Kampala — The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Isaac dos Anjos, stressed Thursday in Kampala, Uganda, the need to reform the continent’s agricultural sector with the aim of industrializing products locally to avoid exporting raw materials.
The Angolan minister made the statement to the press after opening the first ministerial session of the African Union Extraordinary Summit on the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP).
Issac dos Anjos stressed that the objective is to export processed products and that agriculture is the main tool to fight poverty and social inequalities in the continent’s rural areas.
With regard to the country’s contribution, the Minister said that Angola would ratify what the Technical Committee had already worked on, in particular the strengthening of the lines and pillars on which this strategy for the development of agriculture in Africa is based.
The extraordinary summit aims to mobilize more investments in agriculture and renew the commitment of African countries to allocate at least 10% of their national budgets to the sector.
The program includes a joint session of the Ministers of Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment and Foreign Affairs on Friday (the second working day), and the event will conclude on Saturday with the Conference of Heads of State and Government, which will culminate in the adoption of the Kampala Declaration on Building Resilient and Sustainable Agro-Food Systems in Africa.
Participants in the CAADP agenda include experts, ministers responsible for agriculture (forestry, fisheries and livestock), rural development, water and environment, as well as representatives of youth, women and development partners.HM/VC/DAN/AMP
