Addis Ababa, 01 August 2013 (ECA) – All the regional economic communities and intergovernmental organizations in Eastern Africa have launched a new initiative aimed at enhancing cooperation in the area of food and nutrition security. The Programme on Food Security for Eastern Africa emerged on July 4 after a three-day meeting in Dar es Salaam, the Tanzanian capital.
The programme aims to build on linkages between existing related interventions within the framework of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). It will also support RECs and IGOs in strengthening their respective strategies and projects in food security through emphasizing coherence, consistency and effectiveness. Another goal is to promote creative partnerships, enhance trade exchange and the dissemination of information to improve decision making.
It will focus on the following four areas:
(1) Marketing and trade development for agricultural, livestock and fisheries products;
(2) Research and development for value addition (food processing) and inputs systems (especially fertilizers and seed systems), including collaboration in technology generation (research) and transfer (extension);
(3) Sustainable natural resource management; and
(4) Nutrition and social protection, including safety nets.
The programme is expected to start as a five-year pilot project involving Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The government of the Netherlands has signified its desire to provide some support. The countries represented in the new body also members of the East African Community (EAC), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), Economic Community of Great Lakes Countries (CEPGL).
Apart from the Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Africa (SRO-EA) of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the meeting was jointly organized and sponsored by ICGLR and the United Nations African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP).
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