Nairobi — East African leaders should address issues that impede growth and transformation of agricultural sector to become a key driver of growth and development, a Kenyan Cabinet Secretary, has said.
Mr Willy Bett, Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, said here on Monday that East African leaders need to engage the private sector to review the issues which are hampering growth into the sector.
"The biggest question is what we are going to undertake to bring transformation to agriculture to become a key driver of socio-economic development," he told reporters at an inaugural Africa Green Revolution Forum press conference here on Monday.
Mr Betty said it was important that African leaders were committed to transform the sector whose growth and contribution to the economy had declined in recent years.
The East African Community is one of bright spots of growth in sub-Saharan African with growth rate of above six per cent driven by fastest growing sectors of communication, finance and banking which are not labour-intensive.
He said industrialization agenda in the EAC region would not succeed much without transformation of agriculture to support the growth of the manufacturing sector.
The President of Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa, Dr Agnes Kalibata said there was a need for African leaders and the private sector to work together to unleash the great potential of the sector.
She said rapid growing young population and plans for boosting the manufacturing sector were presenting opportunities for meaningful growth in agriculture through transformation of the sector.
"We need to step up our actions and take advantage of the moment to bring about transformation of agriculture," she said. "The private sector is engaged and wants to engage more. How do we support them?
How do our leaders seize the moment?" The Managing Director of Africa for Rockefeller Foundation, Mamadou Biteye said it was concerning to see agriculture declining while other sectors were flourishing noting it was something which provides a food for thought. "Since 2005 it is declining.
Is it a result of other sector rising significantly that we don't see its growth of is it just declining because we have not done enough to support its growth," he said.
African leaders, agriculture development partners and other stakeholders are meeting in Nairobi for a week-long conference at the sixth African Green Revolution Forum to discuss various ways of transforming agriculture into a key driver for growth and development.
The conference is hosted by Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa.