{"id":17057,"date":"2025-06-23T23:55:07","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T23:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/?p=17057"},"modified":"2025-07-02T11:35:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T11:35:37","slug":"igad-unveils-bold-plan-to-combat-food-insecurity-in-the-horn-of-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/2025\/06\/23\/igad-unveils-bold-plan-to-combat-food-insecurity-in-the-horn-of-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"IGAD unveils bold plan to combat food insecurity in the Horn of Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI —<\/strong> The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has convened a high-level expert stakeholder meeting in Nairobi to validate the End-Term Review Report of its Regional Agricultural Investment Plan (RAIP) 2016\u20132020.<\/p>\n

The validation marks a crucial moment in IGAD\u2019s efforts to confront escalating food insecurity in the Horn of Africa and lay the foundation for a new regional agri-food systems investment strategy.<\/p>\n

The meeting marks a crucial step in informing the formulation of the next phase, the Regional Agri-Food Systems Investment Plan (RASIP).<\/p>\n

This plan is expected to respond to the growing threats to food security, climate shocks, and cross-border vulnerabilities that have plagued the IGAD region in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a call to reinforce collaboration between ministries, sectors, and development actors,\u201d said Dr Mohyeldeen Eltohami Taha Hamed, IGAD Director for Economic Cooperation and Regional Integration.<\/p>\n

Between 2016 and 2020, the RAIP served as IGAD\u2019s primary strategy for addressing agricultural transformation and food security under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).<\/p>\n

However, its implementation coincided with a period marked by severe droughts, climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, desert locust invasions, and regional conflicts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese crises have compounded vulnerabilities in food production systems. As of 2024, over 62 million people across the region face food insecurity,\u201d said Eltohami.<\/p>\n

The RAIP was aligned to the Malabo Declaration of 2014, a continental framework that committed African countries to end hunger and halve poverty by 2025 through inclusive agricultural growth.<\/p>\n

The review findings will now guide the development of RASIP in line with the new Kampala Declaration of 2025 and the post-Malabo CAADP agenda.<\/p>\n

The RAIP focused on four investment priority areas: sustainable natural resource management, rural infrastructure for market access, increasing food production, and improving agricultural research and knowledge sharing.<\/p>\n

Its objectives were to intensify sustainable production, enhance value chains, build institutions, and support capacity development of stakeholders across the agri-food system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plan aimed to reach farmers directly by strengthening services and enabling local markets to function better,\u201d said Dr. Senait Regassa, Project Coordinator of the IGAD Food System Resilience Project.<\/p>\n

She emphasized that agriculture must remain central to IGAD\u2019s development agenda, with national governments aligning their budgets and policies accordingly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CAADP framework demands that countries allocate at least 10 per cent of their national budgets to agriculture. If that\u2019s implemented, we will see tangible transformation on the ground,\u201d Regassa added.<\/p>\n

Dr. Regassa highlighted the complex relationship between food insecurity and regional instability.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people go hungry, they are more vulnerable to conflict and radicalization. Conversely, conflict disrupts food systems, transport, and livelihoods. It\u2019s a two-way street.\u201d She stated.<\/p>\n

She noted that advancing food security would inherently contribute to improving regional peace and stability, making investments in agriculture not just an economic imperative but a peace-building strategy.<\/p>\n

While the RAIP laid an ambitious foundation, speakers acknowledged that implementation gaps remain particularly around financing, coordination, and data tracking.<\/p>\n

\u201cFew member states have met the 10 per cent agriculture budget threshold; therefore, we must improve our investment tracking systems and advocate more effectively by showing evidence of how agricultural investments improve lives.\u201d Dr. Regassa noted.<\/p>\n

The RAIP has benefited from coordination among IGAD\u2019s internal divisions, including the Agriculture and Environment Division (AED), the Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC), the Centre for Pastoral Areas and Livestock Development (ICPALD), and the Regional Centre for Drought Resilience (ECRID).<\/p>\n

The validation meeting provided a platform to reinforce partnerships between IGAD, the African Union Commission, development partners, and civil society organizations.<\/p>\n

The results of the End Term Review will directly shape the RASIP strategy, expected to guide the region\u2019s agri-food investments over the next decade.<\/p>\n

Delegates expressed optimism that with coordinated effort, better funding mechanisms, and robust monitoring, the region can move closer to achieving food security and resilience.<\/p>\n

The outcomes of this three-day validation meeting, which runs until June 25, are expected to inform the finalization of the RASIP.<\/p>\n

The new plan will be aligned with the African Union\u2019s post-Malabo agricultural development agenda and will serve as a roadmap for transforming agriculture into a resilient, inclusive, and sustainable engine of economic growth in the IGAD region.<\/p>\n

Source: Kenya News Agency\u00a0 \u00a0Origin: view original<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI — The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has convened a high-level expert stakeholder meeting in Nairobi to validate the End-Term Review Report of its Regional Agricultural Investment Plan (RAIP) 2016\u20132020. The validation marks a crucial moment in IGAD\u2019s efforts to confront escalating food insecurity in the Horn of Africa and lay the foundation for …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-food-security-cluster","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17057"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17095,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17057\/revisions\/17095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}