STORY: AU summit on agriculture development opens in Uganda
SHOOTING TIME: Jan. 9, 2025
DATELINE: Jan. 10, 2025
LENGTH: 0:02:49
LOCATION: Kampala
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of flags at the summit
2. various of summit
3. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): CONSTANCE OKEKE, Nigerian Delegate
4. various of summit
5. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): GIRMA AMENTE, Ethiopian Minister of Agriculture
6. various of CAADP summit
7. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): ROBINAH NABBANJA, Prime Minister of Uganda
8. various of side meetings during the first day of the summit

STORYLINE:

An extraordinary African Union (AU) summit on agriculture opened Thursday in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, as experts and government officials seek measures to boost the continent's development in the sector.
   
The three-day meeting, which started with the ministerial meeting and will culminate in the heads of state and government meeting, will review the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), the continent's blueprint plan to fast-track agriculture development.
  
Frank Tumwebaze, Uganda's minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries, said the Kampala meeting will come up with a strategy and action plan to implement the CAADP for the next decade.
   
The meeting, held under the theme "Building Resilient Agri-Food Systems," comes after the first CAADP strategy was launched in 2003 as part of the strategies towards the realization of the African Agenda 2063, according to the minister.
   
SOUNDBITE 1 (English): CONSTANCE OKEKE, Nigerian Delegate
"The Kampala Summit, like it has been tagged, is very important to every citizen of Africa -- first and foremost and also the farmers, and especially the smallholder farmers because it is going to be a landmark event that will help promote a framework that will ensure that issues of food production, food security, nutrition security in Africa are taken a step further."
   
Ethiopian Minister of Agriculture Girma Amente said agriculture plays a critical role in the sustainability of a bigger part of the continent's population and the continent should address the challenges of climate change in the face of new global challenges.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): GIRMA AMENTE, Ethiopian Minister of Agriculture
"The CAADP framework has been instrumental in guiding our efforts to enhance agricultural productivity, improve food security and promote sustainable practices. However, as we look ahead, we must acknowledge the evolving challenges we face -- climate change, population growth and urbanization and the ongoing impact of the emerging global crisis."

Ugandan Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, who opened the meeting, urged countries to work together to implement the policy proposals that they have come up with.

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): ROBINAH NABBANJA, Prime Minister of Uganda
"For us to guarantee our future as Africans, we must feed ourselves. The process of drafting and adopting the strategy and action plan is now coming to an end. I urge you to now focus your energies on implementation and this will be a combined effort from national to regional and continental levels. Let us work together in a complimentary way to deliver the Africa we want."

Josefa Sacko, AU commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy, and Sustainable Environment, said the new draft strategy that will be presented to the heads of state and government for approval is a result of a 2024 African Union Commission (AUC) report indicating that no AU member country would achieve the Malabo CAADP goals by this year.
   
Sacko said the leaders directed the AUC to develop a new 10-year strategy that would respond to the challenges facing Africa's Agri-Food Systems.
   
World Bank data show that over 70 percent of the continent's population derives its livelihood from agriculture.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Kampala.
(XHTV)