{"id":115730,"date":"2026-02-17T07:04:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T07:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=115730"},"modified":"2026-02-17T07:04:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T07:04:26","slug":"continental-free-trade-area-must-benefit-farmers-afcfta-secretary-general-wamkele-mene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=115730","title":{"rendered":"Continental Free Trade Area must benefit farmers \u2013 AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 19 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, Wamkele Mene says the agreement provides an extra-ordinary opportunity for Africa to add value to its agricultural produce for the benefit of farmers.<\/p>\n

He says, \u201cAfCFTA offers Africa a historic opportunity to shift from exporting raw commodities to building regional value chains that create jobs, raise farmer incomes and strengthen food security.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was speaking at a high-level event over the weekend on the margins of the 39th African Union Summit during which the AfCFTA Secretariat and AGRA signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to fast-track intra-African trade and agricultural growth.<\/p>\n

The MoU seeks to translate the AfCFTA legal framework into practical outcomes for African agricultural markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur partnership with AGRA is about moving from ambition to execution, ensuring that agricultural trade delivers tangible benefits for producers, processors and consumers across the continent,\u201d Secretary-General Mene said.<\/p>\n

The partnership comes at a pivotal moment as Africa advances implementation of the AfCFTA Agreement. With 50 countries having ratified the Agreement, attention shifts from legal commitment to practical implementation, particularly in agriculture.<\/p>\n

Through the AfCFTA Agri-Trade Action Plan, which proposes several interventions, including reducing non-tariff barriers, improving trade facilitation, promoting value addition, and mobilising investment in regional agricultural value chains, the collaboration will advance agricultural trade under the AfCFTA.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrade will not transform Africa\u2019s food systems unless farmers and agri-enterprises are able to produce competitively, meet international quality standards, and connect to reliable markets,\u201d said Alice Ruhweza, President of AGRA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis partnership is about making intra-African food trade work in practice\u2014linking policy to delivery so that agriculture becomes a driver of inclusive growth, resilience and shared prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said together, the AfCFTA Secretariat and AGRA will drive this partnership toward practical, farmer-centred action, enabling agriculture to fully leverage integrated African markets and deliver inclusive growth, resilience, and shared prosperity across the continent.<\/p>\n

The AfCFTA Secretariat and AGRA reinforced their strategic partnership to accelerate intra-African trade, positioning agriculture as a central engine of farmer prosperity, value addition, and regional food security.<\/p>\n

AGRA is an African-led institution focused on scaling agricultural innovations that help smallholder farmers towards increased incomes, better livelihoods, and improved food security. <\/p>\n

Since 2006, AGRA has worked with its partners, governments, non-governmental organisations, private-sector businesses, and others to deliver a set of proven solutions for smallholder farmers and indigenous African agricultural enterprises. <\/p>\n

AGRA catalyses and sustains an inclusive agricultural transformation to increase incomes and enhance food security in 12 countries.<\/p>\n

The African Continental Free Trade Area, established in 2018, aims to create a single market for goods and services across Africa, promote economic integration among African Union Member States, and significantly increase intra-African trade to support sustainable development.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, Wamkele Mene says the agreement provides an extra-ordinary opportunity for Africa to add value to its agricultural produce for the benefit of farmers.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4829,1972,1006,10,9,1235],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-afcfta","category-africa","category-agribusiness","category-politics","category-popular","category-wamkele-mene"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115730\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}