AGRA

ABUJA, Nigeria: October 23, 2021 – AGRA’s  (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa) Board Chair, H.E. Hailemariam Dessalegn, will be engaged in a high-profile panel discussion at the two-day Nigerian Economic Summit, which kicks off on Monday, October 25, 2021, in Abuja, Nigeria.

The session: “Building a Secure Nigeria: Key Priorities for Economic Growth and Inclusion”, has been planned to shed light on the economic, political and governance imperatives for repositioning Nigeria on the path to economic, social, political, environmental, and physical safety.

Also on the panel are Dr. Zainab Ahmed, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning; Dr Benedict Okey Oramah, the President and Chairman of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank); Mr. Atedo Peterside, the Co-Chair of Nigeria’s Steering Committee of the National Development Plan, Agenda 2050, and Mrs. Ndidi Nwuneli, Managing Partner of Sahel Consulting and AACE Foods and also AGRA Board Member. Mrs. Eugenia Abu, the CEO and Managing Partner of the Eugenia Abu Media will moderate the session.

The conversation will address the key factors required to strengthen Nigeria’s institutions in establishing an equitable, safe, and secure society, as well as highlight the role of the private sector in reversing the fragilities across the country’s economic, environmental, and social spheres. This is in addition to identifying the implementation priorities of a National Economic Plan and a National Vision for 2050.

H.E. Dessalegn will share insight on Africa’s priorities for supporting economies. This will draw from his experience as former Prime Minister of Ethiopia, where he led the development and implementation of growth and transformation plans that propelled the East African country into  sustained double-digit economic growth. The AGRA Chair will also bring to the discussion his perspective on the areas of focus for achieving food security.

Now in its 27^th edition, the Nigerian Economic Summit is a partnership between the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning. This year’s event will be held under the leadership of H.E. Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

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;

The entrance AIF’s Headquarters in the Kigali Special Economic Zone.

The Government of Rwanda (GoR) realised that there was malnutrition in the country and the wider Region and agreed to set up a company to address the challenge by producing highly nutritious local foods. It is with the above challenge in mind that Africa Improved Foods (AIF), a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) by the Royal DSM (a Dutch multinational corporation active in the fields of health, nutrition and materials), FMO (a Dutch development bank), DFID (the British Department for International Development which was responsible for administering foreign aid), IFC (the International Finance Corporation is an international financial institution that offers investment, advisory, and asset-management services to encourage private-sector development in less developed countries and a member of the World Bank Group), CDC ( which is UK’s development finance institution) and the Government of Rwanda was created.

In collaboration with the GoR, AIF products are intended to solve the issue of malnutrition which is prevalent among the segments of societies that may be vulnerable. Africa Improved Foods manufactures high quality nutritious foods for the Rwandan and regional markets where they are exported. AIF is not only addressing malnutrition and stunting challenges but social and environmental issues in communities in which it operates.

Before it partnered with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA, AIF faced challenges in sourcing quality maize that would produce quality products in terms of enough quality and volumes supplied. The maize produce that was sourced locally had high levels of Aflatoxin. In the year 2017, ninety (90%) percent of the maize that was sourced locally was rejected due to high levels of aflatoxin. AIF tested the maize supplied at the gate and the produce which did not meet the expected levels of Aflatoxin was rejected. (In a country where agriculture is the main economic activity, with 72% of the population engaged in the sector which contributes thirty-three (33%) of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), rejection of harvested produce hurts many more people along the value chain who have invested in its production, harvest, storage and transportation. Such loss ultimately pushes families to below poverty line especially if the invested money was borrowed. This negatively impacts farmers, aggregators and transporters but especially smallholder farmer’s livelihoods who are most vulnerable.

Aflatoxins are saprotrophic and pathogenic fungi that belong to a family of toxins produced by Aspergillus flavus. They are mainly found on agricultural crops such as maize, peanuts, cottonseed and tree nuts according to the United States’ National Cancer Institute. Crops can be contaminated at harvest and during storage. Aflatoxins are mostly found in improperly stored produce and are a major health constraint in hot and humid countries.

AIF is very sensitive to the quality of maize supplied and requires that the moisture content should be below 14%. The testing for moisture content is done at the company’s own laboratories.

Aflatoxins are saprotrophic and pathogenic fungi that belong to a family of toxins produced by Aspergillus flavus. They are mainly found on agricultural crops such as maize, peanuts, cottonseed and tree nuts according to the United States’ National Cancer Institute. Crops can be contaminated at harvest and during storage. Aflatoxins are mostly found in improperly stored produce and are a major health constraint in hot and humid countries.

AIF is very sensitive to the quality of maize supplied and requires that the moisture content should be below 14%. The testing for moisture content is done at the company’s own laboratories.

AGRA’s wok in Rwanda is aligned with the GoR’s Strategic Plan for Transformation of Agriculture (PSTA 1V)[1]. The partnership between AIF and AGRA was geared towards intervention in the post-harvest handling to ensure that the farm produce, especially locally produced maize, is well processed and handled with low or no levels of aflatoxin. Due to the lack of quality maize produce grown in Rwanda, AIF initially imported more than 80 percent (80%) of its annual maize requirements from Tanzania, Zambia and Uganda because the local maize had unacceptable level of aflatoxins.

Aflatoxin can be controlled by reducing the moisture content of the produce through using local drying sheds, referred to as gusharika in Kinyarwanda which brings the moisture levels in maize harvest from between 18-22% moisture to 14 % with no aflatoxin contamination.

Rwanda’s Strategic Plan for Agriculture Transformation phase 4 (PSTA-4) outlines the government’s priority investments in the agricultural sector and estimates required resources for the entire sector for the period 2018-2024. PSTA-4 is the implementation plan of the National Agricultural Policy (NAP) and represents the agriculture sector’s strategic document under the country’s National Strategy for Transformation (NST).

Aflatoxin can be controlled by reducing the moisture content of the produce through using local drying sheds, referred to as gusharika in Kinyarwanda which brings the moisture levels in maize harvest from between 18-22% moisture to 14 % with no aflatoxin contamination.

When sourcing directly from the farmers, the maize grain normally has moisture which requires drying.  AIF got a matching grant worth eighty-five thousand (USD 85,000) United States Dollars from AGRA with which it bought different machines; the maize Sheller which can shell maize form cobs into grain and two driers that can dry maize grains to reduce moisture content. According to the grant modalities, AGRA would provide the equivalent of forty (40%) percent of the cost while AIF provided sixty (60) percent of the cost. Each of the two (2) purchased dryers has capacity to shell twelve (12) metric tons per batch and can carry out three (3) batches per day which translates into thirty-six (36 MT) tons per day. Using manual labour, an individual can shell between fifty (50) and eighty (80) tons of maize per day. Mechanization of the process not only speeded up the process but reduced the human effort required. Thanks to the support from AGRA, where AIF earlier needed 554 people to shell 36 tons, the purchased machines do the job in a single day. The machines are automated and can remove and sort grain reducing the time and labour required to make the produce ready for manufacturing.

With the support from AGRA, AIF can now buy directly from farmers irrespective of the moisture content and mechanically dry it in a short period, saving farmers and produce dealers who supply them, from losses associated with rejected produce.

AIF can now buy maize cobs directly from farmers, dry it and produce the final product in a short time. The support from Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa has had several benefits to AIF, Rwandan farmers especially smallholder farmers and Rwanda’s economy as shown below:

1. The support from AGRA has increased AIF’s local sourcing from less than twenty (20%) percent in the year 2017 to approximately sixty (60%) percent today and reduced rejection of locally sourced maize due to aflatoxin from ninety (90%) percent to below ten (10%) percent thereby replacing grain hitherto imported from other countries with local purchases especially from local farmers’ cooperatives and agro-dealers who deliver to its factory.
2. With the machines acquired, purchasing from Rwandan farmers is cheaper and easier to manage in terms of logistics, compared to imports especially those that are sourced outside the COMESA
3. With support from AGRA, the issue of moisture content, which creates the favourable grounds for aflatoxin contamination and propagation, has been improved so much that now a mere five percent (5%) of local purchases is rejected. By June, 2021, of all AIF’s maize requirements as raw materials, sixty (60%) percent has been sourced locally and there is optimism that more maize accounting for 30% of its raw material will be purchased locally. The total purchase of AIF is therefore projected to reach ninety (90 %) percent, a far cry from the ten (10) percent before AGRA’s intervention.
4. With a mere ten (10%) percent local sourcing from Rwandan farmers, there was debate about the viability and sustainability of the AIF’s investments in the country since maize imports, the biggest cost drivers for the company, continued to be imported. With over sixty (60%) percent local sourcing, AIF is sure its investment is viable and sustainable in the long run.
5. The mechanization of the drying process has allowed AIF to reach its set standard of thirteen and a half (13.5%) percent moisture content. AIF’s turnaround time increased tremendously for example whereas, it took a Rwandan farmer fifty (50) days to harvest, dry, sell to aggregators before (s)he was paid, with the mechanized system supported by AGRA, (s)he needs only ten (10) days to get paid.
6. The increase in local sourcing from ten (10%) percent earlier to sixty (60) percent today and still increasing, has enormous implications for the local maize producer, dealer, transporter and the economy as a whole given the contribution of agriculture to Rwanda’s GDP. Imports of grain from outside Rwanda negatively impacts the country’s balance of trade; spends the country’s precious foreign currency; denies local farmers, produce traders, transporters and other actors along the maize value chain incomes and stunts its growth.

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a free trade area that brings together twenty-one member states from the north, east and south of the African continent. It was formed in December 1994 to replace the defunct Preferential Trade Area (PTA).

Aflatoxin contamination increases rapidly after harvesting and especially under poor storage facilities. With the funding from AGRA, AIF was able to increase its processing capacity and can today buy maize directly from the farm immediately after harvesting relieving the farmer with no adequate storage infrastructure to handle the postharvest management of the maize produced. Before the partnership with AGRA, AIF collaborated with partners to outsource most of the post-harvest activities. With funding from AGRA, AIF partnered with Kumwe Harvest and other stakeholders to introduce a new model of processing harvested maize in Rwanda using better trucking and logistics, and establishing mobile collection centres near farms. Using mobile shelling machines, maize produced is shelled and transported to AIF for industrial drying and storage in the same day. By eliminating on-farm post-harvest delays, the produce can reach the market (AIF stores) in two days instead of two months and one hundred (100%) of maize delivered still on the cob-web is accepted by AIF. The model was christened, “the Cob-Web Model”. As a result, 83% of the volume sourced in the first season of 2020 was maize still on cobs which increased its acceptability. The model is possible thanks to the support from AGRA.

Originally from: https://africaimprovedfoods.com/

By Dr. Agnes Kalibata

In my experience as a leader in Africa’s agricultural and food systems, I have witnessed first-hand how innovative rural women can be. In the Bagré commune of Boulgou Province in Eastern Burkina Faso, where all land is assigned to men, I have seen women establish themselves as rice processors, immediately transforming their households’ incomes. 

In Mozambique, Maria Elsa Antonio, a 30-year-old mother of six is now a respected agribusiness advisor, after receiving agricultural training from an AGRA (the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa) project. Formerly a struggling subsistence farmer, Ms. Antonio now knows how to work her production to grow enough maize for household consumption with surplus for the market. Her agricultural enterprise has flourished so much that she now supplies farmers in her community with the same yield-increasing inputs that she uses on her farm, with her customers gaining the added advantage of agronomic advice from her. 

These are not unique examples; there are numerous such cases across the continent showing how rural women work around limiting constraints to establish growing agri-food ventures. Yet, even as they play a critical role in Africa’s food systems, many rural women in agriculture still have to contend with greater constraints than men in accessing productive resources like land, financial assets, technologies and markets. These difficulties impinge their ability to grow. 

These endemic challenges were brought to the fore at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, early last year. Women were disproportionately affected by the lockdowns and movement restrictions as they were left to find alternative ways to fend for their families, amidst difficulties that were new to the whole world. Indeed, various studies have confirmed that the pandemic disproportionately affected rural women’s productive, reproductive and income-generating capacities while at the same time increasing their workload and escalating gender-based violence. 

It is such difficulties that the world needs reminding about around this year’s International Day of Rural Women, organized by the United Nations to recognize the role that rural women play in producing food and building a sustainable agricultural and rural development world.

While the spotlight shines on our rural grandmothers, mothers and daughters, it is also an opportune time to declare that, as a continent, we must now do all it takes to alleviate the strife that our women in agriculture undergo to keep us well nourished, while securing a better future for coming generations. 

Going forward, we must create an environment where rural women benefit from their investments – including generating more time, money and energy. Rural women should receive equal pay that is commensurate to their input. There is no reason why they still do not have equal access to land ownership and other important productive resources.  

Our journey to the equitable world that I envision will be quickened through a conducive policy environment that considers the role of women in agri-food systems and ensures that their needs are adequately addressed. To get here, governments need to invest in women’s leadership and engage rural women in the design and implementation of policies to include their perspectives while ensuring that their priorities are considered. 

 As we pursue action from policymakers, we all must play our role in fast-tracking this transformation, which is now long overdue. 

On this note, the private sector is invited to create additional focus and initiatives for the fair participation of women farmers and entrepreneurs in agri-food systems. Financial services institutions, especially, are encouraged to create support mechanisms targeting rural women in agribusiness. This support includes lower interest rates and credit lines targeting rural women and driven by higher risk tolerance and expanded collateral requirements. 

The scientific community must also continue generating appropriate data and innovative technologies for equalizing gender-related inequalities. Better data and monitoring will guide the design of solutions by stakeholders that address the differentiated needs and priorities of rural women.

Some of this data has been gainfully used by AGRA, the institution I lead, to develop high-impact initiatives like Value4her, a continental program linking women agripreneurs to markets, capital, skills and business intelligence.  The Value4her network prepares women-led businesses to become visible through digital networking, creating more financing opportunities for them. Similar impactful and scalable products and technologies can be developed and scaled, guided by improved and disaggregated research and data. 

In conclusion, let us celebrate the role of rural women and remind ourselves of the need to work together on solutions to the ingrained challenges and inequities that they continue to face. Collaboration will put us on a path to the attainment of inclusivity goals, leading to even more benefits for food and nutrition security, and eradication of poverty from Africa.

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

AGRA (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa) is analysing the expanding profile of Village-based Advisors (VBAs), to inform the development of AGRA’s 2030 strategy as it seeks to reach even more smallholder farmers.

‘’As we design our next strategy we want to make sure it will be informed by what we are learning from important partners such as the Village-based Advisors,“ said Dr. Agnes Kalibata in a virtual meeting with VBAs from Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Nigeria and Malawi.

Initially focusing on practically training farmers on yield-enhancing technologies including Good Agronomic Practices (GAP), the majority of the VBAs are graduating to become agri-entrepreneurs, either becoming agro-dealers, agents of agro-dealers/seed companies or agents of offtakers. AGRA has over the last three years facilitated the training of over 2,000 VBAs as rural agrodealers.

Since inception of our input distribution strategy ,  our partners have identified and trained about 33,000 VBAs who have directly reached about 6 million small-holder farmers by delivering critical extension services, underlying their crucial role in the overall AGRA mission of directly improving the productivity and livelihoods of 9 million smallholder farmers.

Dr. Kalibata said that such an impact can only be improved if VBAs have a forum for providing constant input in their achievements, challenges and vision for the programme. “If we can hear your perspective on what you think the future holds for you in this job, we can see how to ensure our strategy supports you,” she told the VBAs.

VBAs who spoke at the Conference explained how they have succeeded in helping farmers increase their yields. They also explained how they have started to generate income from different business lines including sale of inputs, and also as Agents of aggregation for farmers’ produce.  Apart from creating rural self-employment opportunities, VBAs are helping farmers to sustainably access technologies and services at the last-mile thereby reducing the distance farmers have to travel to purchase yield-enhancing inputs.

“My engagement with farmers has enabled me to notice various gaps and needs among farmers, and I have now moved on from only training farmers to become a manufacturer and supplier of home-made poultry and pig feeds, thus reducing costs for local farmers,” said Timan Macharia, a VBA from Karai Ward in Kenya’s Kiambu County.

VBAs also spoke about their challenges. These included lack of access to finance to expand their businesses, as well as with transport to reach farmers, especially with the current COVID-19 containment measures that prohibit large congregations.  As a result, many VBAs are forced to reduce the number of farmers they can mobilize for training, meaning they have to make more visits to reach individual farmers.

World Food Day is celebrated across 150 countries making it an important day in the calendar of the United Nations.

The event brings together governments, businesses, NGOs, the media, and the general populace to rally worldwide awareness and action for people who suffer from chronic hunger and unhealthy diets.

The theme of this World Food Day 2021 is ‘Our actions are our future -Better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life’.

This year’s day is being celebrated against the backdrop of the increasing number of hungry and malnourished people despite enough food being produced to feed the entire global population.

In 2020, about 811 million (9.9 percent of the total global population, one third of whom live in Africa) people were hungry and 161 million more people became undernourished compared to 2019, a situation circumstanced largely by conflict, climate change, and COVID-19.

Women play a critical role in the food supply chains, especially in the food production, post-harvest, and consumption domains of the global food systems.

In Uganda, 76 per cent of women compared to 62 per cent work in farms. However, women face a myriad of barriers that prevent them from participating in profit- able downstream nodes of food value chains such as trade and ultimately limit their contribution in ensuring that nutritious food gets to the most deserving in our communities.

Conversely, participation in local low-value markets disincentive women from being innovative in diversifying their products and having a wider customer base thereby perpetuating a vicious cycle of low investment in their farms and sub- optimal productivity.

Other barriers that women confront in their quest to move food from farm to folk are limited movement due to cultural norms and family responsibilities, limited access to infrastructure-more importantly, digital infrastructure that negates the need for movement, limited access to networks, and in- formation and poor enabling environment.

Increasing the level of women participation in the food trade starts with recognizing the barriers that disfranchise them and addressing the most critical ones.

For example, experience of intervention of the AGRA (Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa) in Uganda has shown that with minimum effort and investment in digital platforms such as WhatsApp, women do not have to move over long distances nationally or across borders the source for food products to sell or as raw materials in their businesses.

Through Regional East Africa Community Trade in Staples-II (ReACTS-II) project funded by AGRA, eight women under the auspices of the Network of Producers and Exporters of Uganda (NePEU) in Uganda and the Agro-processors Association of Kenya (APAK) were linked and facilitated to make orders via WhatsApp, transfer funds and receive cargo from Uganda without necessarily traveling across the border.

In a record of nine months since June 2020, the women traders had imported more than 2,000MT (of maize and beans), worth $ 383,562 from Uganda. Women could now procure big volumes of produce without the need to traverse across borders thereby reducing cost and time for aggregation and reducing security concerns.

Another winner with the introduction of the WhatsApp group was that at a click of a button, women could easily access information on quantities and quality of products, prices, and logistical arrangements to guide better decision-making.

Limited access to otherwise readily available trade-related information such as on requirements of quality and standards as well as trade regulation has traditionally constrained women participation in trade.

Yet, targeted and effective net- working platforms can transform women’s entrepreneurial ideas into profitable business ventures specifically in moving healthy and nutritional foods from farms to consumers across and beyond their borders.

To this end, grassroots mobilisation of women to form business-oriented groups to exploit economies of scale and facilitate access to information, and connecting them to national, regional, and international platforms can be a game-changer in exposing women to more diverse food supply chains in which they can sustainably participate.

The VALUE4HER Connect a programme of AGRA is such a plat- form. It is Africa’s first women in agribusiness digital marketplace with a current membership of 1,830, 128 of whom are in Uganda, offering integrated business solutions to women agro-enterprises.

The platform seeks to expand women’s presence in markets where they trade, access new markets nationally, regionally, and internationally, and acquire the capital, business, and technical partners and resources required to support their growing businesses.

Leveraging access to market information by women and empowering them through softer sensitive infrastructure is essential for increased women engagement in the food trade.

The role of the government in promoting policies that removing gender-based barriers in food trade is all-encompassing but most important would be those that re- move inequalities in access to productive assets, information, and infrastructures such as targeted trade promotion policies, export preparedness programs, and other business development services.

These are especially critical because women have disproportionate access to information, networking capital, and technology.

Written by Ms Lilian Githinji, Associate Programme Officer, AGRA – Uganda

Anthony Ngosi, regional technical lead for Markets at Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) says the youth need to take up business opportunities in agriculture if African countries can ensure food security for the populace.

Ngosi is urging governments and development partners to increase support for youth involvement in agricultural programmes to help make the continent food secure.

Speaking to Asaase Radio’s Emmanuel Aboagye Wiafe on “The 12 O’Clock Report” ahead of World Food Day, he noted agriculture can provide a lot of employment and help ensure that the energies of young people are channelled appropriately.

Saturday’s (16 October) World Food Day celebration is under the theme, “Our actions are our future – better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life.”

Ngosi said, “Youth involvement in agriculture is very important because we are in an era when youth employment is causing a lot of social problems across the African continent.”

He cited South Sudan, Burundi and Somalia, as some of the countries where youth unemployment has been responsible for a lot of instability and socio-economic upheavals.

“There has also been rural-urban migration and a lot of youth are trying to cross the Sahara Desert to Europe. So, this is a very big problem,” Ngosi said.

He said there are lots of opportunities in the agricultural sector that government and development partners should be investing in for the benefit of the youth.

“The youth are quick to adopt technologies. They can use innovative tools. They can improve efficiency across the value chain,” he observed.

Ngosi says the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has rolled out an initiative called the Youth Agri-preneurship Development in the SADA-Zone (YADIS) which is a good model that can help provide job opportunities for the youth.

YADIS which AGRA runs in collaboration with Nestle and Sahel Grains Limited has trained hundreds of youth agri-preneurs on good agricultural practices and provided them with support.

This has helped them produce aflatoxins free maize which they have been able to sell to companies like Nestle to produce baby foods.

This was previously not possible because a lot of the maize from Ghana contained high levels of aflatoxins.

Sahel Grains implements the YADIS program and buys the grains produced by the farmers for further cleaning and aggregation, while Nestlé provides technical assistance and ready market for the high-quality gains.

“Through the project, they have been able to produce maize for Nestle and firms like that…” Ngosi said.

Kwame Boateng, CEO of Sahel Grains Limited said YADIS focuses on empowering youth aged between 20 and 25 years old so they can treat agriculture as business.

“Agriculture and entrepreneurship is being fused together. Farming is no longer cutlass and hoe business. There is no difference with how you run a typical business. We are making sure we understand problems and critical rethinking and how to manage our farm as a business,” he told Asaase Radio.

Building more resilient food systems will require a mix of approaches from agroecology to the latest crop and soil science, writes the chair of AGRA.

When Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) was founded in 2006, it was out of a clear, urgent need for leadership in transforming the continent’s agricultural systems. This would deliver increased food and nutrition for all, better incomes for farmers, and resilience for the environment.

Having been there from the start, I can confirm that it was clear from the beginning that the agricultural transformation AGRA was created to spur had to be pursued in a unique way. Critically, it was important that any approach was African-owned and African-led.

Over the years, AGRA has pursued these headline goals, with a mixed bag of success and lessons learned. While there have always been detractors of our approach and success, these voices have become louder, deciding to campaign against our work through the media, despite being offered opportunities and engage directly. And unfortunately, some facts, have been lost in the process.

[Read: Open letter: The Green Revolution in Africa has unequivocally failed]

Let’s start with some facts I hope we can all agree on. Africa’s 33 million smallholder farmers are the beating heart of the food system, growing about 70% of the food we eat every day. Over the last two decades, the African continent has registered the most rapid rate of agricultural production growth of any region of the world. Unfortunately, most of this growth has been through the expansion of agricultural land, not an increase in productivity. With our population expected to double by the middle of the century, our farmers need to continue growing more, while using fewer resources.

There is no question that our food systems need to be transformed if we are to meet this challenge. Since 2006, our work has been focused on this task. Recently we’ve seen links drawn between our work and increasing levels of hunger. AGRA accounts for 1% of funding for African agriculture. We are such a small part of the ecosystem, so to attribute increasing levels of hunger to us is wrong and terribly misleading given it seems to ignore the impact conflict, the pandemic and climate change have on food security.

Disappointingly recent discussions on AGRA’s work have moved to ideological debates, where the solutions for transforming Africa’s food systems come down to one approach over another. Such binary debates are unhelpful and at times counterproductive. Building more resilient food systems on the continent will require a mix of approaches from agroecology to the latest crop and soil science.

Consider this: you can have the healthiest soil in the world, but if it is missing a micronutrient, or the crop variety you are using has limited yield potential, you will be no more productive than the farmer next door with poor soil. The judicious application of nutrients to agricultural soils is an established fact for helping improve soils, so why prohibit Africa’s farmers from doing it?

Another area I would like to correct is our work on seeds. Since 2006, AGRA’s funding has created almost 700 new crop varieties across 18 crops. Many, if not all the varieties were developed by local scientists at national institutions, who were working with local farmers to specifically tackle the challenges they face. Our funding has helped almost 120 entrepreneurs develop or expand their local businesses to ensure these and many other seeds and supplies can get to farmers. As a result, farmers need to travel 10km to get supplies, a decade ago they would travel at least 30km.

The idea that Africa’s seed systems have been overtaken by multinationals is not just wrong but insulting to the hundreds of entrepreneurs running seed local companies working with farmers day-in-day-out.

Since 2006, we have decided to invest in action over debates. Our work has been to ensure we put in place the environment needed to help farmers thrive.

In Ethiopia, for example, we equipped the Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) with the technical support leading to exemption of duties on selected agricultural machinery, irrigation technologies and animal feed processing machinery, as well as agricultural inputs. The outcome of this support has been increased access to high-quality mechanisation services and technologies by smallholder farmers, with projected increases in yields.

While in Rwanda, AGRA has extensively supported the government’s plan to develop the local seed industry, leading to the country becoming self-sufficient in improved high-yielding maize varieties. Such success may not have been forthcoming without the participation of over 37 scientists trained by AGRA to lead the development of 47 varieties of different crops, among them maize, beans, soybeans, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, bananas and more.

And in Kenya, we have seen a rapid rejuvenation of the Kakamega Forest, the country’s only tropical rainforest, through investments in agroecology and other regenerative agriculture strategies. So far, this project has seen over 6,000 hectares of land in the Kakamega-Nandi ecosystem under sustainable land use with plans for replication and scaling for more-encompassing benefits.

These are just three examples of how our work supports local partners, to build on their knowledge while boosting food production and respecting nature.

The task of tackling hunger, malnutrition and climate change requires all of us working together to deliver resilient food systems in the continent. What the continent needs is sustainable agricultural practices that deliver sufficient food. Each of us share this vision and we all can contribute to achieving it.

Ultimately, it is the collaborative efforts of Africa-based organisations like AGRA, governments and other interest groups that will lead to more food and trade opportunities for the continent. I call upon the entire African continent to work together to contribute ideas and lessons to tackle the hunger challenge we face.

Read a response to this piece by members of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA): Time to change course: The future is in agroecology.

AGRA leads conversations and important partnerships at the AGRF and the UN Food Systems Summit

With just nine harvests left to achieve critical commitments including the eradication of hunger and poverty from Africa, communities around the world spent over one year mobilizing voices and stakeholders towards commitments and coalitions to transform local and global food systems. The outcome of these efforts was highlighted in September 2021, a month when two critical events – the AGRF 2021 Summit and the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) were held to review the milestones towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As a convenor and thought-leader on agricultural systems, AGRA contributed to, and drove the momentum in the two events by designing platforms and sessions that cast the spotlight on Africa’s priorities and key actions to achieve resilient and sustainable food systems.

At the AGRF Summit, held in Nairobi, Kenya between September 6 and 10, AGRA  curated high-profile AGRF thematic platforms including a Presidential Summit, a Youth Townhall, a Farmers Forum and a workshop on Collaborative Food Systems Leadership hosted by an AGRA Initiative, the Centre for African Leaders in Agriculture (CALA). AGRA organized and presented four awards: the Africa Food Prize, the GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize, the VALUE4Her Women Agripreneurs of the At the AGRF Summit, held in Nairobi, Kenya between September 6 and 10, AGRA  curated  a Presidential Summit, a Youth Townhall, a Farmers Forum and a workshop on Collaborative Food Systems Leadership hosted by an AGRA Initiative, the Centre for African Leaders in Agriculture (CALA). AGRA organized and presented four awards: the Africa Food Prize, the GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize, the VALUE4Her Women Agripreneurs of the Year Awards (WAYA) and the Pitch Agrihack Competition. The awards were held to recognize the role of youth and women entrepreneurs and innovators in the transformation of Africa’s agri-food systems. AGRA launched the 2021 Africa Agriculture Status Report (AASR) and the Center of Excellence for Seed Systems in Africa (CESSA), which will  champion the development of high quality and improved seed varieties in the continent. 

At the same time, and in the run-up to the UN FSS, AGRA invited the continent’s leaders, food systems entrepreneurs and innovators to side-events, where the continent’s priorities for the transformation of the continent’s agri-food systems were outlined. The side-events included a high-level panel focusing on food systems priorities emerging from the AGRF, a VALUE4Her TalkCorner featuring this year’s WAYA winner, and a GoGettaz Favorite Food Extravaganza with renowned Chef Ali, Paul Newnham, and youth agripreneurs from across Africa. These side-events drew from the regional priorities identified at the AGRF Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, two weeks prior to the UN FSS. After the UN FSS, AGRA President Dr. Agnes Kalibata and USAID Administrator Samantha Power met to discuss the strategies for implementing the Biden Administration commitments made at the New York Summit, with particular emphasis on priorities in Africa. In the same trip, Dr. Kalibata met with the US Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Dr. Jewel Bronaugh, on the importance of research, extension and food trade towards catalyzing transformation in Africa, and the renewal of AGRA’s partnership with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) leveraging our previous Memorandum of Understanding.

For more information about AGRA at the AGRF 2021 Summit, click here.

Delivering on commitments and increasing investment in food and agriculture in Africa preoccupies technical teams and continental thought leaders across the continent. Catalyzing thematic working groups and mobilizing critical stakeholders are core to AGRA’s mission. Five teams worked tirelessly with dozens of partners and institutions and governments to organize the AGRF 2021 Summit held in Nairobi, Kenya from September 6-10. The AGRF Summit is Africa’s pre-eminent forum that brings together political leaders, scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs and farmers on a common platform to discuss strategies and strike partnerships for the transformation of the continent’s food systems.  The AGRF Summit and Partners Group are AGRA’s premier advocacy platform and communications highlight of the year.

At the AGRF 2021 Summit, AGRA launched the Africa Agriculture Status Report (AASR), and curated a Youth Town Hall, which brought the needs and aspirations of youth to the attention of governments and other stakeholders. AGRA also supported a high-level presidential summit, which brought together five of Africa’s presidents to review the strategies for fast-tracking Africa’s food system transformation.  The newly-launched Centre for African Leaders in Agriculture (CALA) hosted a dialogue on African leadership for food systems transformation. This was as the Farmers’ Forum cast a spotlight on the continent’s farmers by inviting them to chart the pathways to resilient food systems in the continent. Meanwhile, the prestigious Africa Food Prize was awarded to ICRISAT for improving food security in the continent. Additional information about these and other highlights of AGRA at the AGRF are presented below.

Status Report, Center of Excellence Unveiled to Guide Africa’s Agricultural Transformation Plans

Africa Agriculture Status Report – Among the most important publications in Africa’s food systems is the Africa Agriculture Status Report (AASR), which is published annually as a handbook for governments and other partners to provide direction for agricultural transformation.  The 2021 AASR, unveiled at the AGRF Summit by AGRA President H.E. Dr. Agnes Kalibata and Chief of Staff and Strategy Andrew Cox, addresses the tough questions that accompany the challenge of delivering inclusive growth and enhancing government capacity. The 2021 AASR is a product of intense scholarly work aimed at stimulating discussion and a productive synthesis of ideas around the creation of sustainable and resilient food systems in Africa. A diverse set of researchers from different disciplines were involved in writing the AASR21.

CESSA – Seeds are an important entry-point for increased agricultural productivity, better nutrition and the promotion of resilience among smallholder farmers. It is against these backdrop that AGRA unveiled the Center of Excellence for Seed Systems in Africa (CESSA) to champion the development of quality seed of improved varieties in Africa. Hosted by AGRA, CESSA will convene seed actors to help fill gaps, and build capacities and varieties that respond to needs of farmers in Sub Saharan Africa. The Center will begin operations in 2022, supporting governments, private sector and development partners to deliver modern, effective and resilient seed systems that serve African farmers better. It will also strengthen the seed value chain, particularly variety development and release, production and distribution of both early generation and certified seed, farmer awareness creation and participation, quality assurance, national planning, policy and regulatory frameworks.  

Innovating, Scaling new Technologies, Delivering on Commitments and Mobilizing Investments drove AGRA Sessions at the AGRF

Presidential Summit – A high-level Presidential Summit at the AGRF 2021 Summit brought together five of Africa’s presidents to review strategies for fast-tracking Africa’s food system transformation. The five were: host Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya), Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Dr. Lazarus Chakwera (Malawi), Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), and Hage Geingob of Namibia. Joining them in a panel discussion were Tanzania’s Vice President Dr. Philip Mpango, IFAD President Gilbert F. Houngbo,Josefa Sacko, the Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture at the Africa Union Commission, Salamatu Garba, the Senior Gender Specialist at UNDP-GEF Project, and Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group. The session was moderated by Dr. Vera Songwe, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa. 

Youth Townhall – AGRA curated and organized a Youth Townhall that provided a unique platform for young people to present their issues, challenges, aspirations to governments and stakeholders for policy consideration as well as interact with various ecosystem players and their peers. The Townhall cast a spotlight 4-K Clubs, a new policy recently approved by Kenyan government, with the aim of returning agricultural learning and clubs in schools, both at primary and secondary schools’ levels in Kenya. At the session, an agreement was made with stakeholders to create awareness about the 4-K club’s policy, bolster its implementation in Kenya and inspire other governments in Africa to replicate this policy.

Collaborative Food Systems Leadership – The newly-launched Centre for African Leaders in Agriculture (CALA) hosted a dialogue on the nature of African leadership for food systems transformation. The session sought to catalyze a professional movement of food system leaders who work collaboratively to build sustainable food systems for the well-being of all African citizens and its environment. The session also started a new dialogue on the nature of African leadership for food systems transformation in Africa.

Farmers’ Forum – Seeking the voice of smallholder farmers, the key stakeholders in Africa’s agricultural and food systems was a Farmers’ Forum, which invited attendees to chart the pathways to resilient food systems in the continent. The session was premised on the fact that inclusive and sustainable agriculture transformation is pegged on the revolution of smallholder agriculture into a highly productive, efficient, competitive, and sustainable business. Its outcome was a concrete list of priorities for smallholder farming enterprises and actionable next steps for complete food system transformation.

AGRA Awards and Prizes at the AGRF

In appreciating the important work of Africa’s innovators and food system entrepreneurs, AGRA supported the presentation of awards totaling USD278,500 across different categories. Three of the four awards were designed to draw attention to the role of women and youth in food system transformation, by rewarding innovative and scalable enterprises by individuals in the two demographics.

Africa Food Prize – The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) was awarded the 2021 Africa Food Prize, for its work in improving food security across 13 sub-Saharan Africa countries. ICRISAT, a CGIAR Research Center, is an international organization that conducts agricultural research for development in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. ICRISAT became the ninth winners of the USD100,000 award, which was first held in 2016 and sometimes shared between two innovators.

WAYA – Three winners were awarded the inaugural VALUE4HER Women Agripreneur of the Year Awards (WAYA), which celebrates women agripreneurs that show remarkable innovation in their businesses. Bagging the USD10,000 top prize was Dr. Hajia Salamatu Garba, the Founder and Executive Director of the Women Farmers Advancement Network WOFAN, a network of cooperative societies owned by small-scale, low-income rice farmers in Northern Nigeria. Beatrice Nkatha M’Munyi of Kenya’s Sorghum Pioneers was the first runners-up, winning USD 7,000 while Linda Manyeza, the founder and director of South Africa’s Food Masters Limited took home the USD 5,000 third prize.  

Pitch AgriHack – Six youth-led agribusinesses with market-ready innovations for African farmers won a share of the USD 45,000 Pitch AgriHack 2021 competition. SAYeTECH Company Limited in Ghana, which designs and manufactures climate-smart agricultural machinery won the early-stage category with Nigeria’s Rural Farmers Hub taking second place. The mature/growth-stage category was won by Liberia’s J Palm limited, for their innovative labour-saving technology in the production of palm oil. Nigeria’s Farmcrowdy Limited was the runners up. Meanwhile, Kenya’s GrowAgric won the women-led award, in recognition of their end-to-end solution, which optimizes the entire agriculture value chain, providing small and medium-scale farmers with training, marketing linkages and accessible working capital. Zimbabwe’s Fresh In A box took second place. In a fourth, invitation-only category, known as the AYuTe Africa Challenge, US$1.5 million in grants were awarded to two agritech businesses- ColdHubs and Hello Tractor. Cold Hubs provides solar powered cold storage options to smallholder farmers, while Hello Tractor connects farmers to tractor owners via a mobile app.

GoGettaz – Two agribusinesses working towards food systems transformation in Africa shared the USD100, 000 grand prize in the third GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize. The winners were Kenya’s Tracy Kimathi, founder of Tree_Sea.mals in Kenya and Rwanda’s Nshimiyimana Alexandre, co-founder of Sanit Wing Ltd. Kimathi’s company provides affordable off-grid cooling solutions for farmers while Alexandre’s enterprise is a community-focussed avocado processing and manufacturing company dealing with oils, cosmetics and soaps. Beyond the two grand prizes, four entrepreneurs won USD 2,500 each in the Impact Social and Environmental category. These were: Fily Keita, co-founder and CEO of Agrowomen in Mali; Diana Orembe, co-founder and CEO of NovFeed in Tanzania; Gabriel Eze, co-founder and COO of Rural Farmers Hub in Nigeria, and Costantine Edward, founder of AgriLife in Tanzania.

Poor rice fields development is a major impediment to the mechanisation of rice cultivation in the country, a study conducted by the John Agyekum Kufuor (JAK) Foundation has found.

The study, which focused on mechanisation and infrastructure delivery for the rice value chain, found that tree stumps, roots, debris, among others, on rice fields created barriers for effective use of farm equipment.

It also found that machinery operators and contractors suffered “weak skill capacities” in developing lowlands with requisite water regulatory structures for rice cultivation.

The foundation has proposed, among others, the use of equipment such as skid shredders, mulchers and laser levellers for land development.
The findings of the study were disseminated at a stakeholder workshop in Accra last Monday.

The study assessed Ghana’s current infrastructure and machinery relevant to the rice value chain in 143 rice production districts, with major focus on the Volta and Northern regions because of high rice production in those regions.

The researchers also analysed data from 10 regions to identify the infrastructure and mechanisation gaps.

The study formed part of the implementation of the Public-Private Partnership for Competitive and Inclusive Rice Value-Chain Development: Planting for Food and Jobs — Rice Chapter Project, an initiative of the JAK Foundation in collaboration with the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

Findings

Presenting the findings, a Consultant for the JAK Foundation, Mr. Patrick Ohene Aboagye, said the Volta Region emerged as the region with the most advanced infrastructure and recorded the highest productivity yields of 5.1 metric tonnes per hectare (mt/ha) and the highest production.

He said although the Northern Region recorded the second highest level of production, it reported the lowest yield productivity of 2.01mt/ha, lower than the weighted average of 2.96mt/ha for all the regions.

A Policy Advisor at the JAK Foundation, Nana Ama Oppong-Duah, identified inadequate coordination and synergy among players in the rice production sector as a factor which hampered the progress of the industry.