A SELECTED COUNTRY DIAGNOSTIC AND A SHORT TERM IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

The work captured in this report should be viewed as a continuation of the project initially commissioned by the African Union Commission’s Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture in January of 2016 which led to the preparation of the precursor report to this one, entitled “Toward a Continental African Agribusiness APEX Body: A Strategy and Action Plan.”
The initial work and the current exercise presented herein build on the effort commenced in 2012 with the development of the NEPAD Continental Agribusiness Strategy which advocated for the establishment of strong public – private sector linkages toward the realization of CAADP and also increased support for African agribusinesses. This theme was further codified in the Malabo Commitments of 2014 which were endorsed by Africa’s heads of state and government.
Lastly, it is important to recall that this current effort also stems from discussions which took place last August 18-20, 2015, in Accra, Ghana where DREA organized a stakeholder meeting under the theme “Development of an Implementation Plan and Roadmap for a Continental Agribusiness Strategy” as one of the outcomes of that meeting was a recommendation that a strategy and action plan be developed toward the establishment of a continental apex agribusiness body.
Following the preparation of the initial Strategy and Action Plan in April 2016, the consultants were invited to an AUC DREA Strategy development meeting with the Food and Agriculture Organization in Addis Ababa to present the findings of the report and brief stakeholders on the suggested action plan.
As an outcome of that meeting, the work undertaken in this current exercise, which consisted of undertaking a series of diagnostic visits and engagements in selected target countries and creation of a proposed Apex body structure and pathway toward operationalization of the organ, was conceptualized and commissioned.
The field work undertaken (i.e. the participation by the consultants in stakeholder engagement and diagnostic meetings in Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia, DRC and South Africa) principally involved the consultants meeting with existing and potential apex body stakeholders in each country and posing the following questions: