Seven Investment Programme Areas Under the Sudanese National Agricultural Investment Plan (NAIP) Identified

The Government of Sudan, with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), presented key milestones undertaken on the National Agriculture Investment Plan (NAIP) and called for development partners to engage in the process at a meeting held on February 5th, 2015.

The Director General for International Cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (MoAI), Mr Elamien Hassan Elamien, explained that following the signing of the Sudanese Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Compact in July 2013, important developments have taken place. A National Steering Committee (NSC), a Core Technical Committee (CTC) and CTC subgroups were established to govern the NAIP process. A Roadmap for the NAIP process was developed and endorsed by the MoAI in December 2014. Finally, seven Investment Programme Areas (IPAs) were identified by the NSC end of January 2015, which will guide the work of the CTC and CTC subgroups engaged in developing investment programmes and sub-projects. This new development is a milestone in the NAIP process.

The programme areas will gear investments towards: (1) the creation of an enabling environment for agricultural production and development, (2) institutional reform enhancing farming management and capacity building for producers, workers in the agricultural sector (3) agricultural land and natural resources issues and widelife, (4) better support services, information and knowledge management systems, (5) enhanced production and productivity and modernization of the agriculture systems, (6) industrialization, value chain development and exploitation of agricultural capacities, and (7) enhancing food security and nutrition, quality and safety measures.

H.E. State Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, Dr. Gaffar Ahmed Abdalla called for the support of development partners in the process and announced that another meeting will be organised in the future prior to business meetings.

FAO Deputy Representative, Rosanne Marchesich, confirmed FAO’s commitment to supporting the NAIP process through stakeholder consultations and providing capacity building at state and federal levels. She highlighted the on-going development of the Sudan Investment Information Platform and a USD 500,000 full-fledged technical cooperation project about to be launched.

The partners present at the meeting included the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the European Union (EU), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Green Vision, and Fund For Insurance Support.

FAO | Sudan

Osman Digna Street, Khartoum East, Khartoum, Sudan | (+249) 18 377 9367 (+249) 18 377 4646| [email protected]| http://www.fao.org/sudan/en/|

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FAO supports the Government’s effort to design policies and investment plans and programmes in support of the relief, recovery and development of Sudan’s small scale agriculture sector and to address and overcome the underlying causes of vulnerability in Sudan.