President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday joined other African leaders in an Ordinary Session of Heads of State and Governments to strategize on the implementation of agriculture policies and programmes.
Under the theme: "Agriculture and Food Security,� the session would initiate plans and strategies that would enhance investment on agriculture and mechanisation to help African farmers move from traditional to modern agriculture.
Guinea Bissau and Egypt were also re-considered in the African Union Ordinary Session after several months of suspension on account of political turmoil in those countries.
Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, President of the African Union, said policies and programmes to be discussed at the meeting included Public/Private Investment in Agriculture, Implementation of Irrigation Projects, Investments in Market Creation, Storage Facilities, and the Whipping up the Enthusiasm of the Youth to Engage in Agriculture.
She appealed to African leaders to liaise with banks in their various countries to apportion 30 percent of loans they grant to farmers for women to harness their potentials in the agricultural sector.
The AU President said although women had been instrumental in growth and development, their potentials had over the years been relegated to the background and gave the assurance that their involvement in agriculture could help solve the perennial hunger, disease and poverty the continent had experienced in the past.
She said the risk buffer that the leaders could provide the continent was by engaging in industrialisation that could process their raw produce and create jobs for more people to increase their earnings.
Dr Dlamini-Zuma called for political stability, peace and unity that would create fertile grounds for growth and development, expressing satisfaction in the progress of peace in South Sudan, Central African Republic, Kenya, Somalia, Mali and Guinea Bissau.
He called on the mediators to step up their activities to maintain perpetual peace and stability in those countries.
Mr Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, re-affirmed their determination to assist the African Union to implement and achieve all their development programmes in the areas of healthcare, education and potable water among others.
"We hope that there will be stability in Africa for the AU to achieve its economic development with stability that will also move the continent towards achieving their Millennium Development Goals, while the UN promotes peaceful environment for all," he said.
He called for the intensification of education on human rights abuse, particularly among women in the continent and beyond.
President Teodoro Nguema Mbassogo of Equatorial Guinea expressed the hope that leaders after of session would re-invigorate the activities of the AU to play their meaningful role in the development of the continent.
Officially welcoming back Egypt and Guinea Bissau to the meeting after a suspension due to political crisis, he urged the leaders of the two countries to maintain peace and security and step up activities in food security and industrialisation as the panacea to hunger and starvation.
He called for a re-orientation of the AU to move away from perennial importation of finished goods to processors of raw materials to guarantee food security and create jobs for the youth.
President Mbassogo called for the fight against climate change, malnutrition, hunger and poverty that had bedeviled the continent by reducing over dependence on developed countries for survival.
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