Synopsis: 2013 Annual Trends and Outlook Report

The 2014 Annual Trends and Outlook Report examines both current and future trends that are likely to shape the trajectory of African economies. It investigates the drivers behind the recent growth recovery, the nature and pattern of structural transformation among African economies, past strategies and future outlook for industrialization, the changes occurring in agrifood systems, and the role of major infrastructure sectors in the continents past and future growth.

The 2013 Annual Trends and Outlook Report (ATOR) contributes to the emerging debate by analyzing Africas recent trade performance and future outlook at the global and regional levels, including discussions of the mechanisms of dealing with food price volatility, the scope for increasing trans-border trade, and the potential impacts of weather-related shocks and biophysical factors on intra-regional exports. The ATOR finds that Africas share of world trade of goods and services, and specifically of agricultural goods, made a turnaround and started increasing in the 2000s.

This 2012 Africa-wide Annual Trends and Outlook Report (ATOR), the fifth issue of the series, is only the second to examine in detail a featured topic of strategic importance to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). The ATORs are designed to assess country, subregional, and Africa-wide performance against CAADP and other development goals and to provide an outlook for future performance. It is hoped that the analysis will contribute to improved policymaking, dialogue, implementation, and mutual learning processes of the CAADP implementation agenda.

Agriculture provides the backbone of the economy in many African countries. Moreover, the majority of the rural poor depend on agriculture either directly or indirectly for their livelihoods.1 Developing agriculture specifi cally and the rural sector more broadly are key components of Africas pathway out of poverty. Yet in the last decades of the 20th century, agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) suff ered from a tragedy of political inattention and disinvestment.

Agriculture is crucial for development in Africa, as the majority of the population lives in rural areas and at least 70 percent of the workforce is engaged in agriculture. In many African countries, growth in agriculture is the most effective strategy for reducing poverty and promoting overall economic growth (Diao et al. 2007). The period covered in this report was in many ways a positive year for African agriculture.

The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) provides an agriculture-led integrated framework of development priorities aimed at reducing poverty and increasing food security by achieving an average of 6 percent agricultural growth rate every year.

Organized by ReSAKSS-SA and IWMI, a regional methodology workshop on Strengthening Capacity for Strategic Agricultural Policy and Investment Planning and Implementation in the SADC Region was held on August 22 in Pretoria, South Africa.