01 Apr 2015

Botswana Council of Churches (BCC) in collaboration with the Economic Justice Network (EJN) of the Fellowship of Christian Council in Southern Africa (FOCCISA) has launched a Comprehensive African Agriculture Development programme research (CAADP) report.

Comprehensive African Agriculture Development programme research report aimed at tackling issues affecting the agricultural sector in the SADC region.

Chairperson for FOCCISA, Reverend Mosweu Simane, said at the launch in Gaborone that the forum sought to facilitate exchange of ideas and seek ways in which gaps and challenges facing the agricultural sector could be addressed.

Rev. Simane further said the objective of the forum was to come up with ways in which small farmers could incorporate the finance and investment strategies regionally.

“ The objective is to explore together ways in which the small scale farmers and civil society can be involved in the formulation of the finance and investment strategies of the SADC Regional Agriculture Policy,” he said.

The other objective according to Rev. Simane is to inform the SADC region’s people and partners about the Comprehensive African Development Programme Research and Policy Briefs produced by The Economic Justice Network.

For his part, the coordinator of EJN of FOCCISA Mr Simon Vilakazi said the research aims to support small scale farmers and to help African countries to reach economic growth.

“The objective is to reduce poverty within the SADC region,’’ he said. The main focus of the EJN is poverty eradication in the SADC region through work in food security and climate justice, trade, policy advocacy within SADC, and tax justice and extractive industries.

Mr Vilakazi indicated that the research findings showed less indulgence of famers in the agricultural development stating that Botswana was not doing well in terms of agriculture as there were no resources to carryout farming. 

Elaborating on SADC governments’ responses to the CAADP policy framework senior researcher Professor Nicholas Ngepah of University of Johannesburg said agriculture supports more than 70 percent of African population.

“Agriculture has a strong contribution to reduce poverty,” he said. Mr Ngepah said the conflict over land and water resources hindered agricultural activities, adding that land, water and energy were vital for agriculture.

Mr Ngepah highlighted that people should invest in the right kind of agricultural development. “There is room for discoveries in Africa, invest in agriculture to improve food productivity,” he said. ENDS