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Women in Ethiopia carrying wood. Credit: Rod Waddington.
In 2003, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) was launched with the ambitious goal of transforming agriculture into a catalyst for economic growth, poverty alleviation, and food security across Africa. Rooted in the Maputo Declaration and later reinforced by the Malabo Declaration, CAADP aspired to position agriculture at the heart of Africa’s development. Its targets – allocating 10% of national budgets to agriculture and achieving a 6% annual agricultural growth rate – were bold, reflecting the continent’s determination to take ownership of its development agenda.
Two decades later, CAADP’s legacy is a stark reminder of both potential and unfulfilled promise. While its vision has driven important milestones, the framework has struggled to deliver transformative outcomes for Africa’s farmers. Civil society, particularly vocal advocates, has raised critical concerns about CAADP’s design, priorities, and implementation, questioning whether it serves the people it was intended to benefit or reinforces harmful external dependencies.
Yes, CAADP has undoubtedly reshaped the narrative of agriculture across Africa. From national agricultural investment plans to the Biennial Review process, the framework has achieved milestones worth celebrating. Countries like Rwanda stand out, showing us what is possible when strong political will is combined with targeted investments in infrastructure, technology, and market development.
CAADP has also championed the spirit of collaboration through initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), designed to break down trade barriers and ignite intra-African trade. It has reminded us that agriculture is not just about feeding the continent – it’s about driving economic growth, ensuring food security, and building resilience in the face of climate challenges.
But then, there’s the voice of President Yoweri Museveni at the Extraordinary AU Summit on the Post-Malabo CAADP at Munyonyo in Kampala, Uganda, 9-11 January 2025, urging us to look deeper. He painted a vivid picture of Africa’s neo-colonial struggle, where raw materials like coffee, cotton, and cocoa are shipped abroad for others to transform and profit from. “A kilogram of coffee,” he said, “fetches us just $2.50 as raw material, but the same kilogram, roasted and packaged, earns $40 abroad.” His words were a wake-up call, reminding us of the wealth Africa loses and the jobs its youth desperately need, all because value addition happens elsewhere.
The shortcomings of CAADP
The critique of CAADP is centred on its failure to translate ambitions into equitable and sustainable outcomes for Africa’s farmers. In fact, the framework has been characterised by a lack of inclusivity, prioritising top-down policies over grassroots-driven participatory solutions.
Starting with agroecology, CAADP’s limited support for this sustainable approach remains one of its key shortcomings. Agroecological practices, which integrate biodiversity, resilience, and local knowledge, offer proven solutions to Africa’s food and climate crises. Yet, the framework continues to favour industrial agriculture – an input-intensive model that depletes soils, harms biodiversity, and increases farmers’ dependency on costly external inputs, undermining food sovereignty and heightening vulnerability to market and climate shocks.
Following with GMOs and gene-edited crops, CAADP’s openness to these “emerging technologies” raises serious concerns. The dominance of patented seeds by powerful multinational corporations locks farmers into crippling cycles of dependency, eroding their autonomy and sovereignty. Inadequate regulatory frameworks leave communities vulnerable to severe health risks, environmental degradation, and irreversible biodiversity loss. Cross-contamination threatens indigenous crops, undermining Africa’s rich agricultural heritage and resilience. These technologies represent a direct threat to the continent’s food security, prioritizing corporate profits over the survival and well-being of its people and ecosystems..
Next comes the issue of flawed governance, which continues to hinder CAADP’s transformative potential. While Museveni’s speech emphasised Africa’s untapped potential and the need for value addition, it stopped short of addressing the lack of diverse voices in shaping agricultural policies. Civil society groups advocating for agroecology, local resource sovereignty, and resistance to neo-colonial strategies often find their contributions side-lined, leaving policies disconnected from grassroots realities.
CAADP’s reliance on external donors further skews priorities toward export-oriented agriculture, favouring global market demand over local food systems. This imbalance exacerbates inequalities, leaving smallholder farmers – particularly women and youth – struggling to compete with powerful agribusinesses on an uneven playing field. The CAADP Strategy and Action Plan (2026–2035) seeks to address these challenges by leveraging donor contributions for capacity building and pooling resources for sustained agrifood system transformation. Isn’t this just another form of dependency that compromises Africa’s agricultural sovereignty?
Finally, the elephant in the room : Climate change poses a critical threat to Africa’s agriculture, yet CAADP’s response has not adequately addressed this escalating crisis. While the 2026-2035 CAADP Strategy and Action Plan presents carbon credits as a potential solution, this approach raises serious concerns. Positioning carbon credits as an opportunity for Africa to generate revenue risks commodifying ecosystems without delivering tangible benefits to farmers or addressing systemic vulnerabilities. Without robust governance and equitable mechanisms, this strategy could exacerbate inequalities, prioritising profits for external actors over local resilience.
CAADP remains a crucial framework for Africa’s agricultural transformation, but its success hinges on confronting its critical shortcomings. Urgent, bold reforms are essential for CAADP to reach its true potential. The prioritisation of industrial agriculture, the promotion of GMOs, and the exclusion of civil society have undermined its capacity to create real, lasting change. As CAADP enters its third decade, it is time to move beyond empty declarations and to take decisive action. Agroecology, food sovereignty, and resilient, inclusive systems must be the foundation of this transformation. The future of Africa’s agriculture must be shaped by the voices of the grassroots – by women, youth, and smallholder farmers – not by the elite. The power to shape Africa’s agricultural future lies with its people, not external forces.