Africa Industrialization Day, November 20.
Joint Statement of the AUC, UNIDO, UNECA of the Africa Industrialization Day 2014.
Events : African Agro Industry for Food Security for the occasion of the
Africa Industrialization Day 2014.
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| 2014 Theme: “Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development: Agro-Industry for Food Security in Africa’’ |
Тема 2014 года «Африканская агропромышленность для обеспечения продовольственной безопасности».
2014年主题：« 包容性和可持续的工业发展：农工业发展促进粮食安全.».
2014 theme : « Inclusive and sustainable industrial development: African agro industry for food security.».
El tema de 2014 es: «Desarrollo industrial inclusivo y sostenible: el desarrollo agroindustrial para la seguridad alimentaria ».
Thème 2014: «Développement industriel inclusif et durable : développer le
secteur agro-industriel pour assurer la sécurité alimentaire ».
موضوع عام 2014 — التنمية الصناعية المستدامة والشاملة للجميع: التنمية الصناعية - الزراعية من أجل الأمن الغذائي
Many African economies have shown impressive growth rates in recent years, but increased prosperity has not always translated into inclusive wealth creation. Far too often, economic development depends on the extraction of natural resources and on low-skilled labor, which has resulted in a weak manufacturing base and uneven distribution of wealth.
Agriculture still accounts for the major share of rural household income and employs over 60 percent of Africa’s labor force, particularly women. Low agricultural productivity continues to threaten food security in Africa as a whole.
I therefore welcome this year’s theme for Africa Industrialization Day: the importance of inclusive and sustainable industrialization and the close links between agro-industrial development and food security.
Africa needs a green, clean industrialization that leapfrogs outdated, polluting processes and platforms and benefits from new technologies. Inclusive and sustainable industrialization is a key stepping stone towards sustained economic growth, food security and poverty eradication in Africa.
On the occasion of Africa Industrialization Day, I reaffirm the commitment of the United Nations to promote Africa’s inclusive and sustainable industrial development to help ensure an economically prosperous and socially integrated continent.
Ban Ki-moon
Delivered by Ambassador Arthur Kafeero, Chef de Cabinet
Excellencies,
Mr. MagedAbdelaziz , Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa
Ambassador Tete Antonio, Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations
Mr Paul Maseli, Director and Representative of UNIDO to the United Nations
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my great pleasure to join you here today to celebrate Africa Industrialization Day and deliver remarks on behalf of His Excellency, Mr. Sam Kutesa, President of the General Assembly.
The theme “Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development: African Agro Industry for Food Security” is indeed appropriate for this event. This theme highlights the importance of industrialization in accelerating the structural transformation and diversification of the economies of African countries to optimise productivity and employment opportunities.
Esteemed Colleagues,
Over the last decade, many African economies have sustained impressive rates of economic growth averaging 5%. This growth has been largely driven by creation of an enabling environment through sound macro-economic policies, increased domestic and foreign direct investment as well as export of natural resources and commodities.
Yet, in most African countries the economic growth attained has not yet resulted in adequate levels of poverty eradication.
Agriculture has remained the mainstay of many African economies and remains key to poverty reduction. It constitutes the backbone of many African economies.
There still remains limited progress in adding value to primary commodities and exploiting the opportunities for processed agro-food products in local, regional and international markets. While remarkable progress has been made in production, with many countries registering surpluses, a lot of the surplus is often wasted due to lack of processing capacity and marketing. This leads to low returns and the lack of adequate processing, impacts on the length of the stable shelf life of perishable commodities. This also leads to limited utilisation of food, impacting adversely on food security.
In order to enhance food security, it is essential that investments in agriculture go beyond improvements of on-farm productivity. Greater efforts and investments need to be devoted to development of post-production segments of agriculture value chains. Accelerated development of agro-industries will be an indispensable part of such a strategy. As these structural transformations take place, it is essential that policy makers give due attention to agricultural development, which employs 65% of Africa’s workforce and generates one third of the continent’s GDP. As highlighted in a recent World Bank report, GDP growth in agriculture is at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other sectors.
One of the key precursors for spurring sustained and inclusive economic growth for African countries will be industrialization, as it will improve productivity, value-addition and competitiveness.
Already, there have been notable efforts in African countries to pursue structural transformation of their economies.
Throughout Africa, agriculture has moved to the forefront of the development agenda at both the regional and national levels. The Africa Union Agenda 2063 underlines the need to consolidate the modernization of African agriculture and agro-business through scaled-up value addition and productivity. Through this initiative, African leaders are charting a 50-year transformative development framework for the realization of the AU’s vision for an integrated, people-centred, prosperous, peaceful continent.
African leaders have reaffirmed their commitment to boost agricultural productivity through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). The African Union declared 2014 the African Year of Agriculture and Food Security. A growing number of countries have also formulated agricultural development strategies and adopted policies supporting agricultural development. Private sector investment in agriculture has also increased in many African countries.
Excellencies
As we formulate the post-2015 development agenda, it is essential to ensure that the interests of Africa, in the proposed Sustainable Development Goals, are supported. In this regard, the means of implementation for the post-2015 development agenda, in terms of financial resources, technology development and transfer must be ambitious and adequate.
The Common African Position (CAP) on the Post-2015 Development Agenda should continue to guide Africa’s engagement in the ongoing deliberations on the post-2015 development agenda. It will contribute to galvanizing political will and international commitment for a universal development agenda, focused on the eradication of poverty and the achievement of sustainable development as its overarching objectives.
To accelerate industrialization, it will be essential to improve productivity and address the infrastructure deficits, especially energy, roads, railways, ports and air connectivity.
Interventions in Agro Industry Development in collaboration with the Private Sector will be essential in, designing and creating agro-processing industries, capable of creating jobs and increasing incomes.
Enhancing regional cooperation and integration will also be essential, as it facilitates better mobilization of resources for infrastructure development, creates bigger markets, and reduces trade barriers, all of which help to stimulate productivity and competitiveness.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As the international community looks to the future, now is an opportune time to accelerate industrialization in order to harness Africa’s vast potential into tangible benefits to improve the livelihoods of the continent’s over one billion people.
I am confident that with our concerted efforts, we can turn the dream of Africa’s illustrious Statesman, the late President Nelson Mandela into reality and create an Africa where there is “work, bread, water and salt for all”.
I thank you for your kind attention.
Joint Statement of the AUC, UNIDO, UNECA of the Africa Industrialization Day 2014.
2014 Theme: “Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development: Agro-Industry for Food Security in Africa’’
Excellencies,Ladies and Gentlemen,
On this day, we are gathered to celebrate the Africa Industrialization Day (AID). Through the constant partnership between the United Nations agencies, the RECs, government officials, governmental organizations and NGOs, the AID has been celebrated annually on 20 November since 1990.
This year, the African Union (AU) Assembly of Heads of State and Governments declared 2014 to be the “Year of Agriculture and Food Security in Africa”. 2014 also marks the tenth anniversary of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, which advocates for agriculture and food security to be the backbone of Africa’s development agenda. Data show that annual agricultural GDP growth has averaged nearly 4 percent since 2003, an increase compared to the previous decades but much more remains to be done.
The increased focus on agriculture and food security in Africa is set in the context of increasing potential on the continent.Indeed, Africa is rising. Africa's average growth is projected to accelerate to close to 5% in 2014 and 5% - 6% in 2015.
A fabulous window of opportunity. However, at the same time, Africa’s population is growing rapidly as well, set to more than double by 2050. More people will mean the need for increased agricultural production. Given strong endowments in commodities, Africa also has a comparative advantage in industrializing through the development of agribusiness. This all prompts Africa to transform its agriculture through, ideally, agribusiness and agro industries development to create jobs and revenues and link up other sectors to agriculture.
Mindful of the remaining structural challenges obstructing Africa’s steady sustainable development, we are renewing our commitment, our concerted efforts and our actions,to accelerate the design and formulation of viable programs and projects in the agro-industry sector. There is huge potential for these to serve as an anchor for development in many African countries. Boosting agro processing could ensure food security, help curb malnutrition and reduce the continent’s food-trade deficit.
Our theme this year : “Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development: Agro-Industry for Food Security in Africa” calls for a renewed focus of the African development strategy on agricultural and agro-industry. Critically, this will include the strengthening of Africa owned development platforms, including the CAADP framework, especially pillar 2 and 3, AIDA, 3ADI, PIDA, etc.
In line with the Africa Agribusiness and Agro industries Initiative (3ADI), increasing the focus on Agro industrial development is a promising way towards industrialization and poverty reduction. In particular, processing primary soft commodities opens up major possibilities for value addition, job creation and resilience in Africa. To achieve this potential, it will require significant investments and interventions to expand and upgrade agricultural production. Agro-processing is today one of the most significant manufacturing sectors in many African countries, though there exists great potential for improvement.
Most countries have agro processing industries, although with significant variations among countries in size, international competiveness, breadth and processing capabilities, depth of local value added, extent of backward linkages to agriculture and extent of forward linkages to domestic, regional, and international markets. By increasing support for agro processing, with a focus on inclusive industrial development, achieving sustainable development will be possible.
To create and sustain wealth and production in the long term, Africa’s agricultural related resource endowments should used to develop higher value added and tradable industries.This involves giving priority to expanding production and value addition, and responding to increased demand for more sophisticated consumption goods.
There is a strong consensus that an expanding and prosperous productive economy is crucial to the structural transformation of African economies, and is the only sustainable pathway out of poverty and hunger.
Making productive and valuable use of agricultural resources and upgrading primary products will help address some of the continent’s challenges, including poverty and food insecurity. It could also inspire a virtuous circle of higher output, through intensive technology and innovation, infrastructure and energy, human resource and institutional capacity development, and elevated national productivity that is linked with regional and global value chain and yields higher average incomes and superior inclusive prosperity.
This year’s AID theme “Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development: Agro-Industry for Food Security in Africa” reminds us of the necessity to enhance our coordinated efforts in tackling food insecurity in Africa, and highlights the significant potential to achieve this goal through agro-industrial development.
Historically, the pathway out of hunger for most communities and countries has been through a sustained structural transformation process. This pathway involves higher labor productivity in the overall economy, convergence in labor productivity between agriculture and non-agriculture sectors and the realization of intensive value addition activities, primarily in agribusiness. Agribusiness is substantially labour-intensive in terms of creating jobs and generating value added; in it strengthens forward and backward linkages advancing economic transform.
This calls for the adoption of a strategy for agribusiness development rather than simply an agriculture led development strategy. The African agribusiness and agro-industry sectors have a high potential and comparative advantage to grow and develop rapidly, taking advantage of both the resource endowment of most African economies and the conditions surrounding the overwhelming majority of the poor people that live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihood.
Recognizing the critical role agribusiness and agro-industry can play in reducing poverty and hunger, the African leaders, convened at the 23rd AU Assembly, Malabo, June 26, resolved to reduce poverty by 50% through an inclusive agricultural growth and transformation process. In this regards, the leaders committed “to support and facilitate preferential entry and participation for women and youth in gainful and attractive agri-business opportunities”.
They further expressed concern of the “limited progress made in agro-industries and agribusiness development, which hampers value addition and competitiveness of products in trade both local, regional, and international; and undermines the potential of the sector in transformation and generation of gainful employment opportunities for the growing African youth and women”. Thus, the leaders reaffirmed the resolve “to the achievement of goals as provided in the 2010 Abuja Declaration on Development of Agribusiness and Agro-Industries In Africa”.
The African Heads of States have put agro-industrial development as a key part in the 2063 development agenda for sustainable economic and social development of Africa. Increasing the continent’s focus on the development of robust and competitive agro-industries has the potential to spur economic diversification, sustainable development and the creation of jobs for millions of unemployed young and women.
By and large, the AU, UNECA and UNIDO, in line with their respective mandates, stand ready to effectively assist African countries in furthering food security and inclusive development through an increased focus on agro-industry.
We wish you all an excellent celebration of the 2014 Africa Industrialization Day.
Events : African Agro Industry for Food Security for the occasion of the
Africa Industrialization Day 2014.
The United Nations Industrial Development
Organization (UNIDO) will host a symposium in Vienna on 24 November to
celebrate Africa Industrialization Day and showcase relevant actions and
success stories that promote Africa’s industrial development.
The annual commemoration of the Africa
Industrialization Day was mandated by the UN General Assembly resolution
44/237 of 22 December 1989. This year UNIDO will convene a symposium
under the theme “Inclusive and sustainable industrial development:
African agro industry for food security”. It will bring together
representatives from the diplomatic corps, the private sector,
non-governmental organizations and other relevant stakeholders.
This year theme is particularly important as the
African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government declared 2014
the Year of Agriculture and Food Security.
Moreover, 2014 marks the 10th anniversary
of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, which
advocates for agriculture and food security to be at the centre of the
development agenda at all levels.
The UNIDO symposium will allow experts to discuss
issues related to agriculture and food security in line with the
Organization’s new mandate that focuses on inclusive and sustainable
industrial development.
The event will be held at the Vienna International Centre (VIC) from 15:00 to 17:30, in Board Room D, 4th floor (C-Building), and will be followed by a cocktail reception at the VIC restaurant.
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| Working paper ''Agribusinesses’ contribution to food security'' UNIDO - United Nations Industrial Development Organization |
Resources :
Read the Secretary-General's message on Africa Industrialization day in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic.
Read the Africa Industrialization Day Draft Programme.
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