Some four years ago, I visited Ghana. My visit coincided with one of Ghana’s public holidays. I used this holiday to visit some key cultural sites including the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial, which is in the heart of Accra.

The Nkrumah Memorial is an amazing site that documents the great pan-Africanist’s vision for the continent. I was seeking clues to what Nkrumah and his fellow leaders thought about agriculture as an instrument for socio-economic development in Africa.

It turned out that Nkrumah had early on noted that “a common continental plan for the industrial and agricultural development of Africa is a vital necessity.”

He was firmly of the opinion that Africa would not attain its industrial and agricultural goals through ad hoc planning at the country level, but would need a robust continental strategy.

Nevertheless, since 1964, when the Organisation of African Unity was established, fundamental issues of pan-Africanism, politics, peace and security, and not economic development, dominated the discussions of Africa leaders.

Fast forward to the year 2001, when five heads of state from Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa proposed to other African leaders to form an integrated socio-economic development framework for Africa.

The 37th Ordinary Session of the OAU in July 2001, Lusaka, Zambia formally adopted the strategic framework document. The 1st Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly held in Durban formally named this development agenda the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad).

Among the key areas in Nepad was agriculture, with accelerated agricultural growth being recognised as crucial for reducing hunger, malnutrition and poverty across the continent.

During the FAO’s 21st Regional Conference for Africa, between February 21 and 25, 2000, in Yaoundé, Cameroon, stakeholders and ministers recommended a “Common African Agricultural Programme (CAAP)”.

Between 2001 and 2003, Nepad started working on key targets, principles and outputs of agriculture. Parallel to this process, OAU had requested FAO to unpack the agricultural component of Nepad for implementation. It was this unpacking that produced the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

At this stage, one could begin to see the dream of Nkrumah of a common continental planning framework for agriculture was finally gaining traction.

The African Union Summit in Maputo in 2003 formally adopted CAADP as a framework for the restoration of agricultural growth, food security, and rural development in Africa.

Many sceptics had interpreted CAADP as a top-down approach. It would be more accurate to say it is not a set of supranational programmes to be implemented by individual countries.

It is rather a common framework to guide country strategies and investment programmes; allow regional peer learning and review, and facilitate harmonisation of development efforts.

We can already notice progress in a number of areas. The implementation of CAADP has created space for inclusive participation of all relevant sector players — from within and outside the state and at the grassroots level.

Regional co-operation has been increased as a result of CAADP engagement. CAADP has also facilitated the establishment of mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation, review, dialogue and accountability.

What is going to define the next decade will be the implementation of CAADP investment plans. There are a number of expectations for 2014, the AU Year of Agriculture and Food Security and for the next decade.

This June, the AU Summit in Malabo in Equatorial Guinea deliberated on the theme: “Accelerating African Agricultural Growth and Transformation.” The leaders committed to the following key areas for the next decade.

• Recommitment to the principles and values of the CAADP process
• Recommitment to enhance investment in agriculture
• Commitment to zero hunger – ending hunger by 2025
• Commitment to halving poverty by 2025 through inclusive agricultural growth
• Commitment to boosting intra-African trade in agricultural commodities & services
• Commitment to enhancing resilience of livelihoods and production systems to climate variability and other shocks

Africans are fatigued by the numerous declarations and decisions that are not translated into action. This time around, the expectations are huge.

Boaz Blackie Keizire is senior adviser at the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) of the African Union Commission