Status Report on CAADP Implementation in South Africa
Introduction
The Government of the Republic of South Africa formally launched the implementation of the CAADP Agenda in October 2011. CAADP is an African vision for the restoration of agricultural growth, food security and rural development on the African continent.
The Government of South Africa has since 2011 engaged with the NEPAD Agency to identify and elaborate national and sub-national priorities and attendant implementation modalities for improving the performance of the agriculture sector. This is in recognition of the potential contribution of the agriculture sector to the objectives of the National Growth Path (NDP); the sector’s potential role in - not only assuring food security, but also in promoting decent employment for women and youth as well as boosting the livelihoods especially among smallholder farmers provides the rationale for enhancing the sector’s performance.
Progress made in Implementing CAADP in South Africa
A national-level Stakeholders’ orientation seminar was held in October 2011. The Seminar, which marked the formal launch of CAADP in the Country, purposed at developing a common and clear understanding of the current state of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries sector development strategies, and as well elaborating concrete actions geared at supporting and strengthening the implementation of CAADP in South Africa. An implementation modality was agreed consisting largely of establishing national and provincial CAADP teams, and undertaking sub-national consultations on CAADP aimed at informing the construct of national priorities, plans and programmes – especially within the frame of decentralization.
Accordingly, a national CAADP team was established and trained on its roles and responsibilities in promoting the CAADP agenda. Furthermore, provincial consultations have been held in eight of the nine provinces of the country, with provincial CAADP teams established. Provincial – level priorities have been identified and elaborated. The findings and recommendations of provincial consultations will be used in developing the national CAADP Compact and as well as the national agriculture and food & nutrition security investment plan.
A Comprehensive stocktaking exercise of policies, strategies, programmes and investments in the agriculture sector has been conducted essentially posited to highlight baseline issues in policies, institutions, programs and investments, examine the opportunities for, and constraints to agricultural growth, and to identify key drivers of growth and potential investment priorities. The exercise, conducted in tandem with the provincial consultations will be finalised in the first quarter of 2014.
In line with the principles of CAADP of inclusiveness and promotion of the private sector in the implementation of agriculture initiatives, consultations were held at national level with Commodity-Associations. The consultations primarily purposed to ensure that the interests of industry stakeholders are embedded in the South Africa CAADP process. Subsequently, and linked to the provincial consultations, a range of commodity associations, banks, agriculture-finance institutions, small / retailer and large scale consumer bodies rally their constituent members at provincial and lower administrative levels to actively engage with the CAADP process.
In 2003, the Heads of African countries committed their governments to allocating at least 10% of their national budgets to agriculture. In this regard, a budget-tracking study is on-going in South Africa, purposed at assessing the quantity, the quality and composition of financial resources allocated and expended in the agriculture sector. The study, led by the Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in collaboration with counterpart CFOs at provincial level, focuses on budgets and expenditures of national and provincial governments, specifically in the agriculture sector. The study will be completed within the first quarter of 2014.
The implementation of CAADP in South Africa accords an opportunity for the actors involved in CAADP implementation to draw lessons and insights into advancing the CAADP agenda within a decentralised management and governance system. Lessons emerging from provincial consultations will inform the construct of mechanisms that can be employed in deepening engagement of multi-level stakeholders, thereby fostering wider buy-in and ownership of the CAADP agenda. The link between lower level priorities, plans and programmes to the ones enshrined in the national CAADP Compact and Investment Plan merits close examination, and again lessons drawn from the experiences in South Africa are helpful in shaping the link.
| SN | Key Milestone | Target Date(s) of Completion |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Level Consultations | August 2011 (done); March 2014 (“aggregating” and analysing the provincial consultation outcomes) |
| 2 | Establishing and training National CAADP Team | April 2012 (done) |
| 3 | Provincial-level consultations | 1st quarter of 2014 (Gauteng Province consultations outstanding) |
| 4 | Comprehensive stocktaking exercise | Exercise nearly complete; to be finalised in the 1st quarter of 2014 |
| 5 | Signing the national CAADP Compact | June 2014 |
| 6 | National Agriculture and Food & Nutrition Security Investment Plan | June 2014 |
| 7 | Budget Tracking Study (10% Maputo Target) | Study is on-going and will be completed - 1st quarter of 2014 |
Next Steps
- Provide backstopping support to the DAFF-CAADP team to structure engagement with other relevant Departments to foster synergies, harness complementarities and promote buy-in of the CAADP agenda (point in case is the Food Security Policy in which CAADP is conspicuously missing – in spite of clear points of leverage such as drawing on the stocktaking work which has a strong orientation on food security issues);
- Conduct block-leadership training sessions for the provincial CAADP teams; and
- Provide technical backstopping support on the ongoing budget tracking study and promote alignment with, and feedback to the national and provincial-level planning and budgeting processes.