

The countries of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) are collaborating to develop regionally harmonised standards and grades for agricultural products. Lack of them is considered a key constraint to trade in agricultural produce. Analysts believe adopting a common ground would boost trade on commodities such as dairy products and maize.

According to COMESA, dairy products including raw milk; pasteurised milk; Ultra Heat Treated (UHT) milk; yoghurt; butter; dairy ices and airy ice creams are targeted for common standards. Others included are sweetened condensed milk; dried whole milk and skimmed milk powder.

The effort is supported by COMESA under the Regional Agricultural Trade Expansion Support (RATES) program, a USAID funded COMESA initiative whose objective is to help create a conducive and predictable regional environment for agricultural trade working together with the COMESA Standards and Quality Assurance Programme (SQA).

National consultations on dairy and maize standards involving a cross-section of stake holders from the public and private sector have been held in twelve COMESA and EAC countries, namely, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Mauritius, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Business Daily

COMESA to establish sanitary centres

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa has begun work to establish three sanitary and phytosanitary centres in the region to promote food safety and harmonise health laws.

COMESA’s Agricultural Marketing Promotion and Regional Integration Project said an additional 15 sanitary and phytosanitary laboratories would be refurbished across the region. The labs are part of Africa’s efforts to enhance regional food products and make them attractive to compete with other goods on the international market.

Sanitary and phytosanitary measures were set by the World Trade Organisation to help governments apply food safety and animal and plant health.

Team leader and Comesa secretariat representative, Thomas Barasa, said a high-powered trio of experts would soon visit member states and identify the three deserving candidates. He said successful bidders should be strategically positioned and accessible to the entire region. "All member states have equal chances to be identified to host one of the three sanitary and phytosanitary centres," he said. "A team made up of a doctor, an expert from food safety and blood health will be visiting all countries to access their candidacy."

Barasa was speaking during a one-day Agricultural Marketing Information System (FAMIS) sensitisation workshop. The workshop brought together farmers, government and the private sector.FAMIS, a Comesa-wide web-based market information system, aims to provide trade advice to farmers throughout the region.

Barasa said the establishment of the centres would also promote intra-Comesa trade as well as international business because goods from the region would be recognised across the world. He said the decision to refurbish 15 out of the 20-member states was considered after a realisation that some countries were already advanced and would not require any assistance.

Training of sanitary and phytosanitary personnel, he said, was already underway in member states to make the project a success and harmonise conflicting standards and measures. "By establishing these centres and refurbishing some, our goods will be of international standard and marketable the world over," Barasa said.

The Herald

COMESA urges free intra-regional maize movement

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has urged member states to allow free movement of maize by implementing the “maize without borders” concept to ensure food security and promote trade in the region.

“As a staple food crop in a number of COMESA countries, the unimpeded movement of maize from surplus to deficit areas is critical to ensuring sustained regional food security,” Comesa said in a report.

It noted that free trade in maize was being hampered by periodic import and export restrictions imposed by member countries. COMESA said the solution to such challenges lay in the speedy implementation of the “maize without borders” strategy that had already been adopted by the bloc to remove trade barriers in the movement of maize across member states.

“Such a development will also recognise and formalise the important role played by small cross-border traders in the movement of maize across borders.”

Apart from being a staple food, maize is one of COMESA’s leading export commodities. According to recent United Nations trade data, maize accounts for more than 50 percent of the region’s total grain imports.

COMESA said for the region to fully realise its potential in maize production, serious consideration towards investment in agro-processing should be made. Such a development, it said, would enable COMESA to add value to raw maize grain and boost export sales. “Investing in agro-processing will enable the bloc to add value to raw maize grain, thus allowing local goods to compete on the international market,” it said.

Sudan, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo are COMESA’s major importers of agricultural commodities while Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, Malawi and Egypt are the top five leading exporters of farming products.

Nyasa Times

Newsbriefs_May31_2007

Fertiliser production_Zambia : Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ) is to to start the production of Compound-D fertiliser (8:14:7 NPK) after it secured funds to produce 41,000 metric tonnes out of the targeted 65,000 metric tonnes for the 2007/8 farming season. NCZ public relations officer, Katendi Wandi said the maintenance work which closed the plant in March, delaying production, was going well and normal operations were expected to resume soon. She said the company was also using the current down time to replenish raw materials. The firm was working to increase the product base to include production of Ammonia Nitrate later in the year. The company requires about K90.4 billion ($22 million) to produce 65,000 metric tonnes of Compound-D fertiliser. Government, the major shareholder, only allocated K3 billion ($745,000) in this year’s budget for NCZ operations. The company had indicated that it requires a total of about US $33 million for re-capitalisation and working capital.
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Agric. consultations_Swaziland : Swaziland is to embark on regional consultation meetings across the country,leading up to the national Agriculture Summit in July.Noah Nkambule, a senior official in the agriculture ministry, urged farmers and stakeholders to propose innovative concepts and recommendations that could take the agricultural industry forward. He said the meetings were an opportunity for farmers to explore ways in which sustainable agricultural production in Swaziland could be realised. "We would be happy if they were to propose solutions and be constructive rather than just criticise. We do not want the usual rhetoric; we are encouraging stakeholders to provide us with new areas for us to explore in making farming create money for us as a nation," he said.
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Fertiliser support for members_COMESA : A special programme under the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) seeks to have the continent's farm production growing at six per cent annual growth rate by 2015, backed by increased usage of fertiliser. It is envisaged that the plans would push the level of use of fertiliser from the current 8 Kg per hectare to at least 50 Kg per hectare. A communication from the COMESA secretariat shows the pilot phase of the project, approved in 2006 by African heads of state at a fertiliser summit in Nigeria, will kick off in June. Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi are listed as the initial beneficiaries of an allocation of 20,000 metric tonnes of the fertilisers.
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Zambian jatropha concerns : The Zambian government will curtail the cultivation of jatropha if it is established that the biodiesel-yielding crop is harmful to soils and the environment, President Levy Mwanawasa has said. “Some of the literature which I have seen recently shows that jatropha is very bad for our soil and for Zambian agriculture. So my government is busy studying that literature and if in fact we discover that jatropha may in the long-run not be good for our environment, we will have to rethink on the way forward,” he said.
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Rwanda to host parley on African agriculture programme

About 300 agriculture experts, policy makers and stakeholders from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), African Union (AU) and other international development partners meet in Kigali, Rwanda 29-31 March for a round table on NEPAD`s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

According to the official newsletter of the New Partnership for Africa`s Development (NEPAD), Rwandan President Paul Kagame is expected to officially open the meeting as well as the preceding parley of COMESA and CAADP partners.

"The purpose of the meeting is to reach consensus among stakeholders on the framework to forge the necessary partnerships to implement the agriculture development agenda and secure commitments and resources from partners to make the necessary investments," the publication said.

Rwanda is the first to organise such a meeting among the six designated countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia, selected by COMESA under phase one to speed up the implementation of the region's agricultural development programme. The meeting will also review how national policies and investments are supporting agricultural development and identify constraints to achieving at least 6% target growth rate for the agriculture sector. It will also identify policy and investment gaps as well as design an action plan to bridge the gaps.


CAADP is spearheaded by African governments aiming at accelerating agriculture growth and eliminating poverty on the continent.

Angola Press

COMESA organic farmers to be coordinated for export to US

Following a mission to Washington D.C. by officials of COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) and the private sector in February 2007, a focal point was selected to coordinate the mobilisation of farmer groups involved in organic farming from the region.

Mr Felix Chizyuka, Secretary of the Eastern and Southern Africa Agribusiness Regional Network is the coordinator selected for the initiative. He is expected to work with AK America, the world's largest buyer of organic cotton, and AOFFI -the Africa Organic Farming Initiative- to ensure a sustainable supply of organic products from the region.

The delegation also met officials of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). It was learnt that of the 95 organic certification organisations worldwide, 55 were based in the United States. The USDA indicated their willingness to assist COMESA make contacts with these certifying organisations.

COMESA member countries are Angola, Burundi, Comoros, D.R. Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

COMESA's expensive new agricultural website

Cellphone technology has revolutionized life in many parts of Africa. This has proven to be a particularly "appropriate technology" where the high infrastructure costs of fixed networks meant that the vast majority of Africans stood no chance of getting a fixed phone. African Agriculture has carried a number of stories about how African entrepreneurs are experimenting with going beyond using the cellphone as a means of private communication, to trying to deliver business information and services through it.

The Internet has as yet tiny access in Africa, but it too promises to be a relatively accessible and cost-effective technology that will make many new things possible in Africa. The mere existence of this website is an example. The Internet has made it possible with relatively little start-up capital, infrastructure or staff, to have a medium of communicating African agricultural news with the whole world.

Given the perennial complaints about lack of funding for business or developmental activities, it is somewhat surprising that the Internet has not been more widely embraced in Africa as a marketing, research and communication tool even in the limited areas where the infrastructure for it exists. This is slowly changing as awareness of the cost-effectiveness, the reach and power of the Internet grows amongst governments as well as private businesses.

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has developed a website aimed at improving agricultural marketing and trade in the 20-member countries. The website, called the Food and Agricultural Marketing Information System, is being funded by the African Development Bank at $8m.

Thomas Barasa, the agricultural and marketing expert at COMESA, said the three-year project would enhance decision-making by all stakeholders. "One of the major factors bogging down trade in the region is lack of market information in regard to commodity demand and supply, prices, consumer needs as well as regulation and rules that govern regional and international trade in agricultural commodities. There is need to provide this information so that stakeholders can use it to formulate policies and appropriate decision-making."

One hopes that the $8 million cost is to set up the associated infrastructure for the whole idea, rather than for just the website as implied by the newspaper. The idea of the service is a good one and there are growing reports of similar pricing/commodity exchange initiatives from all over the continent, made possible by the growing access to cellphones and the Internet.

As good of an idea as it is, it remains to be seen whether an organization like COMESA can provide this necessary service as efficiently and sustainably as the private sector initiatives that are springing up.

Chido Makunike

COMESA, WWF join to boost African agricultural productivity

An African regional economic group, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have agreed to jointly implement a program to improve the productivity and competitiveness of African agriculture.

The two organizations signed on January 31st a memorandum of cooperation in which they will partner in the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program (CAADP). The CAADP is an initiative under the auspices of the COMESA that focuses on four pillars of activities aimed at improving the productivity and competitiveness of African agriculture.

Among the activities is extending the area under sustainable land management and reliable water control systems. Other activities include improving rural infrastructure, increasing food
supply and enhancing agricultural research.

The cooperation between the COMESA and WWF will focus on linking the livelihood of poor rural farmers with the enlargement of commercial agricultural markets. The two organizations also agreed to discuss agro-forestry projects across eastern and southern Africa to promote adaptation to climate change.