AFRICA ADOPTS “ABUJA CLARION CALL” TO FUND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH WITH DOMESTIC RESOURCES
More than 500 African leaders on Monday adopted the Abuja Clarion Call on Sustainable Financing for Agricultural Research, Development and Innovation, committing the continent to fund its own agricultural science to achieve food security and climate resilience.
The Call was adopted at the High-Level Ministerial Dialogue on Sustainable Financing for AR4D, held as part of the 9th Africa Agriculture Science Week in Abuja.
The Dialogue was jointly organised by the National Agricultural Development Fund and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, who hosted the meeting, was joined by FARA Board Chair Ms Bongi Njobe, FARA Executive Director, Dr Aggrey Agumya, NADF CEO, Mr Mohammed Abu Ibrahim, Bank of Agriculture MD, Mr Ayodeji Sotinrin, and former agriculture ministers from Rwanda and Zambia. Representatives of the African Union Commission, AUDA-NEPAD, Regional Economic Communities and development partners also attended.
Anchored by a keynote paper, “The Investment Case for Sustainable Financing of Agricultural Research in Africa”, the Dialogue concluded that Africa’s food insecurity stems less from poor resources and more from chronic underinvestment in research and innovation.
With declining donor funding, ministers agreed Africa must shift from fragmented, external financing to predictable, African-led investment to meet the Kampala CAADP Declaration, Agenda 2063 and the SDGs.
The Abuja Clarion Call outlines six priority commitments:
– Increase predictable domestic financing for agricultural research
– Establish/strengthen Agricultural Development Funds and other financing mechanisms
– Champion an African-led resource mobilisation process, including a continental endowment fund coordinated by FARA
– Expand public-private partnerships to accelerate technology commercialisation
– Scale blended finance and impact investment instruments
– Deepen collaboration among FARA, AU, AUDA-NEPAD, RECs and research systems
A key outcome was Nigeria’s commitment, through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, to lead the African-led resource mobilisation process for the proposed continental endowment fund.
Participants stressed that financing research is not expenditure but strategic investment in youth jobs, climate-smart farming, resilient seeds and competitive value chains.
Concluding, delegates said Africa’s agricultural transformation will be determined by its willingness to invest in its own science.
“As President John F. Kennedy’s call to the Moon inspired a generation, the Abuja Clarion Call challenges Africa to finance its own agricultural science and secure prosperity for future generations,” the Call stated.
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