Zimbabwe Not On Track in Implementing the Malabo Declaration Targets

An Inaugural Biennial Report to the African Union has revealed that Zimbabwe is not on track regarding the implementation of the June 2014 Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared prosperity and Improved Livelihoods.

Zimbabwe, which is amongst the four countries that are not on track the Southern African Development Community (SADC), is targeting to reduce post harvest losses by 50% in the next eight years from 2017 in line with the Malabo declaration according to state media.

“Among the 12 countries (in SADC), eight are on track and these include Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa and Swaziland) while, four countries (Madagascar, Lesotho, Zambia and Zimbabwe) are not on track,” states the report.

The Malabo Declaration came into being after AU Heads of State adopted a declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation in June 2014 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea after the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) in 2003 in Maputo, Mozambique.

Despite that Zimbabwe has fallen short, the overall average score for SADC is 4.08 against the 3.94 benchmark for 2017, indicating that the region is on track in meeting the CAADP/Malabo targets.

SADC is on track on four commitment areas which include, re-committing to the CAADP process, halving poverty through agriculture which it did by 2015, boosting intra-Africa trade in agriculture commodities and enhancing mutual accountability for actions and results.

“It was evident that countries with relatively good agricultural data management systems seem to be performing better in the Biennial Review.” the report to the assembly states.

The other commitment areas in the Malabo Declaration include enhancing Investment Finance in Agriculture, ending hunger by 2025 and enhancing resilience to clime variability.

The Maputo Declaration, which led to the Malabo Declaration, sets targets of 6 percent annual growth in Agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with an allocation of 10 percent of public expenditure to the Agricultural sector. Last year, the agricultural sector in Zimbabwe had a budget allocation of US $291.6 million covering activities relating to strategic grain reserves (US$112.5 million); input schemes (US$102 million); supportive personnel/employment costs (US$47.3 million); operations (US$8 million); irrigation development (US$6.1 million); extension services (US$3.385 million); and veterinary services (US$2.68 million) among others.