The Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS) node for Eastern and Central Africa (ECA) has been set up to support agricultural and rural development strategy formulation and implementation. The support is in form of data, information and analysis for the different stakeholders at regional and national levels, comprised of regional organizations such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community, the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in East and Central Africa (ASARECA), governments, donors, civil society and the private sector. Besides analysis, the ReSAKSS-ECA node is expected to establish a monitoring and evaluation system that allows benchmarking and subsequent monitoring of key agricultural and economic development indicators, especially those of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
This report, the first in what will be a series of annual reports, presents the status and trends of key economic and agricultural development indicators of the COMESA1 region (Figure 1). The report is not intended to offer explanations for the trends of variables presented for the various countries, but rather to provide a comparative perspective so that each country can look at its own performance against that of other countries. COMESA, with its headquarters in Lusaka, Zambia, was created in 1994 to promote regional economic integration through trade and investment. It is the largest regional economic community in Africa with a total population of about 400 million in 2005 (UN 2006), making up 45% of Africa’s population. COMESA had a total gross domestic product (GDP) of over US$ 260 billion in 2005 (World Bank 20062), about 30% of Africa’s GDP.