AGRA

Bagamoyo, the historic seaport of eastern Tanzania is the home of Joydons (T) Limited, a state of the art cereal milling factory with the capacity to produce aflatoxin-free flours.

Ms. Joyce Donati Kimaro, co-founder and managing director of Joydons (T) Limited pursued a deep-belly passion, a dream and a vision with determination to change the world in her ‘little’ way despite the challenges. Looking up in the blue azure skies of Bagamoyo, Ms. Joyce describes herself as an ordinary Tanzanian, but for those who have seen her dream become a reality, she is an extraordinary entrepreneur.

Joyce and her elder sister Joyce (they call themselves Joyce and Joyce or Kimaro sisters) started the company in 2012 with a micro-scale mill in Dar es Salaam, which grew over time into a small scale milling plant. In 2017, the operations expanded to Bagamoyo where they set up a small plant in a make-shift building with a milling capacity of 10 MT per day.

“Bagamoyo” means “lay down your heart” in Swahili. The place was a trade route in the 18th Century where slaves “left” behind their “hearts” or “spirits” before being forcefully shipped to faraway foreign lands.

Joyce Donati says she has laid down her heart at Bagamoyo to influence the eating habits of over 50 million Tanzanians.  The youthful industrialist has steered Joydons (T) Limited to be among the top ten grain millers in Tanzania.

 “I belong to the world of possibilities, where the future is even brighter,” she says, having experienced a remarkable transformation over time. She previously worked as a primary school teacher and quickly discovered that the teacher’s success is about the pupils and not the teacher. This philosophy continues to influence her in placing “humanity at the heart of my entrepreneurship”, she adds.

“My mission is to ensure the population consumes healthy maize meal (ugali in Swahili), free from aflatoxins and other harmful agents,” she says.  Capturing a significant market segment is not an easy task, but she is determined. “We have made some remarkable strides,” she says.

Her company’s flagship products – Unga wa SEMBE (polished maize flour), Unga wa DONA (whole grain maize flour), and Unga MUHOGO (Cassava flour) – are rapidly gaining traction in the Tanzanian market. Distributed under the brand, ” UFUKWE,” the products are packaged in 5-, 10- and 25-kilogram bags for wholesale and retail outlets.

Retailers often repackage the products to sell to consumers in ¼ kg, ½ kg, 1kg or 2kg measures. Concerned that flours may be contaminated with toxins in the repackaging process, Joydons aims to popularize the smaller 1kg and 2kg packages, a new practice in Tanzania grain market.

Hardly four years after Joydons was formed, the dynamic duo has beaten many odds to grow their operating capital base from US$2,156 to US$1.3 million. The new plant employs 250 workers directly and indirectly and supports over 3,500 smallholder farmers in Tanzania.

Joyce envisions the factory significantly transforming the industrial skyline of Bagamoyo. “We are making Bagamoyo a centre of grains trade and branded flours, a land of hope, dreams and optimism. Bagamoyo is becoming a part of “glorious Tanzania in the making”, she says.

Her ambition to capture a sizable share of the domestic market and ultimately the African export market is fueled by the growing domestic demand for maize flour.

Joyce attributes Joydons gradual growth to support from development partners, including Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) (through the AGRA YieldWise project) and Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB).

The partners financed the company to the tune of TZS 1.3 billion (about USD564, 726) thus facilitating the procurement of the state of the art plant, whose features include 90 – 120 MT per day maize milling capacity, grain sorting machine, colour sorting machine, a packing machine and a weighbridge scale. The financing kit also enabled the construction of two (2) foundation bottom silos with 1,000 MTs storage capacity.

Joydons (T) Limited has many other businesses globally and similarly it was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic causing delays in the shipment of equipment needed to complete the plant, resulting in cost overrun and underproduction. To resolve this challenge, the firm required an additional US$53,000 financing.

Joyce is also a proprietor of a microfinance firm and an insurance brokerage company, she shares some nuggets of counsel for success in her inspiring autobiography, “I Had to Lose My Virginity: How I Used My Inner Self to Achieve Success.”

What others say about Joydons:  H.E. Desalegn, H.E. Dr Kikwete, Dr Michael, Mr. Rweyendela

When the retired President of the United Republic of Tanzania and Board Member of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA),  H.E. Dr Jakaya Kikwete, visited the factory, he described Jordon as an extraordinary enterprise.

He noted that entrepreneurs such as the Kimaro sisters “represent the future of homemade agro-industrial drive in Tanzania.”

 H.E. Dr Kikwete had accompanied H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn, the AGRA Board Chair and former Ethiopian Prime Minister, for a visit to the factory.

H.E. Desalegn candidly noted that Tanzania’s hope to feed itself and Africa lies in entrepreneurs who support thousands of small-scale farmers and make the food system safe, reliable and secure while improving livelihoods.

H.E. Desalegn noted that firms driven by the young generation such as Joydons, were the best suited to transform the face of agriculture.

“The increasing agricultural productivity in Tanzania will be more meaningful if we have increased processing,” he observed. “Joydons has shown the way, and we need such companies to grow further to support more smallholder farmers. Small Micro Enterprises (SMEs) should be empowered to play a greater role in agro industrialization.”

 Dr Isaack Michael, a monitoring and evaluation expert who visited the factory representing CSDI Consulting Limited, says Joydons’ story is inspirational and should be replicated to uplift agri-SMEs to new levels.

“Ms Joyce Kimaro, the owner of Joydons, is among fifty female entrepreneurs identified by the YieldWise project implemented by CSDI,” he noted. The program connected her to the financial institution TADB. This notable achievement symbolizes project impact and sustainability of the excellent work of the YieldWise project.”

Mr Vianney Rweyendela, AGRA Country Manager for Tanzania, characterizes the Joydons story as remarkable and relevant. “It is a perfect case study in developing reliable food systems,” he says, noting that the activation of the growth of agri-based SMEs, such as Joydons, holds the future of millions of smallholder farmers in Tanzania and Africa.

Hungry eyes are on Africa’s resources. The world sees Africa and its large tracts of unexploited land as an important resource to feed the planet. But, Africa’s most abundant and most valuable resource is not our finite arable land, or the mineral wealth hidden beneath the surface. It is the youth of our continent. 

From a labour-force perspective, 11 million young people enter the job market every year, but only 3.7 million jobs are created to accommodate them. In Sub-Saharan Africa, youth unemployment fuels a myriad of additional social problems, including rebel movements and persistent gender inequality, according to the Cities Alliance.  

What the youth of Africa crave, more than anything, is opportunity. 

And with food systems change on the forefront of the global sustainability agenda, agribusiness is that opportunity. Agribusiness has evolved into an industry of choice where individual aspirations and interests are readily accommodated.

Why youth cannot see the opportunities in the agrifood industry

Unfortunately, first-hand experience of outdated legacy farming practices and the uncertain toil of subsistence farming means the youth are not interested in agriculture as a career. The biggest block is that young people, especially rural youth, have ingrained social prejudices, with farming conjuring images of back-breaking labour in the unrelenting sun. 

As long as the prejudice remains, the agrifood industry will miss out on the transformative energy, imagination and creativity of Africa’s youth. Food insecurity and malnutrition will persist. Poverty and gender inequality will remain. And communities will struggle with resilience to climate shocks and vulnerabilities.   

How do we change the youth’s perceptions? 

Generation Africa was created to connect the youth to agribusiness opportunities, to create awareness, and to enable their success by strengthening the ecosystem supporting young agripreneurs. 

As the brainchild of billionaire philanthropist and Econet Chairman Strive Masiyiwa and his long-time friend, CEO and President of Yara International Svein Tore Holsether, Generation Africa has grown rapidly in the few short years since its inception. The other founder, who joined the two principals on this noble initiative, is Dr Agnes Kalibata, the President of the continent’s preeminent institution working for agricultural transformation, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), who are also the host of the Generation Africa secretariat. With continued support from AGRA, Generation Africa has expanded to include the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, Corteva Agriscience, USAID, SACAU, NORAD and Heifer International. 

From their deep experience and active participation in agriculture, information and communication technology, policy advancement, and grassroots development, these influential founders and partners unanimously agree that a thriving, climate-smart and youth-led agrifood industry is the best chance Africa has to shed the yoke of poverty.

Generation Africa is leveraging the experience and resources of its founders to design youth focussed incentives, entrepreneurial communities, and support programmes like the GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize Competition and Pitch AgriHack.

To achieve the mandate of youth empowerment and inspire food systems change on the continent, the youth must be heard. Generation Africa has identified three areas where we must amplify the voices of the youth to succeed. If any one area is ignored, the chances of a successful outcome become tenuous.   

1. YOUTH INSPIRING YOUTH: Amplifying stories of success to generate awareness of opportunities in agripreneurship.

The young agripreneurs of Africa are doing amazing things. Dynamic problem-solvers across the continent are building successful agribusinesses around the needs they see in their communities.

Their stories are powerful. They have the potential to inspire other entrepreneurial youth to stake their claim in a burgeoning African agrifood industry and demonstrate that there are viable futures in the agriculture and food value chains. 

Unfortunately, while many of these agripreneurs gain local renown, their stories remain shrouded in obscurity.

Generation Africa uses the annual GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize Competition and Pitch AgriHack to identify these stories and elevate innovative agribusinesses and their young founders to a pan-African stage. By amplifying the voices of young agripreneurs, they become role models and mentors to their peers.

The Gogettaz Agripreneur Prize Competition is focussed on businesses across the entire agrifood value chain while Pitch AgriHack looks, specifically, at agritech. Both competitions showcase and support a vast variety of agriculture businesses beyond the “hard-labour in the burning sun”. 

Youth see that they can help Africa achieve food security and that “farm work” encompasses attractive, modern opportunities in home delivery logistics, web design, data analytics, mechanical engineering, financial services, education and training, environmental resource management, and even robotics.

In the end, even the dreaded primary production part becomes interesting. The youth realise they do not have to do the work themselves when they discover an array of other existing service providers along the value chain. By collaborating with other providers, all the services they require to run an agribusiness is on hand, some even provided by fellow youth agripreneurs. Land leasing brokerage, land tilling and planting services, soil fertility management services, drone crop protection, harvesting and off-taking services, and more, are all available to take the brunt of the physical work off the table, so an agripreneur can concern themselves with running their business.

2. YOUTH ENGAGING POLICYMAKERS: Amplifying youth voices in multi-generational policy discussions to influence future-looking government policies.

When Generation Africa was first designed, our landscape research study was quite clear. Good intentions and pretty wishes cannot change the food system. Public-Private sector collaboration and significant revisions of policies governing the agriculture and food industries are crucial. 

Many government policies, legal frameworks, and tax guidelines have not kept up with the fast-paced responses needed to tackle food system sustainability, climate uncertainties, and food insecurity on the continent. 

Ensuring that the youth are part of critical discussions with governments was built into the DNA of Generation Africa.

Youth Town Halls with both government stakeholders and young entrepreneurs at the table allow the youth to discuss their challenges and evolving needs directly with presidents and ministers. During the 2021 AGRF, one such Youth Town Hall session was organized by the Gender and Inclusivity Team at AGRA with support from Generation Africa. The session allowed the youth to pose questions to H.E. HON Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya; Hon. Rosemary Mbabazi, Minister for Youth in Rwanda; and Hon. Yaw Frimpong-Addo, Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture in Ghana. 

Through yearly surveys, Generation Africa gathers information from agripreneurs across Africa regarding their challenges, physical and psychological strains, and the roadblocks that are keeping them from successful participation in the food system.

Every year, the Generation Africa Ambassadors, comprised of industry leaders, young agribusiness owners, and influencers in the agriculture and food industries, use the annual surveys to create a call-to-action to guide and influence policymakers and industry players to prioritise and support youth endeavours. 

Another incredibly exciting policy-shaping programme currently being rolled out is the Youth in Agriculture Ecosystem Development Framework (Y-EDF). With a successful case study completed in Senegal, Generation Africa will soon implement the Y-EDF in Rwanda. AGRA is ready to start championing reforms of policy that shall be specifically highlighted in the Y-EDF Country Youth Opportunity Reports and Mapping Report. From the Y-EDF an Investment Plan, also viewed as a Flagship Report, shall also be realised. The Government of Rwanda shall then use these recommendations to bring stakeholders together to channel resources to critical technical gaps. At the end, the framework approach will ensure a collaborative and well-coordinated approach towards youth support. The right structure, where all important value chain actors are talking to each other, will be the foundation to create sustainable youth opportunities and jobs at the country level. 

3. YOUTH INFORMING SUPPORT PROGRAMMES: Amplifying youth voices in the design of holistic support programmes to facilitate their success in agribusiness.

A crucial component in enabling the youth to take advantage of the opportunities in the African food system is support structures dedicated to their success. Furthermore, input from young agripreneurs during the design of incubators, accelerators, and hubs is essential to meet their actual real-world needs.

Already our research and youth engagement indicates that young entrepreneurs need more holistic support for business incubation. Largely driven by the volatile economic climate and widespread closure of businesses during the pandemic, young entrepreneurs fear being exploited because of a lack of experience. 

Vetted and trusted providers along the entire value chain make a big difference, and holistic business support models have been proven to work. By offering entrepreneurs access and exposure to much needed services within their business value chains, it makes it easier for them to do business.

As example, One Acre Fund fights rural poverty in eastern Africa by training farmers, financing seeds and fertilizers, delivering inputs, and by facilitating market access for farmers to sell their produce at fair prices. This extraordinary programme considers the cycles of poverty and takes a long-term approach to develop farmers to sustainability.

The EIT Food Accelerator Network, funded by the European Union, is another comprehensive, free accelerator programme that strives to take agrifood startups to market with intensive programmes running from June to October every year. With non-repayable grants, expert mentors, office space, prototyping facilities, laboratories, and the opportunities to partner with world-leading corporates and research institutions in the agrifood space, EITFAN is geared to put food businesses into the European market.  

These are excellent models, and Generation Africa is working toward creating the Generation Africa Fellowship Programme (GAFP) to evolve the holistic incubator and accelerator model even further. Our goal is to incorporate feedback from youth-led businesses to create an ecosystem where they are connected to everything they need to thrive.

Amongst others, service providers include educational and research institutions to bring knowledge and skills, mentors to bring coaching in business services, financiers to bring flexible tailored investment services, off-takers to provide forward contracts for their produce and governments to champion reforms of policies that shall favour these youth-led businesses.

The Country Mapping Reports and Country Youth Opportunity Reports that will be generated during the implementation the Youth in Agriculture Ecosystem Development Framework (Y-EDF) will play an important role in refining the GAFP. 

Generation Africa plans to work with, and support, existing incubators and accelerators who are willing to incorporate youth feedback and adopt this holistic “one-stop-shop” model to create an African agrifood ecosystem conducive to success.

How does it end?

Without empowering the youth of Africa to take advantage of the opportunities in the food system, the continent is doomed. There is a lot at stake. 333 million people don’t know where their next meal is coming from.

Almost a billion people in Africa are under the age of 35. The choices they make and the opportunities they embrace will determine whether hundreds of millions of human beings will have food to eat as climate uncertainties increase. 

The youth of Africa represent the creativity and energy that is sorely needed to end hunger, poverty, and inequality.

By amplifying youth voices, they can inspire each other. By allowing youth input at the policy table we can build a resilient policy environment for agribusinesses to thrive into the future.  And by designing holistic support programmes with youth in mind, we can ensure that they have all the tools they need to succeed.

By Dickson Naftali – Head of Generation Africa

With operations in every corner of the world, they produce as much as $1.5 trillion worth of food, fuel and timber every year.

But it is not Unilever, Kraft or Danone. Instead, the largest private-sector food and agribusiness player is the world’s 500 million smallholder farmers, who are responsible for around a third of global food supplies.

And these producers, who often depend on rain-fed agriculture and forests to make a living, face an uphill struggle to cope with the increasingly severe impacts of climate change.

As world leaders gather in Glasgow, it is imperative they recognise that there is no fair and just climate action without action on food systems to enable millions of families worldwide to adapt to new and extreme conditions.

The recent UN Food Systems Summit inspired the launch of national pathways and global coalitions to champion the rights and needs of grassroots producers, and this should be reflected in every country’s climate targets, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

In the first instance, national climate plans should include efforts to adapt food systems that work with the changing natural environment, rather than against it.

East Africa, for example, is facing a higher risk of drought across 65 per cent of its landscape, including Djibouti, Eritrea, parts of Ethiopia and Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.

Land degradation already affects 65 per cent of Africa’s land area, and every year the continent loses about four million hectares of forest.

African smallholders need tools and techniques to continue to produce food amid increasingly scarce natural resources, and several African countries have joined the Coalition for the Transformation of Food Systems Through Agroecology mostly to do their part- adopt policies guided by agroecological principles that might hold promise to reduce emissions of Agricultural systems.

But advanced economies can support this transition by channelling climate finance for developing countries to deal with loss and damage, advancing agroecology research and Regenerative practices, and facilitating local innovation.

Second, governments should harness the benefits of knowledge from among Indigenous Peoples, who manage a quarter of the Earth’s surface, including rainforests, but preserve 80 per cent of the remaining biodiversity. They are the best stewards of our environment and make the rest of us pale in comparison.

Organisations from across Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia united at the Food Systems Summit behind the creation of Indigenous Knowledge Research Infrastructure (IKRI).

Commitments to support a hub for indigenous knowledge would provide a new resource to help countries identify ways to conserve agricultural biodiversity and develop more sustainable food production practices.

Finally, officials at COP26 must also acknowledge and uphold the importance of climate adaptation to the lives and livelihoods of smallholder families.

At present, price incentives and subsidies in low- to middle-income countries can penalise farmers to protect poor consumers, disincentivising them to innovate and diversify production.

Meanwhile, climate-related disasters and risks could push 100 million people into extreme poverty by 2030 and 720 million people by 2050, many of whom are family farmers who are already struggling.

Yet by directing climate finance towards helping smallholders adapt to the effects of increased temperatures, it is possible to build their resilience enough to transition towards healthy and sustainable food production.

Several countries backed a new Coalition for Family Farming but it is in everyone’s interests to support the UN’s Decade of Family Farming, given the importance of smallholder farmers to global food security.

Smallholders are the unsung heroes of global food systems, yet less than two per cent of climate finance is invested in supporting them as they face increasingly challenging conditions.

The Food Systems Summit recognised climate change as both a threat to and a consequence of food systems. Now, climate negotiators must recognise food systems transformation as an opportunity to survive climate change and thrive.

The time is now and these farmers and other low-income communities are betting on our leaders demonstrating urgency and ambition at COP26.

Written by Dr. Agnes Kalibata – President of AGRA (the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa) and the UN Special Envoy for the Food Systems Summit. 

The recent COVID-19 pandemic and several other drivers have put the world off track to ending hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030. The latest FAO report “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021” estimates that between 720 and 811 million people in the world faced hunger in 2020 – as many as 161 million more than in 2019. Nearly 2.37 billion people did not have access to adequate food in 2020 – an increase of 320 million people in just one year.

“To underline the urgency of enhancing our efforts and defining a roadmap for the international community, ICRISAT brought together global leaders in science and policy making to brainstorm the current state of food and nutrition security in drylands and define the future roadmap”, said Dr Rajeev K Varshney, the Principal Organizer of the panel discussion while setting the scene. The panel discussion, organized as the International Borlaug Dialogue side event of the World Food Prize Foundation 2021, aimed to create awareness and discuss the future course of action for the global scientific community and international development agencies towards this pressing issue. The panel had eminent research scientists and administrators from international agricultural organizations across India, Eastern & Southern Africa, West & Central Africa and Australia.

The panel highlighted several key areas for urgent interventions to complement ongoing global efforts towards addressing food and nutrition insecurity. Some of these include diverse global partnerships, enhanced investment and funding for agricultural R&D, gender integration, adoption of value chain approach, deployment of advance scientific tools and technologies in crop improvement programs, strengthened seed systems, etc.

Providing the donors’ perspective, Dr Julianne Biddle, Director – Multilateral Engagement, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), highlighted the role of global partnerships to tackle complex food systems challenges in dryland agriculture and emphasized the importance of gender integration in our approaches to ensure food and nutrition security.

“We need to work with the agenda to turn the tide and leave no one behind,” said Dr Yemi Akinbamijo, Executive Director, Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). “International development agencies need to enhance their focus in the dryland regions, as the population living in these regions accounts for high hunger and malnutrition, and without addressing the challenges of these regions, we cannot achieve global food and nutrition security,” he added.

“A strengthened seed system is as important as developing improved crop varieties with higher yield, nutrition and resistance to several biotic and abiotic stresses, for ensuring accessibility of these improved varieties by smallholder farmers at the right time and in the right place,” underlined Dr Jane Ininda, Head, Seed Research & Systems Development, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Government of India, mentioned the urgent need for adopting a multisector approach for inclusive development across agricultural value chains.

Dr Mohapatra also highlighted several flagship initiatives of the government of India that include crops, livestock, horticulture, soil health etc., which can be replicated across dryland regions of the world under south-south collaboration.

From development of improved varieties (including through molecular breeding),   seed systems and value chains, to water management interventions and land restoration, Dr Arvind Kumar, Deputy Director General-Research, ICRISAT, portrayed the success stories delivered by ICRISAT together with partners. Dr Kumar also underlined the importance of organizations like ICRISAT, which is well positioned to deliver impact on ground and the recent recognition to ICRISAT with the Africa Food Prize 2021 as a testament to this.

Dr Rajeev K Varshney, while thanking all the panelists, appreciated them for highlighting challenges, opportunities and potential interventions, which may serve as food for thought, for developing an effective roadmap toward achieving food and nutrition security in dryland regions.

The event was co-organized by Drs Anthony Whitbread, Research Program Director – Resilient Farm and Food Systems; Michael Hauser, Research Program Director – Enabling Systems Transformation; Rebbie Harawa, Regional Director – Eastern & Southern Africa; Ramadjita Tabo, Regional Director – West & Central Africa, and supported by Mr Nilesh Mishra, Senior Scientific Officer, RP- ACI and Mr Prasad Bajaj, Manager- Computational Biology, Genomics, Pre-breeding & Bioinformatics.

About World Food Prize Foundation’s International Borlaug Dialogue

Held each October in conjunction with the presentation of the World Food Prize, the “Borlaug Dialogue,” is a three-day symposium that brings together international experts, policy leaders, business executives and farmers to address cutting-edge issues in global food security and nutrition. The event, which takes place in Des Moines, Iowa, USA, and regularly attracts over 1,000 participants from more than 50 countries, has been referred to as “the premier conference in the world on global agriculture.” The Borlaug Dialogue has featured an array of celebrated international speakers, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, AGRA Chairman Kofi Annan, HRH Princess Haya bint Al Hussein, former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Bill Gates, who launched his multi-million-dollar initiative to uplift Africa at the World Food Prize in 2009. Through the Borlaug Dialogue, the World Food Prize Foundation helps build alliances in the struggle against world hunger and malnutrition.

Reported by: Nilesh Mishra, Senior Scientific Officer
Research Program- Accelerated Crop Improvement, ICRISAT

In the past three months, food prices in Ghana have shot up, a rise that the Minister for Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, attributes to a drought in 2020, leading to the underproduction of staple foods like maize.

In a media interview, Dr. Akoto noted that the country has experienced droughts at least once every five years for the past six decades, and that food prices typically go up every year from August to September.

While the honorable minister expressed optimism that the prices will normalize in January 2022, the current situation has drawn attention to our need for resilient food systems that provide adequate food for everyone all year round – a key resolution of the UN Food Systems Summit (UN FSS), in New York, USA, last month.

Immediately before the UNFSS, AGRA participated in the AGRF Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, where it launched the Africa Agriculture Status Report 2021 (AASR21). The AASR showed that sub-Saharan Africa has registered the most rapid rate of agricultural growth of any region in the world since 2000.

It, however, added that the region remains largely food insecure, accounting for one third or 256 million of the world’s 795 million hungry people. In response, the AGRF Summit concluded with a declaration that addressed the matters of first concern for Africa, underscoring a new understanding of food systems and the criticality of food and agriculture in the continent.

All these activities are part of AGRA’s priorities and activities in its 11 focus countries. In Ghana, to support the country’s food systems, AGRA partners with the government in identifying capacity gaps and supporting the implementation of evidence-based interventions that accelerate the country’s agricultural transformation.

We are also keenly promoting policies that incentivize and de-risk private sector participation in the agricultural sector contributing to enhanced access to finance, and the development of active and stable markets for smallholder farmers.

This is in addition to driving the adoption of climate-smart technologies and the optimal use of yield-enhancing technologies including high-quality seed and regenerative agriculture.

We are pleased to note the government and civil society support for these initiatives. On World Food Day, on October 16, we saw increased appeals for more food system investments including the better management of food loss and waste and a greater emphasis on environmental sustainability and enhanced food quality. 

This is especially after the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of our food systems to external shocks and highlighted the need to build more resilient food systems and strengthen the resilience of actors in our food chains.

Going forward, and as we seek to reform our food systems to achieve lasting change, we now know that we must continue engaging governments, which hold the authority to ensure that agricultural research, development and extension systems receive a significant share of total public expenditures, given their centrality in raising agricultural productivity – a key recommendation of the AASR 2021.

Additionally, smallholder farmers must be trained and encouraged to increase food production, through techniques that do not leave adverse effects on the environment. This is in line with the recommendations of the New York Food Systems Summit recognizing the potential nutritional benefits of diverse foods and food systems, and the need to reduce demand-driven pressures globally while ensuring food security in all its dimensions

Finally, we are also looking to be part of the development of food systems that are inclusive, promoting the participation of youth and women in meaningful economic opportunities along different value chains.

The writer is the Country Manager for AGRA, Ghana.

This year, three high-profile events have been held to define the future of Africa’s agricultural and food systems. These were the AGRF Summit, the UN Food Systems Summit and the 26^th Climate Convention (COP26). AGRA had a central role in these three events; with representation from key institutional heads including the Board Chairman, H.E. Hailemariam Dessalegn and AGRA’s President, Dr. Agnes Kalibata. With a special focus on Nigeria, the Nigeria Economic Forum was also held towards the end of October, again with AGRA participating in the influential dialogue. Against this background, we spoke to H.E. Dessalegn, for his perspective on the four summits, and especially their impact on Africa’s agricultural and food system transformation. 

Question: What are some of the reflections from the 2021 AGRF Summit held in Nairobi, Kenya?

H.E. Dessalegn: The AGRF is one of the pre-eminent gatherings for making important decisions on Africa’s agricultural and food systems. In its 10 years of existence, the forum has gained wide recognition in Africa and beyond as a showcase of strategies for building robust agro- economies. 

This year’s edition was attended by more than 8000 people from 100 countries.  The delegates included heads of states, entrepreneurs, researchers, the civil society and farmers.

We are glad to note that the summit achieved its core mandate of bringing together the relevant stakeholders to outline the next steps for the development of resilient and sustainable food value chains across Africa.

Guided by the Africa Common Position Document and the UN Food System Summit, at the AGRF Summit we called out five areas of urgent priorities in this area, including: 

1. Catalyze rapid expansion in agriculture and food productivity, with a particular focus on smallholder farmers and women;
2. Boost investment financing for Africa’s food systems;
3. Ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all;
4. Strengthen Africa’s local and regional food markets;
5. Build resilience especially through social safety nets, and early warning systems.

Question: With the recent conclusion of the UN Food Systems Summit, what’s next for Africa? 

H.E. Dessalegn: The Food Systems Summit presented a great platform for world leaders to discuss the pertinent issues affecting the  food sector. In particular, leaders engaged in various conversations around food insufficiency, malnutrition and obesity, with the aim of finding the best solutions for nourishing the world.  Among these solutions was the development of public-private partnerships that drive investments towards projects that boost national food security. A global agreement was also reached to support smallholder farmers in increasing their output. Increasing their output is key to supporting well-nourished societies. Meanwhile, it was agreed that there is a new urgency for Africa to actively participate in combating climate change, realizing that its effects are adversely affecting the continent’s food and nutrition systems.

Question:  From COP26, what must be done to address the climate change challenges in the world?

H.E. Dessalegn: Africa’s contribution of greenhouse gases is minimal when compared to other regions. However, the continent appears to be suffering more from the negative effects of climate change including droughts, floods, mudslides and pest attacks.  Going forward, it is important that the promises and commitments made towards climate justice are delivered upon, especially by the large emitters. At COP26, AGRA was pursuing immediate remedial actions against climate change, which at this point, also involves educating smallholder farmers in Africa on how to adapt to climate change, including through the use of modern agricultural technologies. 

Question: What are the key initiatives that AGRA is working on to transform Africa’s food systems?

H.E. Dessalegn: AGRA is working closely with smallholder farmers across Africa through programs that provide education on environmentally-friendly agriculture. Similarly, as a catalytic intermediary, we are working closely with governments and the private sector in projects that improve food security by pursuing the increased output of local agricultural products.  In our relationships with governments, we play a vital role in supporting policy formulation and capacity building. It is also worth mentioning our participation in the development of Nigeria’s seed and fertilizer laws.   

Question: Why was AGRA participating in the Nigeria economic forum?

H.E. Dessalegn: The Nigeria Economic Summit presented a key opportunity for us to consolidate our support of the country’s leadership in driving an all-inclusive economic transformation. AGRA was participating in the forum as an organization that looks out for the interest of the more than 21 million smallholder farmers, who actively drive Nigeria’s economic growth. The Economic Forum was, therefore, an ideal platform for AGRA to rally both the public and private sector players to invest in agriculture as a key influencer of economic transformation.

Question: How can Africa’s youth be encouraged to invest in the continent’s food sector? H.E. Dessalegn: In order for youth in Africa to see agriculture as a desirable and economically viable career path, we, as leaders, must double our effort to change the negative perceptions associated with the agriculture industry. We must make agriculture attractive by modernizing it, through among other ways, digitizing production processes and investments. Today’s youth are technologically savvy and will take to agriculture if it is re-drafted as a forward-thinking industry that is well mechanized. Governments and the private sector leaders have different roles in this transformation but if they each fulfil their end of the bargain, then Africa will achieve a youth-led food system transformation.

African leaders and experts met at the sidelines of the COP26 Climate Summit Tuesday to discuss the steps towards the achievement of AFR100, a pledge made in 2015 to restore more than 100 million hectares of degraded lands by 2030. 

The AFR100 (the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative) is a country-led effort to bring 100 million hectares of land in Africa into restoration by 2030.

The speakers addressed several issues of urgency including how to incentivize farmers to embrace regenerative agriculture and other techniques that contribute to a reduction in greenhouse emissions.

Dr. Agnes Kalibata, President of AGRA (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa), proposed carbon marketing as a key strategy for renewing damaged agro-ecologies across Africa. 

Carbon marketing is an incentive program that involves issuing financial rewards to individuals and communities that plant trees or rehabilitate their farms and landscapes to satisfy established carbon financing requirements. 

“We need to start doing carbon farming and letting those farmers that are working on regenerative agriculture benefit from a carbon farming perspective…there must be people that are prepared to compensate these farmers for their effort,” Dr. Kalibata said.  

Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank Group, added that a proper valuation of forests must be conducted to come up with an ideal carbon pricing framework. 

“By placing a proper price on carbon, we will create better incentives for forest preservation by carbon sequestration. Without incentives or payments for environmental services, we simply are not going to see change,” he said.  

Dr. Akiwumi further noted that investments which enable smallholder farmers to increase their food crop yields end up leading to a reduction in forest destruction, something that Dr. Kalibata confirmed citing the success of different AGRA projects in Kenya. 

“Our work with GEF and UNEP in Western Kenya stopped farmers from encroaching on the Mt. Elgon Forest after they increased their maize yields by 146%, doubled their vegetable yields and increased their bean yields by 46%. This is more than they wanted from their land, so they are willing to step back and let the land go; and they actually planted 250 million trees in this period!” Dr. Kalibata said. 

The AFR100 was initiated at COP21 as a pledge to restore more than 100 million hectares of land in 15 years. To date, 32 African governments have pledged to restore 128 million hectares, although actual confirmed restoration activities are only taking place on 4 million hectares, mostly due to insufficient financing. 

Charlotte Pera, the VP for Strategy and Programs at the Jeff Bezos Earth Fund, said that the restoration activities could be quickened through the combined financial resources of philanthropic, public and private sector organizations. 

“Philanthropic resources are very modest compared to public funding, and certainly private financing, and we need all of it – restoring nature will cost trillions of dollars every year. We require a level of resources that require public and philanthropic funding, but ultimately, it is going to be the private sector that is going to get us to those trillions,” she said. 

The session concluded with an appeal from Yvonne Aki-Sawyer, the Mayor of Sierra Leone’s capital city, Freetown, to ground all afforestation work on communities as a way of securing the buy-in needed for sustainable restoration work.  

The COP26, the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, was launched in Glasgow, Scotland on 31 October; it ends on 12 November 2021. The forum summit is bringing parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

With operations in every corner of the world, they produce as much as $1.5 trillion worth of food, fuel and timber every year.

But it is not Unilever, Kraft or Danone. Instead, the largest private-sector player in food and agribusiness is in fact the world’s 500 million smallholder farmers, who are responsible for around a third of global food supplies.

And these producers, who often depend on rain-fed agriculture and forests to make a living, face an uphill struggle to cope with the increasingly severe impacts of climate change.

As world leaders gather in Glasgow, it is imperative they recognise that there is no fair and just climate action without action on food systems to enable millions of families worldwide to adapt to new and extreme conditions.

The recent UN Food Systems Summit inspired the launch of national pathways and global coalitions to champion the rights and needs of grassroots producers, and this should be reflected in every country’s climate targets, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

In the first instance, national climate plans should include efforts to adapt food systems that work with the changing natural environment, rather than against it.

East Africa, for example, is facing a higher risk of drought across 65 per cent of its landscape, including Djibouti, Eritrea, parts of Ethiopia and Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.

Land degradation already affects 65 per cent of Africa’s land area, and every year the continent loses about four million hectares of forest.

African smallholders need tools and techniques to continue to produce food amid increasingly scarce natural resources, and several African countries have joined the Coalition for the Transformation of Food Systems Through Agroecology mostly to do their part- adopt policies guided by agroecological principles that might hold promise to reduce emissions of Agriculturalsystems..

But advanced economies can support this transition by channelling climate finance for developing countries to deal with loss and damage,advance agroecology research and Regenerative practices and to facilitate local innovation.

Second, governments should harness the benefits of knowledge from among Indigenous Peoples, who manage a quarter of the Earth’s surface, including rainforests, but preserve 80 per cent of the remaining biodiversity. They are the best stewards of our environment and make the rest of us pale in comparison.

Organisations from across Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia united at the Food Systems Summit behind the creation of Indigenous Knowledge Research Infrastructure (IKRI).

Commitments to support a hub for indigenous knowledge would provide a new resource to help countries identify ways to conserve agricultural biodiversity and develop more sustainable food production practices.

Finally, officials at COP26 must also acknowledge and uphold the importance of climate adaptation to the lives and livelihoods of smallholder families.

At present, price incentives and subsidies in low- to middle-income countries can penalise farmers to protect poor consumers, disincentivising them to innovate and diversify production.

Meanwhile, climate-related disasters and risks could push 100 million people into extreme poverty by 2030 and 720 million people by 2050, many of whom are family farmers who are already struggling.

Yet by directing climate finance towards helping smallholders adapt to the effects of increased temperatures, it is possible to build their resilience enough to transition towards healthy and sustainable food production.

Several countries backed a new Coalition for Family Farming but it is in everyone’s interests to support the UN’s Decade of Family Farming, given the importance of smallholder farmers to global food security.

Smallholders are the unsung heroes of global food systems, yet less than two per cent of climate finance is invested in supporting them as they face increasingly challenging conditions.

The Food Systems Summit recognised climate change as both a threat to and a consequence of food systems. Now, climate negotiators must recognise food systems transformation as an opportunity not only to survive climate change, but to thrive.  The time is now and these farmers and other low income communities are betting on our leaders demonstrating urgency and ambition at COP26.

The author is a Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the UN Food Systems Summit.

OCTOBER 26, 2021: Kigali, Rwanda – AGRA President H.E. Dr. Agnes Kalibata has today been conferred with the Distinguished Award for Meritorious Service by the African Plant Breeders Association (APBA) at the second Plant Breeders Conference (#APBACONF2021), currently taking place in Kigali, Rwanda. The award recognizes Dr. Kalibata’s contribution to the transformation of Africa’s agricultural and food systems. 

In his citation, APBA President H.E. Prof. Eric Yirenkyi Danquah recounted Dr. Kalibata’s commitment to fighting hunger and poverty in Africa, starting with her college days as a bachelor’s degree student in entomology and biochemistry, to her time as Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture, and now as AGRA President.

“In the six years you were Minister of Agriculture, Rwanda’s poverty dropped more than 20%. You grew the agricultural sector annual budget from US$10 million to US$150 million. Rwanda also became the first country to sign a compact under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme. You are heralded as one of the most successful Agriculture Ministers in sub-Saharan Africa,” read Prof. Danquah’s citation, in part.

Dr. Kalibata served as Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources from 2008 to 2014, implementing a science-based approach to agriculture that greatly increased efficiency and productivity, and transformed Rwanda into a largely food-secure nation.

Afterwards, she briefly served as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Institutional Advancement at the University of Rwanda before joining AGRA as its President in September 2014.  At AGRA, she leads a team of more than 200 agricultural specialists across 11 priority countries to increase the access by farmers to high-quality farm inputs, financial support and markets. This is achieved through, among other ways strengthening agricultural policy development by governments and the establishment of beneficial partnerships with the private sector.

The APBA recognition is the latest for Dr. Kalibata, who has been previously feted with the Yara Prize, (2012), honorary doctorates from the Universities of Liège (2018) and McGill University in (2019), and the Public Welfare Medal by the National Academy of Sciences (2019), amongst many others.

In 2019, she was appointed by the UN Secretary-General as Special Envoy to the 2021 Food Systems Summit, which took place in New York, USA, last September. In this role, she worked with the United Nations system and key partners to provide leadership, guidance, and strategic direction towards the Summit.

-ENDS

About AGRA

AGRA is a farmer-centered, African-led, partnerships-driven institution that is working to transforming smallholder farming from a solitary struggle to survive to a business that thrives. In collaboration with its partners—including African governments, researchers, development partners, the private sector and civil society— AGRA’s work primarily focuses on smallholder farmers – men and women who typically cultivate staple crops on two hectares or less. AGRA is now recognized across the continent as a strong voice for African rural development, a prosperous agricultural economy, and for supporting thousands of small African businesses and millions of African families to improve agriculture as a way to ensure food security and improve their livelihoods.

More information: https://agra.org ; Rebecca Weaver, rweaver@agra.org;

About APBA

The African Plant Breeders Association is an initiative of experienced agricultural scientists, students and professionals in Africa from higher education institutions, research organizations and private companies who see the need to change the narrative of crop improvement and the seed sector in Africa. It is a forum dedicated to promoting scientific plant breeding and related research, developing human capacities, identifying solutions to food and nutrition insecurity in Africa and providing tangible solutions to governments, seed companies, non-governmental organizations and farmers. The APBA was inaugurated at the University of Ghana in October 2019. The inaugural conference was a resounding success. Over 400 scientists from 30 countries converged in Accra, Ghana to share ideas and develop a plan of action. At the business meeting held to approve the constitution and elect officers, it was resolved that the APBA platform would drive an agenda for innovation in plant breeding on the continent to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger and the aspirations of the African Union, “the Africa We Want” by 2063 as documented in the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).More information: https://africanplantbreeders.ug.edu.gh; Alma-Lisa Lartey alartey@wacci.ug.edu.gh

KIGALI, Rwanda: October 25, 2021 – From 25^th-29^th October 2021, scientists, entrepreneurs, institutional leaders and students from Africa and beyond are meeting in Kigali, Rwanda and online for the second continental African Plant Breeders Association Conference (#APBAConf2021)

Guided by the theme, “Accelerating Genetic Gains in Plant Breeding for Resilience and Transformative Food Systems and Economic Growth in Africa”, participants at the hybrid event are set to explore current research outputs and outcomes in plant-breeding and related disciplines.

AGRA is partnering with the Government of Rwanda, the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI), host of the Secretariat of the APBA and USAID at the #APBAConf2021, a forum that seeks to shine the spotlight on plant breeding as a key component of fast-tracking the continent’s agricultural transformation. Strategic partnerships are crucial in the fight against food and nutrition security in Africa, said Prof. Danquah, Founding Director of WACCI and President of APBA.

“The #APBAConf2021 draws attention to the need for crop improvement and seed sector development in Africa to help us build resilience in the staple crops of Africa, and to increase productivity in farmers’ fields. AGRA is proud to have been part of training plant breeders who are now churning out locally adopted crop varieties. I encourage all of us to support these scientists and sustain the momentum to put high yielding as well as drought tolerant crops in the hands of farmers.   I am pleased to be part of this conference which brings together scientists from across the continent to help provide solutions that ultimately improve the lives of smallholder farmers,” Dr. Kalibata said.

Since 2007, AGRA has supported 1,100 African scientists to obtain post-graduate degrees whilst developing solutions to address the challenges of smallholder farmers with respect to seeds, soils, applied agricultural economics and policy. This is in line with the APBA platform which aims at driving an agenda for innovation in plant breeding on the continent to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 2: “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture” and the aspirations of the African Union, “the Africa We Want” by 2063).

The APBA conference was first held two years ago in Ghana, where resolutions were made to mobilize resources and build institutional capacities for the long-term strategic development of the agricultural sector in Africa through effective plant-breeding programs.

The 2021 edition will track the progress towards the commitments made in Accra, in addition to presenting tangible solutions to other problems presenting in the plant breeding and seed industry as an outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic and other unforeseen difficulties like the locust invasion of East Africa.

-ENDS

About AGRA

AGRA is a farmer-centered, African-led, partnerships-driven institution that is working to transforming smallholder farming from a solitary struggle to survive to a business that thrives. In collaboration with its partners—including African governments, researchers, development partners, the private sector and civil society— AGRA’s work primarily focuses on smallholder farmers – men and women who typically cultivate staple crops on two hectares or less. AGRA is now recognized across the continent as a strong voice for African rural development, a prosperous agricultural economy, and for supporting thousands of small African businesses and millions of African families to improve agriculture as a way to ensure food security and improve their livelihoods.

More information: https://agra.org ; Rebecca Weaver, rweaver@agra.org;

About the APBA

The APBA is an initiative of experienced agricultural scientists, students and professionals in Africa from higher education institutions, research organizations and private companies who see the need to change the narrative of crop improvement and the seed sector in Africa. It is a forum dedicated to promoting scientific plant breeding and related research, developing human capacities, identifying solutions to food and nutrition insecurity in Africa and providing tangible solutions to governments, seed companies, non-governmental organizations and farmers. The APBA was inaugurated at the University of Ghana in October 2019. The inaugural conference was a resounding success. Over 400 scientists from 30 countries converged in Accra, Ghana to share ideas and develop a plan of action. At the business meeting held to approve the constitution and elect officers, it was resolved that the APBA platform would drive an agenda for innovation in plant breeding on the continent to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger and the aspirations of the African Union, “the Africa We Want” by 2063 as documented in the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

More information: https://africanplantbreeders.ug.edu.gh; Alma-Lisa Lartey alartey@wacci.ug.edu.gh