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Minister Morgan making his address to officially open the conference

The Seychelles Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Transport, Joel Morgan, who chaired the conference, said this on Saturday in an interview with Seychelles Nation.

“We have established a database for the projects we are undertaking under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) through which the different members states will be able to follow the implementation of the various projects,” Minister Morgan said.

Regarding their future plans, he said that the ministers came up with clear objectives.
“We targeted very specific agendas for the next one year during which Seychelles will hold the chairmanship of the Comesa Agriculture ministers, and we have set very specific objectives which we are to attain.”

“The ministers have put in place a monitoring mechanism to ensure that the objective are met and that the agenda is followed.
After the meeting, the delegates will this week hold the African Union/CAADP Review Meeting as well as the CAADP Partnership Platform meeting.

Commenting on the conduct of the meeting, the ministers said that Seychelles commendably hosted and chaired the conference, noting that they came up with what is being referred to as the “Victoria Declaration.”

They said that the meeting was very well-organised, efficiently and therefore very successfully conducted.
“It was conducted in a very businesslike manner,” they said, adding that it was one of the most efficiently run meetings of the Comesa ministers that they have attended.

When opening the ministers’ meeting on Thursday, which was attended by Vice-President Joseph Belmont and Seychellois Cabinet ministers among other dignitaries, Minister Morgan said that states are cognizant of the critical role that agriculture plays in their national economies and that agriculture is considered to be the engine for economic development in the Comesa region.

“The sector accounts for more than 32 per cent of Comesa's gross domestic product (GDP). It provides a livelihood to about 80 per cent of the region's labour force, accounts for about 65 per cent of foreign exchange earnings and contributes more than 50 per cent of raw materials to the industrial sector.

“In Seychelles, our agricultural sector accounts for over 60% of our livestock production and for about 45% of our crop production. Our domestic agricultural production is valued at over 17 million dollars annually and our fisheries sector generates over 200 million dollars in terms of inflows, namely from fish processing and fish transhipment activities,” he said, recognising the farmers and fishers of Seychelles and their respective associations for their contributions to our national food security programmes.

“We will continue to support them and to assist them in the furtherance of agricultural and fisheries development, especially in the transition from traditional methods to new and modernised farming and fishing techniques,” Minister Morgan said.
Nation hopes to publish further details of the “Victoria Declaration” which was drafted on Friday and finalised on Saturday.