SIXTH JOINT MEETING OF THE MINISTERS OF AGRICULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

f February 2015, at Lusaka, Zambia

1. WE the Ministers of Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources from the COMESA Member States, meeting at Lusaka, Republic of Zambia on 12-13 February 2015 to review progress in the implementation of regional programmes, have deliberated and reached consensus on all these issues and have agreed to issue this Declaration on Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources;

2. EXPRESSING our appreciation to the President of the Republic of Zambia, His Excellency Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu, and the Government and people of Zambia for hosting this important meeting, which has availed us an opportunity to review regional strategies and programmes to enhance regional food and nutrition security and economic growth, through a coordinated approach involving Member States.

3. RECALLING the commitment that our Governments have made to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on eliminating hunger and reducing child malnutrition in Africa by 50% by the year 2015;

4. RECALLING the decision of the AU Heads of State and Government at the Maputo Summit in July 2003 to adopt the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) as a framework for accelerating agricultural development and food security on the continent;

5. FURTHER RECALLING the AU Summit held at Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, during which the Heads of State and Government re-committed themselves to implement CAADP as the engine for economic growth and poverty reduction in the continent and to align to the Sustaining CAADP Momemtum Results Framework

6. COGNIZANT of the fact that Climate Change is a very important issue in the area of agriculture development and natural resources management as well as associated downstream activities in food and agricultural value chains.

7. FURTHER RECOGNIZING the important role which women and youth play in enhancing attainment of food security and operations of agricultural value chains in the light of climate change;

8. FURTHER RECOGNISING the role of Agroforestry in climate change mitigation and the relevance of fertilizer procurement and improved distribution for enhanced agriculture production and productivity

9. RE-AFFIRMING our decisions made at the Meeting held in Addis Ababa in September 2013, which underscored the importance of accelerating the CAADP processes in Member States and the importance of increasing agricultural productivity to achieve food and nutrition security in the region; and

10. EXPRESSING appreciation to among others: the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations; Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS); International Centre for Research and Agroforestry (ICRAF); International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA); Food Trade Eastern and Southern Africa (FoodTrade-ESA); Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) Africa; International Livestock Research Institute) ILRI; and the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) for their attendance and generous support rendered to COMESA towards the implementation of COMESA Programmes more specifically, programmes under the Alliance for Commodity Trade for Eastern and Southern Africa (ACTESA), Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) unit, Tripartite Climate Change Programme, Gender and Social Affairs Division, Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary Programme and the Veterinary Governance initiative;

WE HEREBY AGREE AS FOLLOWS:

1. Urge Member States to develop strategies for implementing commitments contained in the Malabo Declaration including among others: Inclusive Agricultural Growth and Transformation; Commitment to Boosting Intra-African Trade in Agricultural commodities and services; Commitment to Enhancing Resilience of Livelihoods and Production Systems to Climate Variability and other related risks;

1. Urge the Secretariat to support Member States adopt inclusive innovative financing mechanisms, including the establishment of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) towards enhancing investment finance in Agriculture;

1. Urge Member States to develop deliberate policies and strategies for local sourcing, depending on availability, of at least 30% of cassava raw material by industries utilizing cassava and cassava products;

1. Further Urge the Secretariat to support Member States in designing Sustainable Land and Water Management programmes;

1. Urge Member States to include agro forestry in their National Agriculture Investment Plans and allocate resources as part of their input support programmes;

1. Urge COMESA and Member States to support investments in livestock, fisheries and aquaculture;

1. Request the Secretariat to develop a programme on promotion of fertilizer tree technologies and to participate in other regional and global initiatives;

1. Urge Member States to approve the COMESA Seed Trade Harmonisation Implementation Plan (COMSHIP), and to support its implementation at national-level;

1. Request the Secretariat through its specialized agency ACTESA, to establish a Fertilizer Trade Facility comprising a set of financial instruments to spur rural transformation through investments in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) working along the fertilizer value chain;

1. Further request the Secretariat through its specialized agency ACTESA, to facilitate at least 500 of these (SME) enterprises with AFAP Agribusiness Partnership Contracts (APCs) that will allow for sustained business and technical support over the next 2-3 years in all COMESA Member States;

1. Urge Member States to adopt the Fertilizer Marketing and Distribution Programme and to support the implementation of a COMESA Fertilizer Policy and Regulatory Framework to facilitate fertilizer trade and investment;

1. Urge the Secretariat, through its specialized agency ACTESA, to undertake the harmonization of standards on cereals and legumes and to work with member States on inclusion of the livestock, maize and other cereals and legumes in the value chain programmes;

1. Urge the Secretariat, through its specialized agency ACTESA, to develop a second phase of the Regional Food Balance Sheet Programme by 2015;

11. NOTING that the Government of Burundi has offered to host the Seventh Joint Ministers Meeting on Agriculture Environment and Natural Resources;

12. WE, hereby commit to support the enhancement of food security and improved livelihoods in the region in a manner which promotes and sustains the environment and our natural resources.

Adopted, this 13th Day o