THERE is a need for national assemblies in Africa to prioritize agriculture in their central budgetary estimates to address food insecurity on the continent.

Vice President Dr Philip Mpango issued this appeal when opening the 53rd Africa regional conference for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) here yesterday.

“Our countries need to start prioritizing farming, especially now, at a time when climate change is taking a toll on food production due to unpredictable weather and rain seasons,” he stated.

 He recalled the 2014 Malabo Declaration on accelerated agricultural growth and transformation for shared prosperity and improved livelihoods, insisting that it is high time African states put to work the convention with the rigour it deserves.

 “There are various steps that can be taken to boost agriculture and guarantee food security on the continent, including turning to irrigation farming, adopting smart agriculture and encouraging foreign direct investments into the sector,” he explained.

Dr Tulia Ackson, the National Assembly Speaker and host of the meeting, listed topics being addressed at the CPA conference as including climate change, food security and involvement of the youth in agriculture.

“But we have also realized that African countries need to unite and work together in order to tackle innumerable challenges facing the continent,” she stated, underlining the need to foster parliamentary democracy and enhancing regional cooperation.

These and other matters will come up at the CPA conference, where the CPA Africa Region chairperson Catherine Hara, Speaker of the Malawi National Assembly, pointed out that women participation in African parliaments still lags behind “and this needs to be addressed as well.”

The conference, featuring nearly 300 participants, has three side events involving conference workshops, executive committee meetings and the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) Africa regional conference.

The conference brings together delegates from 14 out of the 19 CPA member parliaments, 10 speakers of national assemblies and three deputy speakers, with Tanzania hosting the CPA Africa regional secretariat since 2003.

It is housed within the National Assembly secretariat in the capital, after shifting from Harare when Zimbabwe was thrown out of the fold, a traditional statutory body for countries forming part of the British Commonwealth, later known as the Commonwealth of Nations.

 CPA member parliaments is one of its oldest organs, where in Africa it consists of 19 national legislatures and 46 provincial versions, with CPA being officially accredited as an associated Commonwealth organisation.

While in the past the association covered mostly legislatures in Anglophonic countries, Rwanda, a Francophone state and Mozambique, a Lusophone country later joined CPA as full members.

The Commonwealth as a global community is supported by a network of 70 plus specialised and accredited organisations along with nine associated organisations, working in specific areas.