AGRA

The fourth edition of the Agribusiness Deal Room has been launched  at a virtual event organized by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

The Agribusiness Deal Room is a match making platform at the annual AGRF Summit that convenes different stakeholders to facilitate partnerships and investments in African agriculture. The Deal Room specifically supports governments and companies with access to finance and partnership opportunities.

Since it was founded in 2018, the Deal Room has directly provided over 400 companies with targeted investor matchmaking and hosted more than 800 companies to explore networking opportunities. It has also supported 17 governments with investor engagements. Over the last three years, public and private actors have jointly presented an aggregate capital of US$ 11 billion in investment opportunities at the Deal Room.

‘The huge potential of the agricultural sector on the continent remains unmet, with agriculture being the engine of African economies. We designed the Deal Room to build the capacities of SMEs while at the same time connecting them with sources of financing. We are looking for investments and partnerships that will unlock the sector’s potential across the continent.’ Dr. Fadel Ndiame, Deputy President, AGRA.

Providing keynote remarks Dr. Beth Dunford, incoming Vice President forAgriculture, Human and Social Development at the African Development Bank said that across the continent, there is a growing class of “agripreneurs” who are looking for investment, partnerships, technical knowhow and financing to scale up their business.

“The African Development Bank is excited to grow its partnership to this initiative. The Agribusiness Deal Room compliments our efforts to expand finance for agribusiness to enable SMEs to grow and attract new and innovative sources of sustainable capital,” she said.

This year, the AGRF Agribusiness Deal Room will focus on addressing the challenges in agricultural lending to SMEs and investments towards government flagship priorities, as one of the strategies for meeting the objectives of continental and global frameworks including the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit, Africa’s Agenda 2063, the Malabo Declaration, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26).

“Kenya welcomes investors and is well positioned to provide you with the right tools and dedicated support to ensure that your investment projects remain sustainable and profitable.” Dr. Moses Ikiara, Managing Director, Kenya Investment Authority.

THE REGIONAL EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY TRADE IN STAPLES PHASE-II (REACTS-II)

One of the constraints to the development of agricultural value chains and commercialization of agriculture by smallholder farmers in the East African region is the limited access to guaranteed and reliable markets.

The Regional East African Community Trade in Staples Phase-II (REACTS-II), a three year flagship project, sought to support smallholder farming households and value chain actors in Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya to take advantage of structured national, regional and opportunistic international markets for agricultural products.

Another goal was to increase incomes by 20% for 315,795 smallholder farming households, of whom 105,265 were direct beneficiaries and 210,530 were indirect beneficiaries; and a 5% increase for other value chain actors including the SMEs.  Among the objectives was the strengthening and expanded access to input and output markets, and improving value chain coordination efficiency.

The transformation sought by REACTS-II was for profitable, structured and integrated trading systems; strengthened technical capacities for smallholder farmers and other value chain actors; improved and inclusive business linkages; and improved value chain coordination and efficiency.

However, the underlying challenges to the development of sustainable, structured and integrated trading systems drive the need for effective and efficient access for smallholder farmers to inputs, finance, technologies and markets.

The project relied on the Kilimo Trust Consortium Approach to Value Chain Development (KTCA2VCD) model, a facilitative initiative centered on market off takers and aggregators as anchor partners providing a market pull and crowding-in sufficient partners to develop market systems.  The REACTS-II project also integrated the village agent model to increase the participation of youth and women along different value chains.

The focus on SMEs growth, including cooperatives and large-scale national grain handlers, illustrated that the provision of tailored business development services could ease market access for smallholder farmers.   

The implementation of REACTS-II showed the strengthened capacity of trade associations to support their members enhanced their ability to take advantage of profitable trade opportunities. A case in point being the partnership between Agro Processors Association of Kenya (APAK) and the Network of Producers and Exporters Uganda Ltd (NePEU), to meet the required trade volumes and quality standards. This relationship resulted in over 15,000MT of maize and beans worth US$3.1 million imported by Kenya under the structured arrangements.

A lesson from the project’s implementation was that although agricultural infrastructure investments such as storage facilities were important, it was equally critical to invest in skills for their sustainable management.  For example, the engagement of youths in the target value chains as village-based agents (VBAs) and equipment operators, provided specialized commercial services and products to smallholder farmers.

Similarly, in Rwanda with and anticipated export target equivalent to 16MT of yellow beans per month, the challenge was to secure adequate volumes for the market as well as resolving quality issues. The multiplication of the desired yellow bean seed in adequate volumes for distribution to farmers, building their capacity to increase yields and quality through good agronomic practices and post-harvest handling resulted in a decline in bean rejects from 20% to 8%.

At the regional level, market off-takers require support to access low-cost trade financing to facilitate produce aggregation especially in the peak season. Access to timely, accurate information has greatly guided decision-making, reduced the cost of aggregation. The women cross-border traders and processors linked to NePEU and APAK participated in trading activities via the WhatsApp platform to make orders, transfer funds and receive cargo without having to travel physically across the Kenya-Uganda border to the source markets.  Within a nine-month period from June 2020, the women traders imported 2,000MT of maize and beans worth US$383,562 from Uganda.   

REACTS-II is proof that increased collaboration among implementing partners enhances synergies for greater impact in agricultural development.

Read REACTS II success stories below:

Reorienting business to create sustainable markets for farmers, Twezimbe ACE – Uganda

Youth find gainful employment as village-based agents, Justine Nayiga’s profile – Uganda

Smallholder agricultural commercialization on track for trade opportunities in regional markets, Bigando Area Cooperative – Uganda

Engaging SMEs and Farmer Cooperatives in structured cross-border trade despite COVID-19 disruptions – Uganda

Every year, people in Sub-Saharan Africa consume 34 million tons of milled rice, of which 43 percent is imported. But the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly hampered supply chains, making it difficult for imported rice to reach the continent. Indeed, if immediate action is not taken, the supply shortfall will further strain the region’s food systems which are already impacted by the pandemic.

Rice imports from Thailand, one of Africa’s largest suppliers, have declined 30 percent due to lockdowns, border closures and general limitations on supply chains in just over one year since the pandemic started.

Consequently, many poor urban dwellers, who traditionally struggle to afford staple foods, now have to contend with more expensive food as the price of the popular Indica White rice has increased by 22%.

On the flip side, however, these challenges can be viewed as a wake-up call for Africa to strengthen its domestic rice production and achieve self-sustainability. Undoubtedly, the continent has the resources for adequate rice production, and with increased investment, tremendous change can be achieved.

Ghana, for example, has increased its rice production by an average of 10 percent every year since 2008, with a sharp 25 percent rise being reported in 2019 following the rehabilitation and modernization of the country’s irrigation schemes. These investments led to a 17 percent rise in the country’s rice self-sufficiency between 2016 and 2019.

And while the West African nation has yet to produce enough rice to meet its local demand, the impressive increase in output makes it a model example of what can be achieved through supportive policies and investment. On this point, the country’s National Rice Development Strategy of 2009 and the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) campaign – launched in 2017 – not only prioritized rice but set ambitious expansion targets for domestic production.

Among the objectives of the two policies were the substitute on of rice imports and the production of higher-quality rice that is acceptable to Ghanaian consumers and can compete with imported products.

These policy frameworks played a pivotal role in de-risking market failures while speeding up the implementation of innovations in local rice production, including those that relate to genomics and e-commerce. At the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), we are first-hand witnesses to the transformation, and saw the positive impact of the government’s leadership in the development of favorable policies.

AGRA supported these developments; we helped the government in publicizing its ‘Eat Ghana Rice’ campaign, which sensitized local consumers on the economic and nutritional importance of consuming local products.

The clarion call inspired rice farmers, millers and other private sector players to increase domestic sourcing and marketing. The result, the country’s national production increased from just 138,000 metric tonnes in 2016 to 665,000 in 2019.

AGRA also played a major role in supporting the adoption of innovative technologies in rice production, particularly through the development and distribution of locally adaptable varieties. We remain a key player in availing suitable rice varieties and seed to farmers in the country, a goal we continually pursue by helping train scientists and researchers in the field.

Of the 680 crop breeders that we have trained at post graduate level in Africa since 2006, more than 50, or around 8 percent, have been rice breeders. These professionals have been instrumental in sustaining the production of varieties that are suited to local conditions and yield more per acreage than older types.

We are now delivering such technologies across Africa, and especially in countries with the potential for large scale rice production, most of which are spread across West and East Africa. In countries like Tanzania and Kenya, we soon hope to report a major rise in rice output attributable to our advocacy for the implementation of supportive policies related to the uptake of the best production and marketing practices.

But we cannot do it alone; we believe that investments of a genuinely great extent, like the ones we are pursuing, can only be achieved by the participation of all stakeholders. For this reason, we continue to appeal to all players in the rice value chain to support all efforts aimed at increasing the production of local rice, a crop that holds a leading role in the achievement of food security and economic stability for the continent.

OpEd by Fadel Ndiame – Deputy President, AGRA

Originally published

A tractor roars on Mzee Pascal Ouma’s three-acre land in Khulunyu, Busia County, attracting curious onlookers. It is interesting for the bystanders as the machine is not ploughing deeper into the soil.

“What I am doing is minimum tillage and many people here are seeing this for the first time,” says the 75-year-old retired agricultural researcher. Under the method, soil is minimally disturbed to minimize damage to its structure, evapo-transpiration, labour and general costs. A machine called a ripper is used to do the task.

Ouma had accessed the machine digitally on his smartphone from farmer Peter Ademba, who is offering the service. Ademba, who hails from Dadira village in Butula in the county, purchased the tractor five years ago for hiring out. In 2019, however, he registered it under “Hello Tractor”, a farm mechanization app, which links farmers to tractor owners.

Uber of farm mechanization

The app can best be described as the ‘Uber’ of farm mechanization. The app does not only help tractor owners get clients but also tracks their machines, know when the fuel is running out or is being siphoned, the distance the tractor has travelled, the acreage it has ploughed and one can also use it to immobilize the equipment.

To access the service, one buys a gadget, which is installed on the tractor’s engine. The cost of the gadget will depend on the features the farmer needs. They later pay annual subscription fee for the services rendered, which include links to farmers and monitoring the tractor.

“With this app, farmers have been able to reach me easily. In 2019, I ripped 40 acres mainly in Busia County. But in 2020 and the planting season this year, I have been able to do some 400 acres,” he says.

After buying the tractor, the first service was on his three acres. “I cultivated two acres using the minimum tillage technique, then one acre using the traditional intensive cultivation method for people to compare and contrast,” Ademba says.

“Work on the piece under minimum tillage was much easier, cheaper and the crop was healthier,” he adds.

To break even for tractor owners, Hello Tractor employs farmer agents, who aggregate smallholder farmers in an area, so that there is a reasonable cumulative work to be done to warrant the tractor owner to send his machine to the ground. 

Unlocking huge benefits

Ademba is the only tractor owner with a ripper in Busia County. He is invited to offer services in Siaya, Bungoma and Kakamega counties. “Charges depend on the services being rendered such as harrowing or normal cultivation. But for ripping services, we charge Sh2,500 per acre.”

As demand rises, Ademba has partnered with a friend to buy another tractor. “If need be, I will go for a third tractor given the growing demand for mechanization among smallholders.”

AGRA President, Dr. Agnes Kalibata, notes that putting nature at the heart of agriculture and land management can unlock huge benefits for people, health and the environment.

During a recent United Nations Food Systems Summit dialogue, Kenya Agriculture Cabinet Secretary, Peter Munya said that there is need to exploit the digital platform to promote and improve food security. 

“Digitizing the agriculture sector helps farmers optimize their returns,” said the Cabinet Secretary.

After realizing the devastation that the Fall Armyworm (FAW) has on Africa’s food systems, Land O’Lakes 37 and Villa Crop Protection have prepared learning modules for training smallholder farmers on the appropriate response to the pest. 

The FAW is a voracious insect that targets maize and other food crops. Originating in the America, it reached Africa in 2016 and has just in four years spread to over 70 countries in Africa, Asia and the Near East.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that the pest risks to damage up to 80 million tonnes of maize worth $18 billion per year in Africa, Asia and the Near East.

In Africa alone, it causes loss of up to 8-20 million tonnes of maize every year, with most of the damage allowed to go on due to the limited knowledge on control and eradication.

This has contributed to deteroriating food security in some parts of the continent, in Zimbabwe, for example, where recent studies show that smallholder maize-growing households blighted by the pest are 12% more likely to experience hunger.

Still in Zimbabwe, the scientists discovered that households affected by the FAW but failed to implement a control strategy had a 50% lower per capita household income, while their counterparts that implemented a control strategy did not suffer a significant income loss. Many other countries in Africa and beyond experience similar consequences from FAW invasion.

It is against this backdrop that Land O’Lakes 37 and Villa Crop Protection produced the learning modules to equip those who train or offer extension advice with the knowedge and skill on crop protection  that they can pass on to smallholder farmers.

The learning modules were produced with with support from AGRA under the Partnership for Inclusive Agricultural Transformation in Africa (PIATA) comprising of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Rockefeller Foundation, Department for International Development (DFID), BMZ Germany and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The seven modules cover everything from FAW identification to the responsible use of agrochemicals when fighting the pest, and the economic and action thresholds of the pest.

Each module consists of recorded presentations to prepare trainers, a trainer’s guide, presentations, and accompanying training materials such as video clips, handouts, and illustrations. 

The modules are available for free download at the AgriTraining website.  

In the first two decades of the 21st century, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has changed rapidly for the better in many ways, counter to many outdated narratives. Many of these improvements—including those in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, poverty rates, health, life expectancy, education, and agriculture—have been mutually reinforcing (1, 2). SSA achieved the highest rate of growth in agricultural production value (crops and livestock) of any region in the world since 2000, expanding by 4.3% per year in real [inflation-adjusted US dollars (USD)] between 2000 and 2018, roughly double that of the prior three decades. The world average over the same period was 2.7% per year (1). Agricultural value added per worker in real 2010 USD rose from $846 in 2000 to $1563 in 2019, a 3.2% annual rate of growth. But to assert that Africa is rapidly developing does not mean that all livelihood indicators are improving, though most are in most countries (1, 3). SSA faces many major challenges. We focus below on one such challenge, which we see as a precondition for sustaining livelihood improvements in the region: transitioning from area expansion to productivity growth as the source of Africa’s agricultural development – http://www.sciencemag.org/about/science-licenses-journal-article-reuse

This is an article distributed under the terms of the Science Journals Default License. View Full Text

A bumper crop of PhD students from the African Centre for Crop Improvement (ACCI) in South Africa, recently graduated at a virtual ceremony. The group included some of the last cohort to be funded by AGRA.

Since opening its doors in 2002, ACCI have produced 135 Plant Breeding PhD graduates and will continue to train accomplished plant breeders with funding from other organizations.

William Titus Suvi

The productivity of rice is low in Tanzania, due to the rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) disease and the lack of improved varieties. William selected agronomically superior and RYMV-resistant breeding parents and new rice families for further evaluation and variety release in Tanzania. The study was financially supported by AGRA.
Read more

Yared Semahegn Belete

Yared developed new-generation bread wheat lines which are considerably drought tolerant and high yielding with farmer-preferred traits. The new breeds will enhance productivity in marginal and drought-prone wheat production areas in Ethiopia. The study was financially supported by AGRA.
Read more

Nelia Nkhoma Phiri

Cowpea is a multi-purpose grain legume cultivated in Zambia for food security and local markets. Nelia selected breeding parents using phenotypic and high-density single nucleotide polymorphism markers. New breeding populations were developed with enhanced yield and yield components for further genetic advancement. The study was financially supported by AGRA.
Read more

Happy Daudi

Groundnut rust disease causes low yields in Tanzania compared to the potential yield of the crop. Happy developed new breeding families with high combining ability effects for rust resistance and kernel yield. The study was funded by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics/India through Tropical Legumes III project. Read more

Chapwa Kasoma

The recent arrival of the fall armyworm (FAW) in Africa has been severely threatening maize production. Host-plant resistance has been identified as one of the most sustainable pest control options. Chapwa developed new FAW-resistant maize hybrids involving landrace varieties and donor parents. The study was financially supported by AGRA. Read more

Esnart Nyirenda Yohane

The grain yield of pigeonpea is low  in Malawi compared with the potential yield of the crop. Esnart developed new breeding populations with high yield and Fusarium wilt resistance for variety development and release in Malawi. The study was financially supported by AGRA.
Read more

Boluwatife Olaolorun

The productivity of wheat has stagnated in sub-Saharan Africa due to the unavailability of improved cultivars, recurrent droughts and heat stress caused by global climate change. Boluwatife’s unique study used mutation breeding techniques and created superior mutant populations with enhanced biomass allocation, drought tolerance and agronomic performance. Her research costs were funded by her supervisor. Read more

Wilson Nkhata

The bean fly is a noxious insect pest causing low productivity of common bean in Malawi. Wilson used conventional and marker-assisted breeding methods to develop new genetic resources of common bean for bean fly resistance, to release market-preferred varieties. The study was financially supported by AGRA. Read more