Report on the effectiveness of regional and subregional development projects in the agricultural and rural sector, with particular emphasis on environment and sustained development

The agricultural and rural sector is very important in Africa and enormous efforts have been made to develop it, not only at the national level, but also at the regional and subregional level. However, despite this, the growth of the sector has not kept pace with population growth: according to FAI, the population is increasing by 3.3 per cent per year, but agricultural output by only 1.5 percent per year. This situation is very worrying and threatens to undermine any lasting development in a long-term, because all these factors tend to lead to a running-down of the natural resources and productive capacity of the continent.