Platform for African – European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Roundtable on Sustainable African Agriculture and CAADP 2014 review

28 November 2013. Brussels. A joint ECDPM-APRODEV workshop was organised around Sustainable African Agriculture and CAADP 2014 review

The discussed themes were:

  1. Land and Water resource management
  2. Seeds
  3. Participatory research
  4. Family women farming
programme

concept note

Objective
The objective of this roundtable was to bring together key (AU and EU) stakeholders to discuss issues that are central to sustainable agricultural development and their implications for the CAADP process: land, research, seeds, family and women farming. The timing is right as several key policy processes are currently under review, both at European Union (EU) and African Union (AU) level. Furthermore agriculture will be high on the international agenda in 2014 as it will be the AU Year of Agriculture and Food Security the UN General Assembly has declared it the Year of Family Farming.

The results of this roundtable will hopefully inform the 2014 review of the CAADP framework, currently underway under the leadership of the AU.

Background reading
Concept note
Agricultural Research in Africa: Why CAADP should follow IAASTD
Synopsis on seven international food security and rural development strategies
Lobby Brief on EU Horizon 2020 on research for sustainable agriculture
Lobby Brief on EU CAP Reform 2013 on mitigation GRG emissions
The Role of European Development Finance Institutions in land grabs
Emerging Economies and the Changing Dynamics in African Agriculture: What Role for CAADP?
Dan Lui, Anna Rosengren, Quentin de Roquefeuil, ECDPM Discussion Paper 145, June 2013
The CAADP and Emerging Economies: The Case of Ghana and Brazil
Quentin de Roquefeuil, ECDPM Discussion Paper 146, June 2013
The CAADP and Emerging Economies: The Case of Tanzania
Anna Rosengren, ECDPM Discussion Paper 147, July 2013
The Enriching Business of Nutrition. Market-based Partnerships and Regional Approaches to Nutrition: What Role for CAADP?
Bruce Byiers, Simona Seravesi, ECDPM Discussion Paper 149, July 2013
EU Policy Coherence for Food Security: Aligning Parallel Agendas
Paul Engel, Brecht Lein, Jeske van Seters, Bas van Helden, ECDPM Discussion Paper 153, October 2013
We can create local wealth and jobs and Governments should support family farming more effectively, say West African farmers
Fabien Tondel, Jeske van Seters, ECDPM Talking Points Blog, 26 September 2013
Challenges for Africa-EU Relations 2014


A keynote speaker under the third theme was: Roger Leakey, previously with CGIAR, author of “Living with the Trees of Life”


Living with the Trees of LifeTowards the Transformation of Tropical Agriculture
By R Leakey, Professor of Agroforestry and Novel Crops Unit, James Cook University, Australia

In his book, Dr. Leakey explores a particularly promising innovation—agroforestry. Agroforestry consists of a wide range of practices that integrate trees in farming systems.

In Living with the Trees of Life, Dr. Leakey suggests that farmers in tropical areas of Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Oceania domesticate indigenous trees as cash crops to foster both increased biodiversity and economic opportunities. With increased diversification, agroecosystems will provide habitats for wildlife, improve soil erosion, protect watersheds, and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, helping to mitigate climate change. The only obstacle in implementing these agricultural innovations, Leakey argues, is a lack of political will and appropriate policies.

Dr. Roger Leakey is currently Vice Chairman of the International Tree Foundation and Vice President of the International Society of Tropical Foresters. He has served as the Director of Research at theInternational Centre for Research in Agroforestry (now the World Agroforestry Centre) and coordinating lead author of the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development. According to Leakey, his extensive background in tropical, multifunctional agriculture and his personal experiences in tropical rural villages are the basis for his new book.

Read more about Living with the Trees of Life here. Posts about Dr. Leakey’s work: An Evergreen Revolution: Using Trees to Nourish the Planet, Trees as Crops in Africa, Where Would You Like to See More Agricultural Funding Directed?

Roger Leakey was Professor of Agroecology and Sustainable Development of the James Cook University, in Cairns, Australia (2001-2006); Head of Tropical Ecology at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Edinburgh, UK (1997-2001) and Director of Research at the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (now the World Agroforestry Centre 1993-1997). Currently he is Vice Chairman of the International Tree Foundation, a UK registered charity and Vice President of the International Society of Tropical Foresters.

He was born in Kenya and educated at Marlborough College in England before becoming an agriculturalist (NDA and CDA from Seale Hayne Agricultural College (1964-67 including 18 months practical farm work in England, Sweden and Scotland); B.Sc. Hons. in Agricultural Botany (University of Wales 1967-1970), Ph.D. in the physiology of perennial weeds while working at the ARC Weed Research Organization (University of Reading 1970-1974).

Between 2006 and 2008, he was a Coordinating Lead Author in the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). This Assessment examined the impact of agricultural knowledge, science and technology on environmentally, socially and economically sustainable development worldwide over the last 50 years. To meet the challenges agriculture is facing it has to become more multidisciplinary and embrace food production within a more integrated approach in order to achieving environmental, social and economic goals.

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