AGRA

In June 2006, the AU member states adopted the “Abuja Declaration on Fertilizer for the African Green Revolution” and resolved to increase fertilizer consumption rates across the continent from 8 kilograms per hectare to 50 kilograms per hectare by 2015, a target whose deadline has been surpassed.

In Tanzania, fertilizer usage stands at 13.68 kg/ha of fertilizer use, falling 3.6 times lower than the AU target. Although limited awareness, access and affordability are cited as some of the limitations hampering farmers’ ability to utilize fertilizer, the policy context presents a further challenge to the fertilizer adoption process.

Despite generating interest amongst multiple agencies and creating an overlap of regulatory mandates, compliance costs, such as chargeable fees and levies, and the requirements for doing business could discourage private sector investment as well as potential investments in research and development for the production of new types of fertilizer to meet farmers’ needs.  In turn, this could prevent farmers from accessing new technologies.  

On the other hand, fertilizer registration requirements are time-consuming and costly.  According to the Tanzania Fertilizer Act (2009) and its associated fertilizer regulations of 2011, a three-year trial at the cost of US$ 10,000 per year is compulsory for new fertilizer, fertilizer supplement and/or blended formula prior to market entry. The high costs and logistical bottlenecks limit the number of farmers that can access fertilizer, this in turn hampers productivity, income and ultimately the food security of farmers.

AGRA’s policy and advocacy strategy is key to resolving the policy challenges already described. The twin- track approach combines evidence generation demonstrating the worth and merit of reforms and public-private engagements to validate reform options and to navigate the policy process along the government’s bureaucratic phases on the reforms.

These are the steps AGRA took to support the government-led policy cycle:

• AGRA commissioned an ex-ante economic impact assessment study of policy and regulatory reforms, a legal analysis and a cost-benefit analysis to demonstrate the rationale for the proposed reforms and amendments to overcome conflict or lack of alignment in the provisions.
• AGRA provided a grant to the Tanzania Fertilizer Society of Tanzania (FST) to support private sector engagement in the coordination and monitoring process of existing regulations. Private sector has firsthand experience of the challenges facing agribusiness investors; hence it is better placed to articulate and advocate for reforms to improve the business enabling environment.
• AGRA provided a grant to the Ministry of Agriculture to coordinate the policy process along the bureaucratic channels. Engagement with the government is important because they formulate and enact policies, and understand the processes through which reforms can be effected.
• Finally, a key factor was a policy network, spanning key institutions, including research institutes and partners (such as the Tanzania Fertilizer Regulatory Authority (TFRA)).

AGRA’s twin approach to working with both the private sector and the government to successfully resolve problematic policies and regulations lead to multiple outcomes. Obstacles to registering customized and specialist blends of fertilizers were removed – with testing reduced to one year and taxes and fees charged by various regulatory authorities during importation and clearing abolished. The number of fertilizer businesses jumped from 420 to 2500 as a consequence of reform, fertilizer prices paid by farmers went down by between 10% and 40% while fertilizer usage went up from 302,450 tons to 435,178 tons. Preliminary field tests show that the reforms yielded a return of Tsh 0.99 for every shilling invested compared to a yield of 0.13 under status quo.

Indeed, AGRA’s twin strategy approach to policy and advocacy has brought about significant and positive impacts to the productivity and incomes of farmers, and has the potential for further unlocking sustainable growth in Tanzania.

Read the full policy here authored by Boaz Keizire – Head, Policy & Advocacy, Tinashe Kapuya – Senior Program Officer, Policy & State Capability and Liston Njoroge Program Officer, Policy & Advocacy

The usage of fertiliser under the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) initiative increased significantly from 121,000 tonnes in 2016 to over 400,000 tonnes in 2019.

The national fertiliser use per hectare also increased from an average of eight kilogrammes (kg) per hectare in 2017 to an average of 20kg per hectare in 2019. This means the country is getting closer to meeting the international standard of fertiliser usage of 50kg per hectare. Agricultural experts believe the implementation of a fertiliser expansion programme will enable Ghana to achieve that objective and thereby boost food security.

Event

Addressing a validation workshop on a five-year strategic plan (2020-2024) for the Ghana fertiliser expansion programme in Accra yesterday, the Minister-designate for Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, said: “It is interesting to note that fertiliser consumption is more than four times the quantity supplied at the beginning of the PFJ initiative.”

Dr Akoto’s speech was read on his behalf by the Director of Crop Services at MoFA, Mr Seth Osei Akoto.

The workshop is the third, after similar ones in Tamale and Kumasi, to get the input of stakeholders to finalise the strategic plan on fertiliser usage for improved productivity, food and nutrition security and job creation.

It was organised by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), with sponsorship from the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Increases

Since the roll out of the PFJ, Dr Akoto said, there had been significant yield increases recorded for selected crops, adding that maize yields, for instance, had increased by 67 per cent from 1.8 tonnes per hectare to three tonnes per hectare.

He said rice yields also increased by 48 per cent from 2.7 tonnes per hectare to four tonnes per hectare, while soya yields also increased by 150 per cent from one tonne per hectare to 2.5 tonnes per hectare.

“Certified seed usage increased from 4,400 tonnes in 2017 to 6,800 tonnes in 2018 and 18,333 tonnes in 2019. Two of the key pillars under the Food Crop Module of the PFJ is the promotion in the use of improved seeds (notably hybrid seeds) and improvement in fertiliser application,” he added.

On the fertiliser expansion programme, Dr Akoto said its objective was to develop the fertiliser industrial sector, including the establishment of the first fertiliser manufacturing plant in the Western Region.

It was also to optimise the entire fertiliser value chain through improved agronomic services, training, farmer education and development of soil fertility maps and formulae to customise fertiliser application, he said.

According to the minister-designate, with the existence of natural gas in the country, it was important to ensure maximum investment in local fertiliser production to reduce Ghana’s dependence on fertiliser importation.

Commitment

The Technical Adviser on Agriculture at the Office of the President, Nana Serwaa Amoako, said the investment in initiatives by the government to improve the agricultural sector was to create better conditions for smallholder farmers.

The Head of AGRA West Africa, Mr Foster Boateng, said the agenda of the development partners was for effective collaboration between the government and smallholder farmers.

According to him, building the capacity of the smallholder farmer would drive and increase productivity.

The Agribusiness Deal Room is a year-round matchmaking platform at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) with the aim of catalyzing new business deals, partnerships and commitments. It hosts agribusinesses on the continent, providing an investable pipeline to a wide range of investors. In addition to access to finance, it also provides companies in the agriculture and agribusiness sectors with mentorship, partnership and market entry solutions to support their growth objectives. The Agribusiness Deal Room also positions governments to present investment opportunities, promote investment incentives and engage with interested investors and other stakeholders.

The Agribusiness Deal Room supports enterprises and governments through a combination of in-country project preparation, pipeline development, project bankability, investment promotion, and an enabling policy environment. The Agribusiness Deal Room facilitates substantive transaction-centered dialogue and connections amongst key stakeholders including enterprises, farmers, governments, investors, financial institutions, NGOs and development partners. Deal Room activities are year-round and driven by eight main and interrelated components.

2020 presented the world with unique challenges that, in one way or another, impacted us all. The Covid-19 pandemic posed a stress test to global agrifood systems in ways previously inconceivable. For the first time ever, the AGRF summit took place in a virtual format and a hybrid component, comprising both a scaled down physical event in the host country, Rwanda, and digital participation from around the world. This was the best-attended AGRF Summit of all time, with over 10,400 registered, and close to 7,000 active delegates from 154 countries, including 492 global speakers. Over four days, we had meaningful engagements on how to capitalize on the economic power of rapidly-growing urban populations to create prosperous, sustainable food systems for Africa. Without a doubt, the conversations at last year’s Summit presented a step-change in our approach towards the pursuit of food & nutrition security and the increasing shared prosperity across Africa. The conversations yielded tangible resolutions to foster the transformation of the agri-food sector to sustainably feed the continent, and the rest of the world. In this report, you will read about these resolutions in light of the current state of food and agriculture in Africa, as well as their implications on the future.

In the early 1990s, Ghanaian Ben Kemetse was studying biology and aquaculture in Norway. He would watch the news about the famine in Somalia, seeing aid agencies drop food parcels from the air to assist those who were starving.

“Seeing that, it sat in my heart. It challenged me to become a farmer,” Kemetse says.

In 1996, he returned to Ghana and began farming, mainly cultivating exotic vegetables like bird’s eye peppers and green chillies for export and using irrigation in the dry months to grow leafy green vegetables for the local market.

Financially, it was a challenge. The yields he was achieving did not translate into sustainable income streams to make the farm viable.

“I lost a lot of money; the overhead costs were too much. I realised I had to increase my productivity and this could only be done through better, improved seeds.”

Kemetse researched the benefits of using different types of seed – especially the hybrid varieties – to boost yields, but it was only after a friend prompted him to apply for an Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) grant targeting aspiring seed companies, that the idea for M&B Seeds and Agricultural Services firmly took root.

With a start-up grant of $149,000, Kemetse and co-founder Monica Awuku established the company in 2008.

“During my career as a farmer from 1996 to 2008, I had dealt with many people; unfortunately, not all of them were faithful or truthful but Monica was an exception,” says Kemetse. “When the opportunity came to form a company, she was the partner I wanted.”

Awuku was working in the extension services department of the ministry of agriculture.

Today M&B uses genetically pure breeder seeds procured from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) to grow its own foundation seeds. These seeds are provided to farmers who are part of the company’s outgrower supplier base who grow the certified seeds the company treats and processes for sale. M&B offers three types of hybrid maize seed to the public, as well as rice and beans seed. It also provides consultation services to farmers.

Early days, early challenges

Quite early in the company’s existence, Kemetse decided hybrid seed was going to be much more viable and profitable than the open-pollinated varieties. A hybrid is created by crossing two different varieties of the same plant. It provides better yield but seed produced by the plants grown from a hybrid seed cannot be re-used like its open-pollinated counterpart.

The very first hybrid foundation seed that M&B received through the official research institution channels of the country also posed its first big challenge.

According to Kemetse, the three-way hybrid cross was not pure; two of the parent lines were not what was indicated on paper. “This meant we were giving seed to the farmers that did not deliver on what we promised. We wrote reports to AGRA and I did not relent until there was a solution,” he explains. This was one of the first business lessons he learnt: always do your own research.

M&B procured the foundation seed directly from the IITA to ensure its quality and purity. This was not accepted good practice at the time; however, he persisted in using the direct link and not working through local sources who were promising high quality but not delivering.

Initially, Kemetse used the foundation seeds to start production on some land. Within two years, he produced about two tonnes of seed for sale, with himself and his co-founder as the only employees. Today, M&B produces 300 tonnes of seed annually and has approximately 20 permanent staff members, with double that number in casual workers employed part-time in the processing facility and M&B’s fields.

Expansion through outgrowers and mechanisation

Four years after M&B’s launch, Kemetse realised they would need to expand production and started recruiting farmers as outgrowers. With a loan facilitated by AGRA, Kemetse purchased equipment from China to assist in the processing of the seeds which, up to that point, had been done by hand.

Currently, the company has 150 outgrower farmers who each produce the seed on plots of land ranging from two to 10 hectares.

The total outgrower tally is a rolling number. Every year, M&B recruits more farmers as well as terminating the relationships with others who did not adhere to the conditions set by the company.

This was another important lesson, notes Kemetse. “I found plenty of challenges in the farmers’ attitudes. People were not honest about their operations and we were not achieving our yield.” M&B now provides extensive training and support to its supply base and evaluates it regularly.

Grassroots marketing

Market acceptance for M&B seed did not come easy, adds Kemetse.

A lot of time was spent on educational drives; firstly, regarding the benefits of using certified hybrid seed as opposed to using seed taken from existing harvests. He had to combat market perception that this was a way to control the purchasing of seed every season, instead of a method to boost yield and production.

He did many radio interviews and hosted demonstrations and invited farmers. “We put the seed in small packs and would distribute them at churches. I would drive around and when I saw farmers growing maize, I would hand them some seed and ask them to listen to the radio programmes. Those days were difficult as the original grant was not enough to cover all these costs.”

It took five to six years to get proper market acceptance from the farmers. The policymakers and officials took even longer. “They only listed our seed in government tenders in 2019,” he says. “It was resilience, commitment and passion that ensured this company still exists.”

Hands-on distribution channels

About 80% of M&B’s distribution is through agro-dealers.

In some areas, where there were no agro-dealers, M&B set up shop themselves and paid someone a stipend to manage it. Once these shops developed into viable ventures, the company would exit.

Kemetse adds that M&B does not have the capital to have an office in every region where it would like to operate. Its reach, however, is expanding steadily outside the Volta region where the company has its base.

In 2017, the government’s Planting for Food and Jobs policy was implemented and subsidies for seed came into play. M&B still distributes through the agro-dealers but the subsidy is paid directly to the company.

Future plans

“My actual competition is the farmer who still thinks he can recycle his seed,” says Kemetse. He explains that the use of certified hybrid seed is still not widely used in the country. “Yes, the multinationals are coming, but they will also find it difficult to sell. Our seed matures fast, dries fast and the yields are competitive. It also requires less fertiliser than some of the seed from multinationals,” he says.

Even though some of the farmers have requested M&B fertiliser and agro-chemicals, this is not the company’s priority. “If I have enough finance to cater for the seed needs of the country, then we will diversify,” he says.

Finance remains a big challenge. In 2017, a bank approached M&B with the offer of a possible loan. Kemetse and the team spent a substantial amount of money to get the application finalised and have still have not had a response. Any finance secured will go towards the building of a larger warehouse where surplus seed can be stored.

“My first priority is to increase seed output, educate the farmers and bring quality seed as close as possible to the doorstep of the farmer. The profit-margin on farming is extremely thin. We don’t want the farmer to lose that small profit they make because they have bad seed, bad inputs or bad agronomic inputs.”

M&B Seeds and Agricultural Services CEO contact information

2020 presented the world with unique challenges that, in one way or another, impacted us all. The COVID-19 pandemic posed a stress test to global agri-food systems in ways previously inconceivable.

For the first time ever, the AGRF summit took place in a virtual format and a hybrid component, comprising both a scaled down physical event in the host country, Rwanda, and digital participation from around the world. This was the best-attended AGRF Summit of all time, with over 10,400 registered, and close to 7,000 active delegates from 154 countries, including 492 global speakers. Over four days, we had meaningful engagements on how to capitalize on the economic power of rapidly-growing urban populations to create prosperous, sustainable food systems for Africa.

Without a doubt, the conversations at last year’s Summit presented a step-change in our approach towards the pursuit of food & nutrition security and the increasing shared prosperity across Africa. The conversations yielded tangible resolutions to foster the transformation of the agri-food sector to sustainably feed the continent, and the rest of the world. In this report, you will read about these resolutions in light of the current state of food and agriculture in Africa, as well as their implications on the future.

The 2020 Agribusiness Deal Room was the biggest Deal Room event to date since its inception in 2018 with more than 3,600 delegates from 91 countries in attendance. There were more than 700 SMEs seeking more that USD 547 million in funding from over 312 capital providers. More than 15 African governments presented investment opportunities worth USD 7.2 billion.

You can download the AGRF summit report here and the DealRoom report here

The search is on for the winner of the 2018 Africa Food Prize – the preeminent award that recognizes outstanding individuals or institutions that are leading the effort to change the reality of farming in Africa from a struggle to survive to a business that thrives.

The US $100,000 Prize celebrates Africans who are taking control of Africa’s agriculture agenda. It puts a bright spotlight on bold initiatives and technical innovations that can be replicated across the continent to create a new era of food security and economic opportunity for all Africans.

In 2020, Dr. André Bationo, a researcher from Burkina Faso, and Dr. Catherine Nakalembe, a Ugandan researcher, jointly received the Prize for their exceptional contribution towards the promotion of food security across the continent.

In 2019, Dr. Emma Naluyima, a smallholder farmer and private veterinarian from Uganda, and Baba Dioum, a policy champion and agricultural entrepreneur from Senegal were recognized for their remarkable achievements in demonstrating and promoting innovative and sustainable growth in Africa’s agriculture through improved resource use and market links.

In 2018, International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) was awarded the Prize for generating solutions on and off the farm that have improved the lives of millions in the face of climate change, a surge of crop pests and disease, and an urgent need for youth employment.

The 2017 Prize was jointly awarded to Hon. Prof. Ruth Oniang’o, a professor and advocate of nutrition from Kenya, and Mme Maïmouna Sidibe Coulibaly, an entrepreneur and agro industrialist from Mali, for their exemplary efforts in driving Africa’s agriculture transformation.

The two trailblazers succeeded the 2016 winner – Dr. Kanayo F. Nwanze, the former President of the Rome-based International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Dr. Nwanze received the inaugural Prize for his outstanding leadership and passion for advocacy in putting Africa´s smallholder farmers at the center of the global agricultural agenda and for his courage in reminding African leaders to go beyond promising development and change to delivering it.

Now in its fifth year, the Prize has grown in stature and popularity. Nominations came from over 20 African countries in Africa as well as from countries outside the continent.

The 2021 winner(s) will be chosen by the Africa Food Prize Committee, an independent body of pre-eminent leaders that is chaired by the former Nigerian President, H.E. Olusegun Obasanjo. The other committee members are Dr. Vera Songwe, Dr. Eleni Z. GabreMadhin, Prof. Joachim von Braun, Dr. Kama Rutenberg, Mr. Birama Sidibé and Prof. Sheryl Hendriks.

With the acknowledgement that agriculture is Africa’s surest path to inclusive economic growth and development, the Africa Food Prize exists to reward individuals and institutions that are pioneering efforts to create prosperity in Africa. It is hoped that this will encourage others to follow their lead.

The Africa Food Prize began as the Yara Prize, and was established in 2005 by Yara International ASA in Norway to honor achievements in African agriculture. Moving the Yara Prize to Africa in 2016 and rechristening it the Africa Food Prize gave the award a distinctive African home, African identity and African ownership.

The deadline for nominations is May 25th 2021. The winner(s) will be unveiled at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) this September.

King’ori is a quiet village in Arumeru District in Arusha, Tanzania.

It is in this region, East Africa’s diplomatic hub, that one finds Uremi Agricultural Marketing Co-operative Society (Amcos).

The Seeds of Gold team finds its members gathered at a social hall to discuss an important and urgent matter. A miller in Kenya had ordered thousands of bags of maize from the cooperative, thus members have to meet and agree on how to service the order.

While members of Uremi had hundreds of bags of maize preserved in one of their storage facilities, they needed to aggregate more to supply to the Kenyan millerthrough a trading company named Union Service Stores Ltd (USSL).

The firm buys maize from smallholder farmer groups, adds value to it by threshing, drying it further and checking the moisture content to ensure it is aflatoxin-free, before selling to various buyers, including major off-takers in Kenya.

“We are able to supply the maize because we are working together as smallholder farmers, which enables us to aggregate our produce and sell to major buyers,” says Rejeaeli John Sarakika, the chairman of the cooperative.

He notes that Uremi group consists of 220 smallholder farmers in King’ori. There are other such cooperatives in different parts of the country.

Direct dealings

Martin Silayo, the production manager at USSL, says the company has a contract to supply one of the major milling companies in Kenya with 40,000 metric tonnes (40 million kilos) of maize every year. They aggregate the maize from Tanzanian smallholder farmer groups like Uremi.

“For a long time, we depended on traders to supply us with the grain. But since 2016, we learnt that dealing directly with smallholder farmer groups was more sustainable because we can intervene to improve the production where necessary, but above all, we can easily trace the source of our grain and monitor the quality right from the farm to the time it is delivered to our stores,” says Silayo, noting Kenyan millers are their major buyers.

Dealing with smallholder farmer groups has led to formation of hundreds of such outfits among farming communities across Tanzania, enabling the firm to easily source grains that it sells to Kenya.

Prices differ depending on which part of Tanzania the grain comes from and the season.

“But the cooperatives sell us from Tsh400 (Sh20) to Tsh600 (Sh30) per kilo. Then we add a 10 per cent mark-up after value addition,” Silayo says.

In Kenya, a kilo of maize currently averages Sh45, a price that pushes away millers.

Game-changer

Working in groups, thanks to training from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), has been a game-changer for thousands of small grain farmers in the country, according to Sarakika.

John Macharia, Agra’s country manager for Kenya, notes Tanzanian farmers are ablto produce maize cheaply because government subsidies target the correct people and inputs are delivered at the right time.

“This is unlike in Kenya, where we have previously seen even the most affluent people in the society receiving fertiliser subsidies.”

He observes that another advantage Tanzania has over Kenya is that it has far more arable land for maize production.

“Whereas a Kenyan smallholder is able to afford just one acre, Tanzanian smallholders can afford more than 10 for maize production.”

Kenya’s annual maize production averages 40 million bags, against an annual demand of 52 million. The difference is thus imported from Tanzania, Uganda and elsewhere.

According to Macharia, the Kenyan method of producing maize, from subsidies to marketing, where the government is the main buyer, may not be sustainable, but it is necessary given the high cost of production.

“However, farmers, especially those from semi-arid regions, should consider other income-generating crops such as sunflower, whose returns are far much better than maize, and the cost of production far lower.”

Training

The small farmers in Tanzania mainly deal in maize, beans, soybeans, sunflower and potatoes. Through the groups, they are linked to the market, and above all, can easily be trained on post-harvest handling technologies that enhance food safety, food quality and reduce losses.

“More than 30 per cent of the food produced for human consumption across the continent is lost to inadequate post-harvest management, lack of structured markets, inadequate storage in households and on farms as well as limited processing capacity,” says Edward Agaba, a programmes officer at Agra.

Maize is the most important crop across sub-Saharan Africa, consumed by 50 per cent of the population. But according to the International Institute for Agriculture, 28 per cent of maize has to be imported outside Africa to meet a shortfall in demand.

“We can easily change this tide by simply investing in smallholder farmers. We also need to overcome problems associated with informal grain trading and increase farmer incomes,” says Gerald Makau Masila, the executive director, Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC).

Soil testing

Sarakika observes that through the group, they are able to test their soils to understand the nutrient deficiencies, use the right farm inputs and employ good agronomic practices, which have seen many produce up to 20 bags per acre from five.

And then later collectively get better prices as they are able to enter into contracts with buyers. Through the group, members can borrow cheaply and buy farm inputs where necessary.

During the 2017 – 2018 season, the group was one of the five smallholder farmer groups that delivered 210,000 bags of maize to USSL, which is part of the 5,000 metric tonnes that were directly sold to the Kenyan market.

Save for the 2018 – 2019 season which was hit hard by tough climatic conditions, and the current season which has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, USSL has reached out to 25 smallholder farmer groups in Tanzania with a total membership of 5,500 with an aim of improving the supply to meet the target of 40,000 metric tonnes that the Kenyan miller needs.

“Our target in the next three seasons is to reach out to 90 smallholder farmer groups, and to be able to support them with necessary farm inputs, buy their produce on contractual basis as we strive to meet the demand in the region,” says Silayo.

In 2020, the entire world knew what it was to be hungry. Millions of people went without enough to eat, with the most desperate now facing famine. At the same time, isolation took on a new meaning, in which the lonely and most remote were deprived of human contact when they most needed it, while the many victims of Covid-19 were starved of air. For all of us, the human experience fell far short of satisfying even the most basic needs.

The pandemic has provided a taste of a future at the limits of existence, where people are bereft, governments are stymied and economies wither. But it has also fuelled an unprecedented global appetite for change to prevent this from becoming our long-term reality.

For all the obstacles and challenges we face in the weeks and months ahead, I start 2021 with a tremendous sense of optimism and hope that the growling in our stomachs and the yearning in our hearts can become the collective roar of defiance, of determination and of revolution to make this year better than last, and the future brighter than the past.

It starts with food, the most primal form of sustenance. It is food that determines the health and prospects of 1.35-billion Africans and counting. It is food that employs more than half a billion people in African agriculture alone and offers the promise of economic growth and development. And it is food that we have learned impacts our very ecosystems, down to the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the climate we enjoy, come rain or shine.

Even before the pandemic, 2021 was destined to be a “super-year” for food, a year in which food production, consumption and disposal finally received the requisite global attention as the UN convenes the world’s first Food Systems Summit. But with two years’ worth of progress now compressed into the next 12 months, 2021 takes on a renewed significance.

After a year of global paralysis, caused by the shock of Covid-19, we must channel our anxieties, our fear, our hunger,and most of all our energies into action, and wake up to the fact that by transforming food systems to be healthier, more sustainable and inclusive, we can recover from the pandemic and limit the impact of future crises.

The change we need will require all of us to think and act differently because every one of us has a stake and a role in functioning food systems. But now, more than ever, we must look to our national leaders to chart the path forward by uniting farmers, producers, scientists, hauliers, grocers, and consumers, listening to their difficulties and insights, and pledging to improve each aspect of the food system for the betterment of all.

Policymakers must listen to Africa’s 450-million smallholders as custodians of the resources that produce so much of our food, and align their needs and challenges with the perspectives of environmentalists and entrepreneurs, chefs and restaurant owners, doctors and nutritionists to develop national commitments.

We enter 2021 with wind in our sails. More than 50 countries have joined the African Union in engaging with the Food Systems Summit and its five priority pillars, or action tracks, which cut across nutrition, poverty, climate change, resilience and sustainability. And more than two dozen countries have appointed a national convenor to host a series of country-level dialogues in the months ahead, a process that will underpin the summit and set the agenda for the decade of action to 2030.

But this is just the beginning. With utmost urgency, I call on all UN Member States to join this global movement for a better, more fulfilling future, starting with the transformation of food systems. I urge governments to provide the platform that opens a conversation and guides countries towards tangible, concrete change. And I encourage everyone with fire in their bellies to get involved with the Food Systems Summit process this year and start the journey of transitioning to more inclusive and sustainable food systems.

The Summit is a “People’s Summit” for everyone, and its success relies on everyone everywhere getting involved through participating in action track surveys, joining the online summit community, and signing up to become food systems heroes who are committed to improving food systems in their own communities and constituencies.

Too often, we say it is time to act and make a difference, then continue as before. But it would be unforgivable if the world was allowed to forget the lessons of the pandemic in our desperation to return to normal life. All the writing on the wall suggests that our food systems need reform now. Humanity is hungry for this change. It is time to sate our appetite.

Fall Armyworm (FAW) has been ravaging maize fields in Africa since 2016 with the first incidences reported in Southern Africa countries. In East Africa, it was first reported in western Kenya by farmers in March 2017 and immediately confirmed by the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service and Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation.

It immediately spread to the neighbouring countries of Uganda, Burundi, Ethiopia and Rwanda raising alarm amongst policy makers.
In Uganda, the Ministry of Agriculture advised farmers to use Rocket to spray their farms. Towards the end of last year, the incidence of the pest was reducing but it has since sprung and farmers are in a dilemma on what to do next.

Currently, more than 30 countries have identified the pest within their borders including the island countries of Cape Verde, Madagascar, São Tomé and Príncipe and the Seychelles. FAW type introduced into Africa is the haplotype originating from south Florida, USA and the Caribbean.
However, scientists at the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) have since had various concreted efforts in trying to devise means to control FAW.

This time the team led by Dr Michael Hilary Otim, under a Development and Promotional Sustainable Fall Armyworm project which has been ongoing since 2018 ending 2020, have done tremendous work through a project funded by the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

Dr Otim explains that the pest is capable of feeding on more than 80 different crop species, making it one of the most damaging crop pests. Some of the crops include maize, sorghum, rice, sugarcane, cabbage, groundnut, soybean, onion, cotton, pasture grasses, millets, tomato, potato and cotton.

He noted that: “The goal of the project was for scientists to contribute to enhanced sustainable control of FAW in Uganda, and other neighbouring countries that would benefit from our results. As well as evaluate additional effective, insecticides for managing FAW and to determine the yield losses associated with FAW infestation,” he notes.

How FAW behaves
The FAW moths have both a migratory habit and a more localised dispersal habit. It can migrate more than 500 km before positioning to settle in one place. When the wind pattern is right, moths can move much larger distances of 1,600 km. The pest is capable of persisting throughout the year.
The Director General of National Agricultural Research Organistaion, Ambrose Agona, explains some of the long- and short-term measures farmers in Uganda can adopt in a bid to prevent the pest from infesting their fields.

Armyworm species
There are a number of species of armyworm caterpillars, many with a distinct taste for a particular plant or vegetable. Some will eat anything green. They attack at night and hide in plants and under garden debris during the day.
They attack the crop at their larval stage sometimes moving in masses to new areas in search of food. In Uganda the attack is mostly aerial, with the gray moths usually arriving under cover of darkness to lay eggs on leaves of maize in farmer fields.

Using sex pheromone traps
Farmers have been advised to erect pheromone traps near fields to trap adult male moths. A pheromone is a chemical secreted by a female insect to attract males for mating and once the male insects are trapped in the bucket there is no more possibility of mating.

It is important to establish it in one month before planting the crop and the trap is placed next to the maize field so that the scent of the pheromone is carried across the top of the plants by the wind and they should be hanged on poles. It is replaced every

Use of natural predators
Farmers are advised to avoid using harmful pesticides or practices that would inadvertently destroy beneficial insects. Some bird species, especially soldier birds are good at consuming the fall armyworm and farmers are advised not to scare away birds seen in search of pests in their farms.

Farmers are expected to spray the field with insecticides such as Garden Dust, Monterey Garden and Rocket. They must use selective and biological pesticide containing Bacillus thuringiensis to control leaf eating caterpillars and FAW.
FAW in tropical climates completes its life cycle in 30-40 days and farmers are expected to avoid treating successive generations of the pest with the same active ingredient.

Other preventive methods
Farmers have been sensitised to use natural horticultural oil spray, an example is multipurpose neem oil spray at various stages of larvae growth.
The head of cereal research at NaCRRI, Dr Jimmy Lamo, noted that there were many donors who have been funding fall army preventive measures at the institute including AGRA.

Challenges
Dr Otim identified the challenges faced during implementation of the project as Covid-19 which reduced outreach, destruction of experiment by animals and termites, delayed report approval and disbursement, drought andflooding
Fall Armyworm strains having mutations for resistance to organophosphates and pyrethroids, among others.

Naro Deputy Director General, Agriculture Technology Promotion, Dr Sadik Kassim noted that it is important for agricultural scientists to tackle challenges farmers are faced with such as FAW. This he said therefore calls for more scientists to be trained in the area of entomology in order to tackle the challenge of pests and diseases.

Tactics

Approaches
Reviews to identify candidate insecticides.

Laboratory and field evaluations (insecticides and yield loss studies).

Training of stakeholders and developing of training materials in local languages.

The team identified 20 insecticides and evaluated seven insecticides including; (Chlobenzo, Striker, Roket, Dimethoate, Amdocs, Nomax and Tihan) for FAW control.