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In Swaziland in July 2016, SADC Ministers responsible for Agriculture and Food Security adopted the Regional Agricultural Investment Plan (RAIP, 2017-2022) of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The investment plan, with a total budget of USD 1.3 billion, will operationalize the SADC Regional Agriculture Policy that was approved in June 2013. At the request of SADC, FAO’s Investment Centre assisted with the preparation of the RAIP over the last two years as well as the Regional Agriculture Policy.

The RAIP was prepared in the context of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), which was established in Maputo in 2003 as a pan-African policy framework to transform agriculture, create wealth, improve food security and nutrition and promote inclusive economic growth.

In June 2014, African leaders adopted the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods, renewing their 2003 CAADP pledge to allocate at least 10 percent of public resources to agriculture. The RAIP will contribute to regional integration, a priority for African countries in order to accelerate agricultural development, increase regional trade and facilitate the movement of services, finances and people across borders.

The RAIP prioritizes areas for investments and builds on the principle of subsidiarity between national and regional levels. It aims at ‘promoting collaborative actions at the regional level and complementing national actions that stimulate competitive production and trade of agriculture-based products whilst ensuring the sustainable utilization of natural resources and effective protection of the environment’.

It outlines five priority investment programmes on agricultural production, productivity and competitiveness; access to markets and trade of agriculture products; investments in and access to finance for agriculture; social and economic vulnerability reduction; and food and nutrition security in the region.

“It was important for Member States to approve the Regional Agriculture Investment Plan, as this provides the opportunity for countries and partners to finance interventions in areas where there is added value to pursuing a regional approach, such as seed regulations, agriculture information systems or regional value chains, and regional research efforts,” said Jean Risopoulos, an Investment Support Officer in FAO’s Subregional Office for Southern Africa, who led FAO’s support on the RAIP design.

Further support from FAO is expected to finalize the Agricultural Development Fund, which is the financial mechanism set up to mobilize and fund the key priority programmes.