This is a significant step towards reshaping the continent’s agri-food systems.

The newly launched strategy aims to mobilise $100 billion, boost agricultural output by 45%, triple intra-African trade, and halve post-harvest losses over the next decade. Building on the legacy of the original CAADP, adopted in Maputo in 2003, this next phase marks a pivotal transition from the Malabo Declaration towards a more integrated, post-2025 agenda known as the “Kampala Process”.

Domingos Gove, Director of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources at the SADC Secretariat, described the initiative as a "critical turning point" for regional development. “Agriculture remains the cornerstone of development in Southern Africa,” he said. “Aligning with this Pan-African process allows us to cascade reforms down to member states, reduce poverty, and secure sustainable economic development.”

Since its inception, CAADP has aimed to foster agricultural-led growth by encouraging African governments to allocate at least 10% of national budgets to agriculture and achieve 6% annual agricultural GDP growth.

However, no country has met all the Malabo targets set for 2025, prompting the AU Assembly in 2024 to call for a renewed strategy to address slow progress and new challenges facing Africa’s agri-food systems.

Eswatini’s Minister of Agriculture, Mandla Tshawuka, voiced strong support for the strategy, expressing hope that it would alter the status quo in his country.

“We are still grappling with food insecurity. Agriculture is vital not just for food production, but for poverty eradication and job creation, especially for vulnerable groups such as women, youth and people with disabilities,” he said.

Tshawuka further stressed the importance of attaining food sovereignty both at the continental and regional levels. “Southern Africa must be able to feed itself and trade within the bloc to ensure long-term food security.”

--ChannelAfrica