ZAMBIA LAUNCHES HER SECOND NAIP

As Zambia prepares to submit its 2019 CAADP Biennial report on the progress she is making in meeting her commitments to the Malabo Declaration; a review of her first National Agricultural Investment Plan (NAIP) was launched in preparation for the development of the second NAIP.

The first NAIP (2014-2018) was aimed at facilitating and supporting the development of a sustainable, dynamic, diversified and
competitive agricultural sector that assured food security at household and national levels; and maximized the sector’s contribution to GDP.

Addressing a meeting that was held to launch the Review of NAIP 2014-2018, the Formulation of the Second Generation NAIP and the Biennial Review process; Agriculture Minister, Michael Katambo, said that the review process would enlighten stakeholders to lessons that would be pertinent in the development of a practical second NAIP.

“The appraisal will reveal the various achievements and challenges that were encountered in its implementation…and will enable all of us stakeholders appreciate the extent to which the investment in agriculture sector helped to enhance employment opportunity creation through agricultural product processing or value addition,” Mr. Katambo added.

Once finalized, the second NAIP is expected to come in effect in 2022 and run up to 2026.

During a presentation on the Review of NAIP and Formulation of the Second Generation NAIP for Zambia made at the meeting by Derick Sikombe – a policy analyst from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry’s CAADP Focal Point Person – it was revealed that the implementation of the first NAIP faced significant challenges and the effect of climate change on agricultural production was among the most apparent.

“The [2019] crop forecast results showed that in the southern part of Zambia, the production was low for most crops - all this because of the effect of climate change. Even our livestock had very little water to drink…So these issues of climate change are very key as we develop the second investment plan for Zambia. We need to ensure that by 2025 at least 30% of farm households are resilient to [climatic] shocks,” Mr. Sikombe said.

He added that there was a need to mainstream resilience and risk management into policies, strategies and investments if the second NAIP would be effective.

With regard to the first Biennial Review Report (BRR) that was submitted in 2017, the revelations complemented the assertion that there were challenges in the implementation of NAIP. The findings from the Report revealed that Zambia was among the 27 countries that were lagging behind in achieving the Malabo Commitments by 2025.

The BRR is a requirement from all AU-CAADP countries as a mechanism to monitor their progress towards achieving their Malabo Commitments to accelerate agricultural growth by 2025.The next BRR is expected to take place later this year.

Highlights of Zambia’s 2017 BRR, was presented by Christopher Mbewe - a policy planner from the Ministry of Agriculture – and it revealed the need to improve the collection and dissemination of agricultural data because data played a role in measuring Zambia’s performance accurately.

“We therefore are requesting institutions that we have identified here, to provide focal point persons for data collection, compilation and finalization of the BRR. We want all stakeholders to own and support the process,” Mr. Mbewe said.

The launch of the NAIP review process and development of the second generation NAIP, which was held in Lusaka, attracted stakeholders from both the government and private sector including civil society organizations.