Zambia is today hosting the first Southern African Agriculture Development Partnership Platform (SADDPP) conference. Government and agribusiness officials will discuss potential partnerships that will strengthen agricultural practices — and the industry as a whole.
The event is curated by The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Business Foundation and the Agribusiness Forum (ABF).
The conference will largely focus on the private sector’s much needed contribution to agribusiness development.
“This conference is going to showcase the promising achievement and results achieved through collaborative efforts between the private sector and government partnerships in the region. Upon such success, we will chart a way forward for a Zambia-specific partnership plan to implement in the agriculture sector,” Lynette Chen, NEPAD Business Foundation chief executive officer said in the report.
Brenda Nang’amba, ABF acting executive secretary said the gathering will hopefully force stakeholders to act on commitments that will better Zambia’s agriculture sector.
“We need to formulate sustainable solutions that will unleash Zambia’s potential to become the region’s food basket. We are, therefore, excited to be working with the NEPAD Business Foundation which ensures there is regional private sector and Government support in order for projects [that have been] developed to have meaningful national and regional impact,” Nang’amba said.
Wealth creation and food security are amongst the most important agriculture sector improvements, Nang’amba added.
The report called the conference a “timely intervention” because of the private sector’s experienced hurdles rooted in unstable policy and infrastructure.
After reviewing the constraints to investment and trade along the Beira Corridor, the NBF launched the Southern African Agriculture Development Partnership Platform (SAADPP) in 2012.
The SAADPP is a private sector led platform that seeks to unlock investment and trade bottlenecks in the region by removing barriers to agriculture development.
Following the successful regional launch of the SAADPP as well as the Mozambique SAADPP in May 2013, the NBF, in partnership with Zambian Agribusiness Forum, is launch the SAADPP Zambia today 29 August 2013 at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Lusaka Zambia.
The purpose of the conference will be to bring policy makers and members of the private sector together in order to identify and begin designing solutions to challenges faced in increasing agricultural investment and trade in Zambia.
The private sector champions of the regional platform will present the progress on regional interventions, including proposed projects and investment opportunities that have already been identified.
No comments:
Post a Comment