Joseph Karugia of ReSAKKS at a policy workshop for African researchers (photo credit: ILRI)

Correct identification and implementation of comprehensive agricultural policies is an important step in the fight against poverty and food and nutrition insecurity, in line with Sustainable Development Goals One and Two on ending poverty, and hunger, respectively.

In Africa, the African Union Summit of 2003 declared the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) an integral part of the New Economic Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) which is aiming to address hunger and poverty. CAADP is a pan-African, continental policy framework that provides a set of principles and broadly defined strategies to guide countries in reviewing their own situations and identifying investment opportunities within the agriculture sector that have optimal returns and impact. CAADP emphasizes the use of evidence in policy formulation and implementation as a key principle.

In order to influence policies, researchers and other stakeholders…