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FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHLGB/AMEMBASSY KIGALI PRIORITY 4790
RUEHLS/AMEMBASSY LUSAKA 4112
RUEHLG/AMEMBASSY LILONGWE 2320
RUEHDR/AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM 5231
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 2000
RUEHJB/AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA 0099
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 9254
RUEHDJ/AMEMBASSY DJIBOUTI 4662
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INFO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9094

UNCLAS NAIROBI 001709 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AID/AFR/EA/JESCALONA 
JEFFREY BORNS, AFR/SD 
THOMAS HOBGOOD, AFR/SD/EGEA 
SUSAN THOMPSON AND JOHN R THOMAS EGAT/AG/ARPG 
POLLY BYERS, F/AF/EA 
WILLIAM HAMMINK, DCHA/FFP 
SUSAN BRADLEY, DCHA/PPM 
JERRY BROWN, RCSA/RPIO 
ERNA KERST, RCSA/DIR 
ROBERT KAGBO, WA/ANRO 
ADDIS PLEASE PASS TO USAU 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: RW
SUBJECT: CAADP MEETING, KIGALI, RWANDA MARCH 29-31, 2007 
 
 
Rwanda is the first country in the COMESA region to 
launch a country Compact for the Comprehensive African 
Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP). 
 
¶1. Summary 
 
March 29-31 in Kigali, the Government of Rwanda and 
COMESA hosted a regional partners? meeting and a country 
round-table meeting on the Comprehensive African 
Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP). On March 31, 
a CAADP Country Compact was signed by the Rwandan 
Government, the African Union, the NEPAD Secretariat, 
COMESA, and development agencies represented by the 
World Bank. This document commits the government and the 
development partners to expeditiously modify the 
Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy 
(EDPRS), and to align it and related programs in 
agriculture with the CAADP objectives. The Compact 
reaffirms the commitment to allocate 10% of the national 
budget to agriculture, as well as to improve donor 
coordination and predictable financing in support of the 
program.  It proposes to establish joint review 
processes involving the government the private sector, 
civil society, and development agencies. Implementation 
will be overseen by the government and the development 
partners, with a strong reliance on private sector 
capacity. A Sector Wide Assistance Program (SWAP) will 
be established to facilitate implementation. 
 
Steps are underway in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia, 
and Malawi to establish country implementation platforms 
for CAADP.  Representatives of most of these countries 
participated in the meeting to coordinate their 
respective plans with each other and with the regional 
platform, which is being coordinated by the COMESA 
Secretariat. Steps are also underway to establish a 
 
SIPDIS 
regional CAADP Compact, which is expected to be 
completed by the end of 2007. USAID is committed to 
support and align its efforts with CAADP at the 
bilateral and regional levels. 
 
¶2. Objectives of the CAADP Round Table Process 
 
The CAADP round table process provides an African led 
forum, common framework and a commitment to evidence 
based planning for countries to review and improve the 
efficiency of their ongoing and future agricultural 
development efforts aimed at stimulating economic growth 
and reducing poverty.   Preparation for the roundtable 
involves: 
a) An inventory and review of current policies, 
programs, investments and sector governance and 
coordination mechanisms; 
b) Analysis to determine whether the current efforts 
(programs and investments levels) are adequate to 
achieve the CAADP objectives of six percent 
agricultural growth and meet MDG NO.1 - to cut hunger 
and poverty in half; 
c) Analysis to determine the areas of potential 
investment with the highest potential for achieving 
the growth and poverty reduction objectives, and the 
levels of investment that will be required; 
d) Analysis first to benchmark the current levels of 
government and donor funding and then to project the 
future financing from all sources that will needed to 
meet the objectives; 
e) A review to determine if sufficient and appropriate 
institutional capacity and skills exist to deliver on 
the agenda. 
 
The roundtables bring key stakeholders and development 
partners together to review this information, to 
identify changes that will be needed among government, 
donors, private sector and civil society to achieve the 
CAADP objectives, and to chart a way forward. 
 
¶3. Summary of the CAADP Roundtable process in Rwanda 
 
Rwanda is the first country in Africa to complete the 
CAADP round table process.  The process was clearly 
owned and led by Rwandan Government leaders.   They used 
the opportunity to inform their ongoing national 
planning process for their Economic Development and 
Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS), and the Strategic 
Plan for Agricultural Transformation (PSTA) which is a 
multi-year set of operational programs that guide the 
implementation of specific programs. Through CAADP, 
IFPRI provided analytical support, modeling the impact 
on growth and poverty of different investment choices. 
The round table process in Rwanda has set a high 
standard for serious analysis and high quality debate, 
and stimulated valuable discussion among the 
representatives of other countries. 
 
The analysis of types and levels of investment being 
made projected that with the current portfolio, growth 
will slow down, and that the government?s existing plans 
would reduce poverty by at most 20 percent by 2020. 
Continuing current plans and programs (business as 
usual) would mean that Rwanda could not meet the CAADP 
objectives and the related MDG goal for poverty.  To 
meet the MDG, significantly higher investments will be 
needed, along with a portfolio that balances sub-sectors 
to stimulate growth among lower income strata, as well as 
promoting export commodities that may have higher rates 
of return but which involve only relatively few farmers. 
 
Rwanda has proposed to organize its future programs into 
four pillars that are responsive to but different from 
those in the CAADP framework. Within each, plans for 
specific sub-programs and indicative targets were 
developed, and then budgeted according to different 
assumptions about the financial resources expected to 
become available. These templates provide a flexible 
framework within which specific programs can be further 
developed. 
 
a) The intensification and development of sustainable 
production systems, including soil conservation, 
intensification of marshlands, expansion of 
irrigation, increased supply of seed, fertilizer, and 
other inputs, improved animal production systems, and 
improved access to food and better management of 
supplies available to vulnerable groups 
b) Support to professionalization of producers, 
including the strengthening of farmers? 
organizations, restructured extension services, 
research for development, and credit 
c) Promotion of commodity chains and development of 
agribusiness, including export promotion and business 
development, promotion of specialty crops, agro- 
processing and improved competitiveness, and rural 
infrastructure 
d) Institutional development, including increased 
staffing and training for key institutions, improved 
agricultural statistics, and comprehensive monitoring 
and evaluation 
One very valuable output of the Rwanda CAADP Roundtable 
Process has been the publication of clear, concise 
briefs that explain the process, which will facilitate 
coordination and clarity among the partners involved. 
 
¶4. Meeting Participation 
 
A total of nearly three hundred people attended the 
country-round table. The following COMESA member states 
were represented, several at the Ministerial level as 
well as by country CAADP focal person and other 
stakeholders: Burundi, Djibouti, Egypt, Kenya, Malawi, 
Uganda, and Zambia. The Rwandan delegation was led by 
the Ministers of Agriculture and Finance, both of whom 
participated actively, and included representatives of 
Ministries, government institutions, NGOs and civil 
society, and the private sector. 
 
The following international organizations were 
represented, some by staff from headquarters and others 
by representatives in Rwanda: the African Union, COMESA, 
the NEPAD Secretariat, the FAO, FARA, ASARECA, FANRPAN, 
the World Bank, BMZ, the Global Donor Platform for 
Agriculture and Rural Development, SIDA, IFAD, the WWF, 
the EU, JICA, Belgian Cooperation, the African 
Development Bank, the Micronutrient Initiative, IFPRI, 
Michigan State University, NR International (U.K.), The 
U.S. Corporate Council on Africa, and The African 
Organic Food and Fiber Initiative (USA). 
 
USAID was represented by Kevin Mullally, Rwanda Mission 
Director; Ryan Washburn, Head of the Economic 
Opportunities office in the Rwanda Mission; Jeff Hill 
from AFR/SD in Washington; Peter Ewell and Walter 
Knausenberger of the Regional Economic Growth and 
Integration office at USAID/East Africa; and David Rinck 
of the regional office of Food for Peace. 
 
¶5. The Rwanda CAADP Compact 
 
The Rwanda CAADP Compact was signed on March 31, 2007 on 
behalf of the Government of Rwanda by the Minister of 
Finance and Economic Planning, James Musoni and by the 
Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Anastase 
Murekezi. It was signed on behalf of donors by Victoria 
Kwakwa, the World Bank Country Manager and co-chair of 
the Rwanda donor platform; by Sindiso Ngwenya, COMESA 
Assistant Secretary General, on behalf of COMESA, and by 
AU Commissioner of Rural Economy and Agriculture, Ms 
Rosebud Kurwijila, on behalf of AU and NEPAD. It was 
also signed by representatives of the private sector and 
of civil society in Rwanda. 
The Compact reaffirms the joint commitment to increase 
investments in the agricultural sector to achieve an 
annual growth rate of at least six percent, and the 
Maputo decision to allocate at least 10 percent of the 
national budget to the sector. Specifically, the 
government is committed to private sector led growth 
underpinned by public sector investments. Market- 
oriented agriculture is central to the strategy, leading 
to transformation and modernization of the sector, with 
a target growth rates by 2011 of 7% for agricultural 
GDP, segmented into 6% for food crops production, 8% for 
animal production and for export crops. 
Through the Compact, the Government of Rwanda commits 
itself  to strengthen and add value to the national 
Strategic Plan for the Transformation of Agriculture 
(PSTA), under the ongoing Economic Development and 
Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS), as identified its 
Vision 2020 document. It will work through existing 
mechanisms to ensure maximum, efficiency and 
effectiveness in the utilization of resources, and 
recommits to ongoing dialogue, coordination, mutual; 
review, and accountability mechanisms. 
The development partners reaffirmed a joint donors? 
statement made at a meeting in November, 2006. They 
commit collectively to align assistance to the sector to 
the programs and priorities identified in the EDPRS/PSTA 
agenda, and to scale up assistance over the next five 
years to help meet the investment costs of the programs 
defined under that agenda. They agree to provide 
indications of future aid on a multi-year basis to 
improve predictability to improve planning budgeting, 
and implementation. Starting immediately, the GOR and 
the development partners will consult through the 
existing Rural Sector Cluster and Development Partners 
Coordination Group to commit funding through a sector- 
wide approach. 
 
The African Union and COMESA commit to support Rwanda?s 
national strategies as defined in the EDPRS and PSTA by 
mobilizing political, financial, and technical support. 
The private sector and civil society collectively pledge 
their support to realizing the aspirations of the Compact 
 
¶6. Highlights and Observations 
 
COMESA is leading the development of a regional CAADP 
strategy and Compact.  Further analysis and strategic 
planning leading to a CAADP regional Compact will be 
completed before the end of 2007. 
 
The inventory of ongoing programs and coordination 
processes in Rwanda revealed that valuable processes 
have been developed to facilitate coordination and 
dialogue, involving government, development agencies, 
private sector and civil society. 
 
As noted earlier, the available evidence indicates that 
the continuation of current efforts and plans cannot 
enable Rwanda to meet the CAADP objectives or the MDGs. 
Adjustments are needed to improve the efficiency of how 
existing development resources are used, and to focus 
future plans and necessary levels of investment. Working 
groups were set up to discuss the proposed activities 
and relative levels of effort.  Many good point were 
made that will need attention as Rwanda moves to 
implementation. The Rwandan team has organized fora at 
which these will be discussed further. 
 
The differences between the pillars of the Rwandan EDRPS 
and the pillars of CAADP pillars may cause confusion or 
complicate regional monitoring efforts. Further 
discussion is needed on how align the categories.  In 
Rwanda as the pathfinder, this was complicated by the 
fact that specific guidance on programmatic issues is 
still to be developed by AUC and NEPAD. . 
 
It was notable that the Rwanda analysis and proposed set 
of programs did not have a clearly defined agenda for 
CAADP Pillar III concerns related to food security and 
vulnerability.  This shortcoming will need to be 
addressed in other country analyses and round table 
processes, as well as the regional CAADP portfolio. 
 
USAID/Food for Peace/East Africa is concerned that a 
food security strategy that under-emphasizes access and 
utilization issues will not sufficiently address the 
full range of causes of food insecurity in the region, 
which may  thereby limit the usefulness of CAADP in 
reducing poverty in line with the Millennium Development 
Goals. Addressing policies and uses of food aid, a major 
tool for addressing food insecurity, would be a useful 
additional component in future national compacts. 
 
¶7. The role of COMESA and upcoming actions 
 
The COMESA Secretariat played a key role in coordinating 
the support provided by development partners to help 
Rwanda organize its CAADP Roundtable.    COMESA has been 
assigned the task by AUC and NEPAD of coordinating 
assistance to its member countries in getting the 
roundtables organized, and for developing a regional 
platform to implement CAADP.   COMESA continues to be 
short of staff, and urgently needs to bring on board 
additional support staff that has been planned through 
various mechanisms, to assist with the development of 
Compacts in the remaining first-stage countries and at 
the regional level. 
 
At the regional level, COMESA needs to build upon the 
good work that has been done to date in laying the 
foundation for CAADP implementation.  Specifically, by 
the end of the year, a concise regional strategy for 
CAADP as a whole in the COMESA regions should be 
developed. This will help to clearly identify and align 
ongoing activities that are in support of CAADP, and set 
clear criteria and standards for the selection of new 
activities. The Re-SAKKS node should play an important 
role in this effort to assist COMESA to establish an 
evidence-based investment portfolio for stimulating 
agricultural growth in the region. 
 
¶8. Summary of the current status of the CAADP round 
table process 
 
Six COMESA member countries were chosen in 2006 to 
?fast-track? the round table process and develop country 
Compacts. Rwanda has passed that milestone and five 
additional countries have initiated the process, and 
expect to develop Compacts between now and August. 
 
¶1. Zambia: 
Indicative date for round table: June. 
Focal person: Mr. E.C. Kalaba, Deputy Director, Policy, 
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, 
eckalaba@maff.gov.zm 
 
¶2. Uganda: 
Indicative  date for round table: June. 
Focal person: Mr. Keizire Boaz Blackie, Principal 
Economist, Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and 
Fisheries keizire.Boaz@apdmaaif.or.ug; 
blakiesq@yahoo.com 
 
¶3. Malawi: 
Indicative date for round table: June. 
Focal person: Ms. Fiskan Nkana, Planning Department 
Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security 
fiskaninkana@yahoo.co.uk. 
 
¶4. Kenya: 
Indicative date for round table: August 
Focal person: Mr. John Mungai, Director for Policy, 
Ministry of Agriculture, : jkmungaike@yahoo.com 
 
¶5. Ethiopia: Indicative date for round table: August 
 
 
Focal person: Mr. Lema Gebeyehu, Head, Crop Protection 
Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural 
Development, lemag@msn.com 
 
Two additional countries have now decided to push ahead, 
to take advantage of the synergies of the ongoing 
process, and organize round tables and Compacts this year: 
 
6: Burundi: 
Indicative date for round table: August 
Focal person: Mme Evelyne Nduwimana,  Conseiller au 
Cabinet du Ministre de l'Agriculture et de l'Elevage 
ndevelyne@yahoo.fr 
 
¶7. Djibouti: 
Indicative date for round table: August 
Focal person: M. Ahmed Darar Djibril, Conseiller 
Technique du Ministre de l?Agriculture, de l?Elevage et 
de la Mer djidarar@hotmail.com 
 
¶9. USAID?s support for and commitment to CAADP 
 
The G-8 countries and major OECD partners committed 
themselves to support the implementation of CAADP at 
their meetings at Sea Island, Gleneagles, and St. 
Petersburg.  Specifically, the US is committed to 
program an estimated $200 million per year to support 
CAADP implementation, and to align the US Presidential 
Initiative to End Hunger in Africa (IEHA) with the CAADP 
process and strategic priorities.    In each of the 
focus countries and regional portfolios that are 
implementing IEHA, it is anticipated that the local 
USAID missions will provide local country and regional 
assistance to the roundtable processes,  and that they 
will actively contribute to joint consultations with 
governments and development partners to shape the CAADP 
Compacts. 
 
 
RANNEBERGER