The ‘N2Africa Review of policies relating to legume intensification in N2Africa counties’ showed that governments in N2Africa countries acknowledge the importance of legume intensification and its significant potential to contribute to improving food security and health, especially for poor families.
At global level, the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development developed by the United Nations (UN) aim to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind. The SDGs recognize that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and addresses a range of social needs including education, health and job opportunities, amongst others. Governments are expected to take ownership and establish national frameworks for the achievement of the seventeen goals. Particularly, SDG2 ‘End hunger achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture’ seeks sustainable solutions to end hunger in all its forms and to achieve food security. It entails improving the productivity and incomes of small-scale farmers by promoting equal access to land, technology and markets, sustainable food production systems and resilient agricultural practices.
The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) is the pan-African policy framework for agricultural transformation, wealth creation, food security and nutrition, economic growth and prosperity for all. The CAADP Results Framework 2015 – 2025 is prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UN in cooperation with the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Steering Committee. It recognizes the importance of increasing yield of food grains, tubers and legumes to catalyse transformation of Africa’s agricultural systems and presents critical actions required to achieve agricultural development agenda targets. Furthermore, the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) serves as a platform for promoting regional research and in the sharing of benefits and spillovers that derive from such research. The association focuses on four thematic areas that are well aligned to the major ongoing regional and continental initiatives. These include (i) Integrated capacity strengthening, (ii) Development and scaling up of technologies and innovations, (iii) Policy advocacy, market analysis and institutional arrangement, (iv) Knowledge and information management. High yielding climbing bean varieties and training on different staking options are included in ASARECA projects that scale up best practices to address farmers’ needs.
National governments in the N2Africa countries all developed national policies aimed at increasing agricultural productivity, improving food security, diversifying food production to improve nutrition, and increasing agricultural incomes of the rural people. All national policies refer to legumes, mostly indirectly (e.g. intercropping practices, as measure for soil fertility, amongst others). Table 1 presents the N2Africa target legumes mentioned in national policies per N2Africa country.
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Research results