The African Union for several decades has initiated various policies and programmes to help eradicate poverty on the continent so as to improve on the socio economic wellbeing of the people.

The African Continent noted for its numerous economic potentials especially in the areas of Agriculture and human resources is still considered poor.

It is in view of this that the African Union introduced the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) adopted in 2001 by African leaders with the primary objective of eradicating poverty and putting Africa on the path of sustainable development.

The fight against poverty and the introduction of pragmatic and efficient policies by the Africa Union did not end with NEPAD. The Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development  Programme (CAADP) was also established to spearhead the campaign  by working to boost agricultural productivity in Africa.

CAADP has specific mandate to conscientize African leaders to invest more in the Agricultural sectors of their economies with the long term objective of enhancing the capacity of farmers and improving their yields for accelerated growth.

It however working within four thematic areas which includes Land and Water Management, Market access, Food supply and hunger and Agricultural research.

In order to achieve these objectives, CAADP launched a special CAADP Journalist network this year, to help improve on the coverage of agricultural activities by member states and work towards influencing policies which fall in line with the CAADP objective for the continent and promote agriculture.

At the maiden training workshop for Journalist organized under the auspices of NEPAD, led by CAADP in Johannesburg, South Africa, journalists were charged to report more on Agricultural related issues especially, matters that affect farmers and their activities.

The workshop also sought to share with journalists how to sustain the CAADP Momentum Advocacy plan and implement a set of actions and tailor made messages leading to the 2014 year of Agriculture and Food Security.

Further, the CAADP training is intended to deepen the participants understanding and appreciation of the role of CAADP in boosting agricultural productivity, as well as to share and learn from  each other's experiences.

In his opening remarks, the officer responsible for Monitoring and Evaluation CAADP Simon Kisira, indicated that CAADP remains the policy framework to guide Agricultural development on the continent.

So far 37 countries on the continent have signed the CAADP compacts since its establishment a decade ago.

Mr Kisira lamented that the continent has what it takes to feed all its people, yet Africa is still starving and experiencing low agriculture  productivity and low rural household incomes.

He hinted that the share of malnourished children will decrease from 33 per cent in 1997 to 28 per cent in 2025, adding, that Journalists from the continent must put in a lot more efforts for CAADP to realize its dream.

He mentioned that CAADP will focus in the next 10 years on using National Agriculture Investment Plan (NAIPA) as the rallying point and move agriculture from subsistence farming to mechanized farming with emphasis on job creation for the youth.

He also urged journalists to help contribute to Africa's socio economic development, sustained increased Agricultural performance so as to achieve the CAADP momentum.