The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is to implement an agricultural program which aims at helping African countries reach a higher level of economic growth through agriculturally-led development, a newsletter released by the COMESA secretariat on Friday said.

The program, dubbed Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program (CAADP), is a growth-oriented agricultural development agenda which is designed to increase agriculture growth rates to six percent and create the wealth needed for rural communities and households in Africa to prosper.

The program, once in operation, would then eliminate hunger, reduce poverty, increase food security and enable the expansion of exports, according to the newsletter.

CAADP focuses its interventions in four key pillars, namely expanding water irrigation, improving rural infrastructure, increasing food supply and improving agricultural research.

COMESA member states, in particular, Zambia, Kenya and Uganda will be launching their country level CAADP processes before the end of the year, said COMESA, the largest economic grouping in Africa.

Source: Xinhua