AGRA

Please tell us more about your professional role at AGRA

I am the head of seed research and systems development at AGRA. I am one of several women leaders at AGRA and I sit on the cutting edge of a massive effort to transform smallholder agriculture in Africa. In my role, I oversee and provide technical direction in seed research and systems to teams in 11 African countries. These teams comprise 22-25 program officers per country, who look up to me for expert advice and technical direction in our mission to ensure that farmers have access to high quality seed.

Why is the seed sector important to you?

From where I stand, seed is the most important input for increasing farmer productivity because it contributes 40% of the total output. It is unfortunate, however, that the input has not been given the attention it deserves. This is mostly because the systems in African countries are often dysfunctional along the value chains.

How did you get involved with seed, and what are some of your major accomplishments?

I got interested in agriculture and then seed development when I was growing up in the relatively marginalized area of Mbeere South, a sub-county in Kenya’s Embu County. My parents were peasant farmers, who only managed to give us sufficient food for five months in a year. I witnessed their toil in planting but later harvesting very little, and for a long time, I dallied with question, “How can we get enough food?” Later, my passion led me to study agriculture at the University of Nairobi. Through my training, I came to understand the importance of seed, and as a young researcher, my passion for seed earned me a scholarship to study plant breeding at Iowa State University, USA, where I was exposed to the secrets for unlocking high farmer productivity.

What are some of your major career accomplishments?

When I came back to Kenya from the United States, I bred and released 33 maize hybrids, which were commercialised by small seed companies to reach one million farmers. During this time, I also led a team of 60 plant breeders (40% women), who developed 680 additional crop varieties that were commercialized by 114 seed companies to reach 3.4 million farmers. I am also glad that under my leadership, AGRA developed early maturing finger millet that is now preferred for weaning diets, and as a superfood for cancer and HIV patients in Kenya. It is for such reasons that the organization was in 2020 recognised as a Centre of Excellence in Seed Systems.

How has your leadership role at AGRA helped define your career objectives?

AGRA is a farmer centred organisation that also focuses on the role of women in Africa’s agricultural systems on the understanding that 70% of producers in Africa are women. Through AGRA, I am able to facilitate the right decisions around crop research interventions, quality seed production, and the development of seed regulations with the participation of governments, private sector players, farmers, stakeholders and development partners. I revel in this job because I have witnessed, from my childhood, the toil of African farmers – mothers especially – and that is why I am constantly driven to push for change.

You are passionate about the role of quality seed in transforming agriculture. What are you doing around this matter as AGRA?

AGRA is a leader in this space, and has in the past nine years trained 600+ crop scientists and released 680 crop varieties. This is in addition to developing 119 private seed companies, supporting 18,000 agrodealers and training 33,000 Village Based Advisors (VBAs), for the benefit of more than 33 million farmers. This investment has generated a dynamic force that has resulted in increased yields, greatly reducing hunger and improving incomes for millions of households. Additionally, AGRA continues to contribute to policy changes that favour better seed systems. This has resulted in increased farmer productivity, stable seed companies and trusted seed trade practices, all of which are linked to increased seed quality.

What are some of the recent advances in science around staples that you find exciting, and how does this speak to food security?

AGRA scientists are currently exploring how to get high yielding crops and at the same time countering the effects of climate change. We are constantly supporting research to get better seed for high yielding and nutrient rich crops. In Kenya, for example, we are working to break the overdependence on maize, as there are multiple options available to curtail malnutrition, obesity and other diseases. I, for example, believe that the mix of legumes and cereals must be given as much attention as maize. I also see the access to high yielding seeds as important for achieving the kind of yields that ensure food security. These must be complemented by better resilience programs for farmers to fight the effects of climate change and promote food security. In relation to seed, this implies disease resistance, drought tolerance and nutrient-richness. More focus should be placed on enhanced nutrition by promoting increased crop diversity to include nutrient rich staples such as high iron beans, b-carotene rich sweet potato, drought tolerance nutrient rich sorghum and millet.

Which woman leader has inspired you the most?

Melinda Gates; because she cares a lot about Africa’s agriculture. Reading her history, you will know that as a new graduate in crop science, she travelled to Africa, where she inspired young women researchers, including me. Since then, she has put her money, time and energy into improving the lives of African women. I remember that she visited my research project at the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), soon after I graduated with my PhD, and, together, we gave packets of certified seed to women farmers in Tanzania. Her personal involvement in the project confirmed my conviction that seed is a critical agricultural input.

What lessons have you learnt that are unique to female leadership?

I was one of the pioneer recipients of the AWARD program for leadership in Agriculture. Fanned by our mentor Vicke Wilde, I learned that every opinion, especially from a woman, matters, as it often leads to innovation. As such, over the years, I have mentored many women in crop science for the benefit of African farmers. These include 10 women crop scientists I trained in Kenya, who went on to develop new technologies for farmers including dryland crops like cowpeas, pigeon peas, finger millet, cassava, beans and hybrid maize.

Being a woman in the area of plant breeding, do you recall suffering any biases and/or assumptions?

I realised that being a woman in any industry, you need to work twice as hard as your male counterparts. It was said to me that ‘science is not for women’, and “you won’t make it” just because I was an expectant mother with small children, who still needed to finish her thesis and research papers. Many women suffer the same challenges and they need encouragement. Thankfully, AGRA recognises this and encourages women professionals to achieve their full potential. Still, because of the conflicting roles in the family, I recommend that special opportunities be given to women researchers everywhere. On which note, I am immensely thankful to AGRA for placing women in positions of leadership and influence. Point in case, the organization has trained 600 crop scientists in different countries, 30% of whom are women.

What are your plans for the future?

My passion, going forward, is to drive scale and help more farmers access high quality seed, increase productivity and access food for more months in a year. We are already achieving that through our work in AGRA, where we now ensure food security for 7-9 months annually. That said, AGRA is working to promote sustainable partnerships that give farmers access to new technologies. In our work, we will continue to build SMEs and create businesses around seed supply by working with VBAs, seed companies and agro-dealers to support last mile access.

Brasilia, 25 March 2021 (IICA). The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), which operates in 11 countries of this continent and promotes agricultural transformation to increase the income of producers and improve food security, identified Brazil’s tropical agriculture model and its leadership in the export of soy and meat, soil recovery and reforestation, as possible areas for cooperation between Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa.

The proposal was made by Fadel Ndiame, vice president of AGRA, during his participation in the International Tropical Agriculture Week, organized by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Company (Embrapa) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) to share the experience of researchers and entrepreneurs in the sustainable use of technologies for the adaptation of agriculture to the climate and environmental conditions of the tropics.

It was in this spirit that the representative of AGRA, an organization founded in 2006 under the leadership of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and which seeks to boost an inclusive agricultural transformation in Africa by increasing income and improving the food security of 30 million agricultural households in 11 countries, expressed interest in establishing South-South Cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean, especially in terms of Brazil’s tropical agriculture model, soil recovery and reforestation systems and its leadership as a meat and soy exporter, among other areas.

“We are very interested in exploring opportunities for South-South Cooperation to recover millions of hectares of acid soils, and in also analyzing different development models, including Brazil’s tropical system, which is very different from ours. We are interested in exchanging knowledge with Brazil and learning about how the country became one of the top five food exporters, especially in the meat and soybean sectors. Furthermore, it is important that we analyze the opportunities to address the issue of reforestation, land rehabilitation and ecosystem services”, explained Mr. Ndiame, a sociologist with more than 30 years of experience in agriculture and economic development policies and programs.

The African leader also identified, as another area for collaboration, the experience of EMBRAPA in developing research in the Cerrado, a tropical savanna with the greatest biodiversity in the world (5% of the animals and plants of the entire planet) and the second largest biome (ecosystems with similar climate, fauna and flora) in Brazil.

The Cerrado is also an important source of water for the country, and is home to the main springs that feed eight of the twelve hydrographic regions of Brazil. In addition, this biome features soils capable of storing a large amount of carbon, and although they have a naturally low fertility, technological advances have increased their productivity for agriculture and livestock.

The International Tropical Agriculture Week also gathered different contributions geared towards consolidating the position of the Americas in preparation for the United Nations Food Systems Summit, scheduled for the end of September in New York.

Ndiame said that the Summit will be a major step forward to promote sustainability and healthier diets, although in his view, each country and continent will have to define its own route to achieve a more sustainable food system.

Agriculture in Africa

At the meeting, the vice president of AGRA described the fundamental role played by agriculture in the economy of African countries. He went on to explain that the sector employs between 60 and 80% of the population, that is, 54% of the active population of the continent, and that smallholder farmers produce about 80% of the food.

He also mentioned that in 2020, in spite of the Covid-19 pandemic, the sector grew by 5%. However, he warned about the importance of redoubling efforts in the face of the 250 million people in Africa who are currently undernourished, although indicators have shown a downward trend in the malnourishment indexes of various countries.

“By 2050, one of our objectives is to increase food production by around 350%, produce better, more, and in a sustainable manner; this is our motto” he added.

He also stated that in order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to increase public investment, strengthen institutional frameworks, develop more robust regulations and policies, improve infrastructure, support research and innovation, ensure access to technologies and digitalization to optimize productivity, and attract the youth to agricultural activity.

“We face this and many other challenges and threats, including climate change and drought, which significantly affect small producers, as well as issues regarding land degradation, access to financing, high transaction costs associated with services, infrastructure problems and an often weakened policy framework. With digitalization and investments in infrastructure and technologies, we believe that Africa could take a significant leap forward, by learning from and sharing experiences with other countries, in order to achieve South-South Cooperation and ensure the long overdue growth of the African continent” said Ndiame.

The AGRA leader concluded by assuring that one of Africa’s main opportunities to systemically transform agriculture lies in its land extension. In this sense, he stated that “we still have empty lands, and an adequate environment to promote production”, and mentioned the “unexploited resources, water resources and significant deposits of key nutrients, such as potassium, phosphate and zinc, which could be used for this transformation”.

About IICA

IICA is the specialized agency for agriculture in the Inter-American system, with a mission to encourage, promote and support its 34 Member States in their efforts to achieve agricultural development and rural well-being through international technical cooperation of excellence.

More information:
Institutional Communication Division of IICA
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int

Press release on web: https://www.iica.int/en/press/news/africa-seeks-cooperation-latin-america-and-caribbean-areas-export-development-soil

AGRA President Dr Agnes Kalibata says that contrary to narratives that farmers are invariably resistant to adopting technology, of the 10 million small-holder farmers engaged with AGRA programmes, 76% have adopted one or more technologies within one planting season.

Africa’s strongest route towards the Sustainable Development Goal of eliminating hunger lies in helping smallholder farmers to access capital and supporting governments to promote policies that enable the farmers to adopt technologies and increase yields.

Statistics indicate that by 2050, about four in five people living in extreme poverty will be concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, where food insecurity is already a major challenge as a result of rapid population growth. To ensure food security in the future, experts say current food production levels will need to be increased by at least 70%.

With studies showing that growth coming out of the agricultural sector is eleven times more effective at reducing poverty than growth coming out of other sectors, Dr Kalibata says AGRA has been pursuing three strategies to unlock the potential of Africa’s smallholder farmers, who produce 80 percent of the food the continent eats.

“We are working with the governments across Africa to prioritise agriculture, supporting the enabling environment to benefit smallholder farmers and to make it possible for the private sector to provide services to smallholder farmers by reducing the real and perceived risk associated with the agricultural sector. We are also supporting farmers to access technologies that enable them to increase the yields and incomes while developing resilience to pests, climate change, droughts and floods,” she says.

Dr Kalibata credits the Strengthening State Capability pillar of AGRA’s approach as the most transformational in driving scale, pointing out that functional government policies are key to success.

“For example, the provision of early generation seed is usually driven by government institutions. If they aren’t functioning well, it makes it impossible for the private sector to function and farmers to access improved varieties of seeds.  If markets don’t function, and they quickly revert to subsistence farming, which perpetrates the poverty cycle,” she says.

Through technical assistance and grants, AGRA has helped to make capital more accessible to farmers, while delivering incentives to the private sector to invest in smallholder farmer systems, to shore up an agriculture sector that currently receives less than 10 percent of private lending.

Apart from finance, AGRA is supporting resilience and sustainability for smallholders especially in response to challenges brought on by climate change.  For example, in semi-arid areas of Kenya, AGRA is working with governments and the private sector to conserve, protect and enhance natural ecosystems.

“With the judicious use of appropriate fertilisers and with the right seeds, farmers are able to triple, even quadruple their yields, says Dr. Kalibata.

“Ending hunger is a solvable problem.  AGRA has learned the hard way that if you’re going to be serious about pulling farmers out of poverty, you need to support reforms of policies and support programmes that can help reach millions of farmers.  If Africa smallholder farmers become prosperous, they will change the continent forever,” she says.

To bridge the lending gaps between agricultural entrepreneurs and financiers, AGRA in partnership with the Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) and SCOPEinsight have identified a standardized set of bankability metrics to help unlock over US$65 billion for Agricultural Small and Medium Enterprises (Agri-SMEs) in Africa.  

“Agriculture represents the largest opportunity to reach the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, yet the sector is chronically underfinanced,” said Hedwig Siewertsen, the Head of Inclusive Finance at AGRA. “Most Agri-SMEs face challenges convincing lenders that they can productively use and repay the loans they are requesting,” she added.

The metrics were developed through a research that involved in-depth analysis of thousands of company profiles and loan portfolio data, as well as interviewing over 90 active industry actors in Agri-SME lending. The metrics serve as the common language between lenders and Agri-SMEs, ensuring that companies know what information to provide, enabling lenders to rapidly screen the loan eligibility of the company. This efficiency gain reduces the cost of making loans, which is one of the main bottlenecks for lenders when assessing companies that require smaller loans.

“No bank will lend money to a company that cannot prove that they are performing well,” added Siewertsen. “Traditionally companies complain about the lack of collateral (land titles, property) which inhibits their access to finance, however these new metrics prove that banks can accept other types of data points to ensure their loans are within their risk appetite.” She added.

“We identified three common lender behaviors that hinder lending for the Agri-SMEs,” added Henry Bruce, the Director for Research at the CFI.

First, the researchers found that lenders were uncertain about what metrics were the most relevant at each stage of the deal screening process. Secondly, lenders tend to collect a large amount of generic business information without prioritizing what is most important to them. Lastly, lenders tended to ask for all the information early on in the deal screening process, thus burdening the companies requesting a loan without guaranteeing that they had met the minimum requirements.

To reduce the burden for companies, the researchers developed a simple template for companies to fill out the General Information on their loan request sufficient for most lenders during the pre-deal screening stage.

After completion of the General Information, Bankability Screening is the next step.  The researchers identified three key areas to inform the credit-worthiness of companies. These are: Business Activity, Governance and Financials.

While Financial performance metrics are straightforward to define, ascertaining the quality of the business activities and governance is more challenging, and most lenders were previously unable to clearly identify the specific metrics for these indicators.

Leveraging insights from the databases on loan portfolios and rating reports for agricultural companies, CFI and SCOPEinsight’s found that  Business Activity quality can be assessed through three main metrics that include: Top three products; Top three clients; Contract and pricing. The information used to assess the quality of Governance include: Turnover of managerial staff; Time commitment of business managers; Separation of board and management authority.

These metrics prove that criteria other than collateral and Financials are just as important in assessing the bankability of Agri-SMEs. “If adopted, the metrics would accelerate  information sharing between Agri-SMEs and lenders during the pre-due diligence phase, and increase the flow of capital to the Agri-SMEs,” said Marise Blom, the Chief Operating Officer at SCOPEInsight.

The proposed bankability metrics which are available through AGRA’s website, complement a lender’s assessment of the loan request itself that is focused on the business plan and financial projections, and could include lender-specific requirements such as social or environmental impact.

– Ends –

About AGRA

Established in 2006, AGRA is an African-led and Africa-based institution that puts smallholder farmers at the center of the continent’s growing economy by transforming agriculture from a solitary struggle to survive into farming as a business that thrives. Together with our partners, we catalyze and sustain an inclusive agricultural transformation to increase incomes and improve food security for 30 million farming households in 11 African countries by 2021.

Zabibu Magava is a VBA and a village agro dealer from Ihimbo Village in Iringa Tanzania. Through AGRA training/extension/support, she developed skills/accessed working capital for agro inputs and qualified for a matching grant in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Utilizing those skills/support, she was able to expand and increase acreage for maize cultivation from one acre to five acres and increased sales/revenue/incomes from US$ 650 to USD 6,500 from sale of inputs and farming. Today she boasts of being able to take her child to a better school and overall improved her family wellbeing.

Margreth Sanga is a hub agro dealer in Iringa Tanzania. Through AGRA training/extension/ linkage to retail agro dealers and VBAs, she developed skills and expanded her distribution channels from 4 outlets to 8. Utilizing those skills/support, she was able to increase sales/revenue/incomes by 50%. Today she boasts of having a nice house, taking her kids to better schools and her new investment in storage facility that she plan to do. Overall, her family wellbeing have improved.

Ritha Sekiyovele is a processor and exporter of fortified maize flour based in Iringa Tanzania. Through AGRA support and B2B linkages as well as warehouse expansion, she developed market intelligence skills, secured regional markets and she is buying quality grains from farmers supported by AGRA. Utilizing support received, she was able to increase sales/revenue/incomes by 40%. Today she boasts of expanding her business and storage capacity from 2,500MTs to 10,000MTs.

AGRA: Unleashing the power of #womeninag #VALUE4HER. LEAD, NETWORK, GROW IWD

Mah SIDIBE is Malian CBA, agent for seed sales and grain aggregation, from the village of Sénou, in the district of Dioïla, Koulikoro region.

She is playing the role of and CBA-agrodealer. Since 2018, she benefited from AGRA supportive trainings on Good Agronomic Practices related to new technologies.

The achievements of targeted crops production before versus after trainings are as follow : 

Maize: 2,000 # 6,000kg  / Millet 1,500 # 3,500kg /  Sorghum 1,200 # 2,400kg / Cowpea 200 # 400kg  / Cotton 2,500 # 10,000kg / Groundnuts 250 # 350kg.

Mrs. Mah SIDIBE is also dealing in Vegetable Market, Small trade in seasoning products, Poultry farming, Sale of agricultural inputs

Before the support from AGRA, Lady Mah earned net profit of USD 500 and there is an increase of USD 1020.

She greatly contributes to the family expenses on school fees, family health and household needs and also reinvests in the farming

NAIROBI, Mar 6 2021 (IPS) – The COVID-19 pandemic is arguably one of the biggest disruptors to modern day life as we know it. The economic and social disruption caused by the pandemic is devastating; millions of people have lost their lives, tens of millions of people are at risk of falling into extreme poverty and nearly half of the global work force is at risk of losing their livelihoods. Africa is facing its first economic recession in 25 years due to the impact of the pandemic.

In a continent where agriculture accounts for 23% of the GDP and about 40% of the workforce is engaged in the sector, agriculture has not been spared from the worst impacts of the pandemic.

Border closures, trade restrictions and confinement measures have been preventing farmers from accessing inputs such as seeds and fertilizers, markets and agricultural workers from harvesting crops, thus disrupting domestic and international food supply chains and reducing access to healthy, safe and diverse diets.

Through all this, about 50% of the global population has been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, women.

The pandemic has exacerbated existing structural economic, social, and technological inequalities that women face as they struggle to perform their multiple roles in society. These inequalities undermine women’s capacity to respond and recover from the disruptions that result from the pandemic. Women are a key pillar in the Africa’s food and agricultural systems.

They constitute 50% of the agricultural workforce and own one-third of the small and medium enterprises (SME’s) that produce, process and trade in agricultural products and services. The pandemic not only affected their livelihoods and agri business enterprises, but also increased women’s workloads, threatened their families’ wellbeing, and increase incidences of gender-based violence.

As we commemorate the International Women’s Day this year, we are acutely aware that as the narrative now shifts to building back better, we must ensure that women are at the center of short term and longer term recovery efforts to create a more equal and resilient society.

Over the course of my career as an agricultural economist and development practitioner and, I have seen the change that can be realized when women receive the support, they need during times such as these. A growing body of evidence demonstrates the power of interventions designed for and targeted to women in agriculture that can help protect their lives and livelihoods in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

African governments need to design and support such interventions. This means providing avenues for continued access to inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, mechanization and advisory services. It also means women accessing knowledge and skills to make best outcome of their labour inputs.

As economies open after months of lockdowns and restricted movement, access to financing, grants for those that closed due to pandemic and flexible loans for those that kept going albeit in a small way- is key for recovery. Accessing high value markets is an important factor, not only for recovery, but for higher incomes that help build financial resilience in women’s agri-enterprises.

During the pandemic, digital services have provided a crucial lifeline for businesses. Women business managers have used social media to market their products while accessing information on production, weather and agronomic advisories, finacing and accessing markets. Deploying digital capacity building at scale and increasing women entrepreneurs’ participation in the digital economy through digital finance, digital marketing and digital trade is key as we rebuild economies.

Initiatives such as VALUE4HER, a platform whose aim is to increase incomes and employment opportunities for women by linking women-led agribusinesses with competitive high value regional and global markets, and improving women business leader’s technical and managerial skills, with training on market dynamics are key to growing women-owned agribusinesses further.

Currently hosting over 750 users from 36 countries across the continent, the platform provides real-time access to relevant knowledge, market information, buyers, financiers, business development services, technical assistance, capabilities and social networks.

These services hosted under one roof provide a conducive ecosystem for female owned agribusinesses to access the tools they need to become profitable businesses.

Also key is providing tailored training and capacity building for women to respond, recover, and build resilience. With low literacy levels and limited networks, women’s access to relevant information and support mechanisms is curtailed.

Programs such as the African Resilience Investment Series for Women Executives (ARISE), which AGRA kicks off today in celebration of international women’s day- seeks to equip women-owned and women-led SMEs with the necessary tools and practical management skills, needed to recover from the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

Across the globe, it has been inspiring to see prior investments in empowering women-led agribusiness begin to pay off—and that the measures have enabled women farmers to contribute to the fight against COVID-19. This could be the case for Africa too. Investing in women makes good business sense; it leads to increased incomes for women and boosts the wellbeing of their families, which means better lives for families, communities and society as a whole.

Sabdiyo Dido is the Head of Gender and Inclusiveness at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

Africa needs to take full advantage of its close-ties and cooperation with China, in terms of technology transfer, skills and policy development, to fully revolutionize its agricultural sector, according to an agricultural expert.

Andrew Cox, Chief of Staff and Strategy at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), said there are many lessons the continent can draw from China in its bid to transform the sector and change the lives of its people.

“Because of China’s experience in transforming the entire country around agriculture, we want to see China’s experience, its knowledge, its investment, its technical expertise to come through everywhere,” Cox said.

The fact that the people who spearheaded the agricultural revolution in China are still alive and working, he added, was a crucial advantage for Africa to capitalize on.

Cox said China’s claim it has eliminated absolute poverty while encouraging industrialization and urbanization and still transforming its rural and agricultural sector is an “extraordinarily important” example worth following for Africa.

Promotion of agricultural and rural development, as well as poverty eradication in developing countries, especially in Africa, has always been a priority of China’s foreign aid.

“If China can do it for a billion-plus people, then, certainly, there are many lessons, practices, experiences which can apply to the African continent,” he said, noting that China and Africa had walked the same pathway in the same century.

AGRA, Cox said, is interested in escalating the partnership between China and Africa to make it relevant to millions of farmers rather than focusing on individual and small projects.

AGRA is part of a number of agricultural-based partnerships and projects involving China, including a highly successful venture in Mozambique which supports rice production. Cox said this was a prime example of applying Chinese knowledge and technology and adapting it to a situation in Africa.

“Using Chinese know-how combined with African partners made it possible to double the rice yields over a fairly short period of time and that is the kind of thing that we want to see,” Cox said.

Such results mean Mozambique could potentially tackle a rice shortfall it usually experiences of between an estimated 400,000 and 600,000 tonnes.

In 2018, a study by the UN revealed China’s agricultural foreign assistance projects have resulted in increased food production and income for smallholder farmers in Mozambique, as well as Guinea.

“African farmers want to see themselves transformed from subsistence agriculture to small and medium-sized farms, at the very least, and to see large-scale commercial initiatives starting to work better. It means giving African farmers access to the same opportunities and choices that farmers in China, the U.S. or Europe might have.”

“It (AGRA involvement in China-Africa partnerships) has been a very deep partnership with excellent results. We want to see it go big. We want to see Chinese knowledge and expertise applied on a wide scale across the continent.”

The growth of Africa’s agriculture also represents a win-win situation for both China and Africa as China, already Africa’s second-largest importer of agricultural products, continues to increase its agricultural imports from the continent.

A report from China’s Ministry of Commerce in January revealed Chinese imports of agricultural products from African countries expanded 4.4 percent year on year in the first 11 months of 2020, marking four consecutive years of positive growth.

Despite Africa’s food security coming under threat recently, particularly in the last year, Cox said the future of the continent’s agricultural sector, with China’s assistance, was not one doomed to repeated failures and crises.

“At AGRA, we are extremely optimistic that Africa’s agriculture can transform. It will not, probably, transform by itself and that is where these partnerships come in. The tremendous scale of the achievement of the Chinese experience shows that hundreds of millions of people can be taken out of poverty by getting the right kind of investments, policies and enabling environment for agriculture,” he said.

“This is what Africa needs, that is where the partnership is going.”

He, however, cautioned that such a transformation will take time and not happen in the space of a couple of years.

With China taking a leading role in preparing for the UN Food Systems Summit later this year, Cox believes an opportune moment to seriously review the workings of Africa’s food systems should be seized upon.

“That shared experience and partnership that we are seeing, including through AGRA, means Chinese support will be extremely helpful in preparing African governments to think about the kinds of food systems, the kinds of resilience that we need to see, especially in the face of climate change.”

Agriculture is the economic mainstay of the majority of households in Rwanda and makes a significant contribution to the Rwanda’s economy. It accounts for approximately 30% of the GDP and is the biggest employer.

In all development blueprints, agriculture is billed to play a significant role to the structural transformation of the economy, contributing to economic growth, exports, job creation, increased land and labour productivity.

However, the sector is still developing in most of all aspects including its seed system and product market. Yet, the national ambition is toshift agriculture from its current predominantly subsistence nature to a market-led sector.

The seed system and product market is one of those critical factors still developing for sustainability to support sector transformation that has to be private sector led as envisioned in The Strategic Plan for Agriculture Transformation 4 (PSTA 4).

Thanks to the fact that AGRA approach in Rwanda centers on investing technical and financial resources to create a functional and strong seedsystem in Rwanda and extension services to raise farmer awareness on use of improved seeds.

Founded in 2006, AGRA is a farmer-centered, Africanled, partnerships-driven institution that is working to transforming smallholder farming from a solitary struggle to survive to a business that thrives.

It aspires to modernize agriculture sector on the African continent by mainly making it market-driven and a data-based sector which will play an important role in the development of the countries on the continent, Rwanda inclusive.

This way, AGRA is committed to catalyze the economic development, wealth creation, hunger reduction and nutrition through inclusive agriculture transformation. And, its goals are aligned very well with Strategic Development Goals, Malabo Declaration, African Agenda 2063, and fall under Rwanda priorities to transform agriculture as stated in PSTA4.

Download full article: https://agra.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AGRA-Supports-Creation-of-a-Vibrant-Seed-System-in-Rwanda.pdf

Source publication: http://thelinkpublications.com/2021/02/17/rwanda-agriculture-year-book-2020-2021/

As the world gradually adapts to a post-pandemic reality, policies will need to be developed and implemented to ensure that no one is left behind. Agriculture accounts for at least 23 per cent of Africa’s GDP, policies and investments that strengthen resilient farming systems will be pivotal to sustaining growth. Dr. Apollos Nwafor, Vice President for Policy and State Capability weighs in in a recent interview with CNBC.

Watch the full interview here.