Oxfam’s “Where Is Our 10%” ft. campaign. The artists 2 Face Idibia, Lami Phillips, Sound Sultan, Baaba Maal, Daara J Family, Ceepee, Danny Lee and Smarty

The “Where is our 10%?” campaign African celebrities come together in song to remind Heads of State of the commitments they made to farmers and pastoralists.

The 10th of October 2013 marks the launch of ‘’Where is our 10%?’’ , as part of the GROW campaign. The artists 2 Face Idibia, Lami Phillips, Sound Sultan (Nigeria), Baaba Maal, Daara J Family (Senegal), Ceepee (Mauritania), Danny Lee (Niger) and Smarty (Burkina Faso) are joining their voices together to appeal to African leaders to respect the commitments made 10 years ago in Maputo to invest more in family agriculture. On the 10th July 2003, the African Union Heads of State and Government signed the Maputo declaration. In doing so, they pledged to allocate at least 10% of their national budget to agricultural investment by 2008. Ten years later, the outlook is far from rosy! Only eight African countries have achieved their objective, six of which are in West Africa.

A leading light of West African music, the internationally renowned Senegalese singer Babaa Maal sings the chorus of the song in Fulani, with passion and conviction: “if I could get African leaders to listen to me, I’d ask them: where is the 10% they promised to the good farmers and pastoralists”.

All the artists involved in this project are from countries that to varying degrees have had to deal with repeated food crises over the past decade. However, their involvement in this project primarily reflects African solidarity in the face of the fight against hunger. Everyone wants to lend their voice to the farmers, pastoralists and consumers so that African governments invest more in agriculture and livestock farming, both in terms of quantity and quality.

“I’m touched by the situation of the African people, especially the African farmers since it is them who feed us. My father is a farmer and it pains me to see that in Nigeria, where agriculture accounts for over half of the GDP, it represents less than 3% of Nigeria’s budget”, declared 2 face Idibia, the Nigerian international star.

Ndongo D from the group Daara J Family concluded, “We felt we had to get involved with this song; we believe it’s unacceptable that in 2013 African farmers are still so badly affected by poverty. Governments need to give farmers the means to farm and so feed us all”.

This song defends the position and role of farmers. It calls on African States and the general public to support African farmers by consuming local products. It aims to support the “Where is our 10%” campaign so that Governments invest sustainably in this priority sector.

The GROW campaign continues its work to raise awareness, provide information and reach out to a wide audience so they can call on Heads of State and Government to make a new commitment to Maputo, based on quality investments.


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