AGRA

The 2020 Africa Agriculture Status Report (AASR) was at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) virtual summit in Kigali, Rwanda.

This year’s AASR focuses on Feeding Africa’s Cities by assessing the opportunities, challenges and policies required to enable African farmers and agribusinesses to serve the rapidly growing urban food markets. The report seeks to find ways for smallholder farmers to drive food security, rural prosperity, and inclusive economic growth.

“This report highlights the opportunity for all agriculture industry stakeholders to bring together viewpoints that define the transformation agenda while outlining the practical next steps to an agricultural revolution,” said Dr Agnes Kalibata, President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

The report outlines opportunities provided by Africa’s urban food markets to the continent’s 60 million farms. It indicates that cities shape Africa’s agribusiness environment by affecting patterns of agricultural production and inducing the rapid expansion of food processing and distribution plans.

“This year’s AASR shows that as the centre of gravity in Africa’s agri-food systems shifts increasingly towards urban areas, a cohort of new, non-traditional actors – including city planners, mayors, district councils, trader organizations and public health professionals – are becoming key players in the implementation of agricultural policy,” said Andrew Cox, AGRA’s Chief of Staff and Strategy.

It also highlights the opportunities in Africa’s growing urban food markets while recognizing that the effective governance of urban food systems requires inclusive models that coordinate and harmonize the actions of the many diverse players now shaping African agri-food systems.

“Traditional markets and small-format shops currently account for 80 – 90 per cent of urban food retailing in African cities. Supermarket shares, though currently small, seem likely to increase in the coming decades. Small farmers reach urban food markets primarily via traditional wholesale markets and the efficient operation of these markets, therefore, becomes key to small farmer access and competitiveness,” reads the report, in part. 

While recognizing the debilitating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its role in exacerbating existing economic and social inequalities, the report defines five focus areas in a bid to overcome the problem of urban under-nutrition and accelerate the urgency of urban food system planning. These focus areas are improved urban food system governance; efficient urban wholesale markets; food safety regulation and enforcement; regional free trade and agricultural policy harmonization; and agricultural research focused on high-growth, high-value food commodities.

Domestic food distribution systems, intra-African trade and food safety are the other themes of the report leading to the conclusion that improved urban food system governance and performance can create new opportunities for Africa to transform its agricultural endeavours into thriving businesses.

The report was launched at the 10th edition of the AGRF, an annual gathering that has this year brought together 4,000 delegates including heads of state and government, agriculture ministers, members of the civil society, private sector leaders, scientists and farmers in discussions to find ways of feeding Africa’s increasing urban populations.

This is the first time in history that the AGRF is held virtually, in line with COVID-19 containment measures. The theme of the Forum is Feed the Cities, Grow the Continent: Leveraging Urban Food Markets to Achieve Sustainable Food Systems in Africa, a call to action to rethink Africa’s food systems in the delivery of resilient, better nourished, and more prosperous outcomes for all.

Source: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2001386060/the-2020-africa-agriculture-status-report-unveiled

In advance of next year’s UN Food Systems Summit, many people are saying that the world’s food systems are broken. What needs fixing?

We are producing probably 300 to 400 times as much food as we did in the 1950s and we have figured out completely new ways of producing food that should make it very easy for us to be comfortable from a food security perspective.

But we still have 690m people that are going hungry. We have excess food in the system but food is not getting to some of the people who need it most. Then there is the fact that food-related diseases are the number one cause of death when you look at what is happening from a global perspective. I think 22 to 30% of deaths globally are the result of how we eat.

Lastly, right now, one third of emissions contributing to climate change come from the agricultural sector itself. We have figured out unbelievable ways of producing food, but we are doing it in a manner that is not sustainable. We are doing it in a manner that is not feeding us better and we are doing it in a manner that is not reaching the most vulnerable among us. That’s why people say that our food systems are broken.

What has been the impact of Covid-19 on global food systems?

For people that depend on imported food, we saw a rise in the cost of food, largely as a result of disrupted supply chains.

The disruption to supply chains even at local level started being a major problem. The biggest victims of that ripple effect have probably been SMEs that work in the agricultural landscape. SMEs in the agriculture landscape are responsible for the movement of 80% of the food that is eaten away from the farm.

This was a major challenge for them and of course, for the jobs that are associated with them. They are the biggest employers in the agricultural sector. This has been a major disruption in our agricultural landscape.

There is also the issue of lost harvests, for those countries in season such as those in Southern Africa.

Since people figured out that Covid is probably going to be here for longer than a month – which is what people originally thought – the system has begun to slowly pick up again, though very cautiously. But overall we have so far managed to respond to the crisis and countries saw that food, like health, was a critical good that required special treatment and needed to keep moving. So mechanisms were put in place to make this happen.

Are you encouraged by the measures taken in Africa?

Probably the biggest challenge our countries are facing is funding in the face of Covid-19. After protecting people, the next biggest investment should be supporting the agricultural sector, for two reasons: first, because it will ensure that we have a safety net system. Second, because it contributes 30% of our of GDP and we will probably contribute more as some of the other sectors suffer.

We import significant amounts of food and this is an opportunity to look at those markets and see how they can be part of harnessing and contributing to how we strengthen the resilience of farming goods in these countries.

Are governments ensuring they’re not overly reliant on different supply chains and becoming more self-sufficient in food production?

It’s very interesting because there are major conversations really looking at supply chains, and for good reasons. People are worried that as Covid continues to be a challenge we will need to shorten supply chains. It’s not just Africa, Europe is looking at it. In their case it’s more to do with reducing the carbon footprint of food. In Africa it’s more about building resilience.

Food systems contribute a third of all greenhouse gas emissions. Is this also the case in Africa and are there quick wins to reduce emissions?

They say that Africa’s contribution to greenhouse gases is only about 3.8% but when you look at it from an agricultural perspective I’m sure we could do better. Instead of farming more land we could look at greater intensification, producing more with less. We could also definitely reduce the impact on biodiversity by looking at technology that could help us increase productivity without impacting the environment in a bad way. There are many ideas and very many technologies that can definitely have a huge impact.

Will it be easier to get consensus at the summit than it would have been a year ago?

A number of things have happened that may make it easier for us to get consensus. I think what we need to agree on now is what would constitute transformative action, what are going to be the trade-offs and how we should prepare for them.

When I look at the interest that the food system summit has raised globally it’s huge. Interest has been further galvanised by the onset of Covid. There’s a lot of clarity around the fact that we have many fragilities around our food systems. All that has contributed to recognising that we really must do something to build greater resilience in them. We need to act together.

For me it’s really a question of staying on top of that, ensuring that every country is engaged enough to be able to present its own action plan when it comes to dealing with the food systems and what needs to change around food systems in their particular context.

Are you positive that concrete actions will emerge from next year’s summit?

Food systems will offer solutions to how we deal with ending hunger, with nutrition and how we ensure that we strengthen resilience for families and households. These are all things that are within our control.

What has been lacking is how it all comes together with a real sense of purpose and ambition to get these things out of the way. It’s how we prioritise these problems. It’s how we look at them from a global perspective. It’s not an African problem, it’s not a European problem. What happened with Covid is a global problem, what happened before Covid with climate change is a global problem that impacts people very far removed from where some of these problems are happening.

For the first time we understand how interconnected we are with these challenges and really being able to work through all this together as a globe and as a community is going to be the test of our time.

Will Africa demand anything in particular?

This is not a place where we go to negotiate; this is a place where we frame solutions. Africa needs to come up with ambitious solutions for how it will deal with the problem of hunger, with nutrition, with the environment. For all those things, Africa has to come with its own solutions and Africa’s partners have to understand the role they have in strengthening that perspective, not just for Africa but for East Asia, for South America, for the private sector. So that’s why we’re not talking about trade-offs and we can’t have winners and losers. We have to have win-win solutions, where we support each other.

Agnes Kalibata is the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the 2021 Food Systems Summit and President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. 

For more information about the UN Food Systems Summit 2021, visit the UN Sustainable Goals website

Source: https://africanbusinessmagazine.com/sectors/agriculture/agnes-kalibata-fixing-the-worlds-food-systems-a-problem-we-must-solve-together/

Amid the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic, Debisi Araba, presses the positive case for the future of African agriculture. “There is no reason why we can’t be self-sufficient and able to feed the world,” he says at the end of our hour-long conversation.

But throughout the conversation he also emphasises that the “transformation journey” will not take place overnight and will rely on cooperation between government and the private sector. A process that is “public-sector enabled and private-sector led” is his formula for success.

It was in May that Debisi took up his post as managing director of AGRF, the forum that brings together the major stakeholders in Africa’s agricultural landscape every year. But despite his young age, Araba has been at the forefront of African agriculture for many years. A senior adviser in 2015 to the former minister of agriculture of Nigeria, Akinwumi Adesina, the current president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Araba also served as regional director for Africa at the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture, which aims to bring an evidence-based approach to decision making around agriculture.

The question on everybody’s mind is the impact Covid-19 has had on African agriculture. UN agencies have predicted a global food emergency due to border restrictions, slowing harvests and a loss of income for farmers. Globally, markets have so far proven resilient with stocks of most staple foods adequate. The worry is that unless sustainable action is taken, food shortages, disrupted supply chains, lower production and rising prices could emerge. Coupled with the locust invasion in East Africa and the continuing challenge of climate change, the African continent is far from immune to collateral damage from Covid-19.

Araba says the pandemic has been a stress test to global food systems, exposing the “soft underbelly that we’ve taken for granted”. Africa has shown some resilience  but the full impact is yet to be felt in terms of future harvests and loss of income, he says. Political will to take remedial action will be necessary to avert the worst effects, he says, noting that there has been a heightened sense of awareness. Nevertheless, he would like to see more urgency: the continent needs to focus on ramping up production. This year’s AGRF Summit will address many of these themes (see below).

Raising the profile of agriculture

He hopes the pandemic will raise the importance of agriculture in government priorities and warns of the consequences of inaction. 

“There are health implications if people don’t have access to healthy and nutritious foods: in other words malnutrition from poor harvests and lack of access to foods,” he says. “There are economic implications. And there are political implications. We have seen governments fall because of inadequate food policies, not just in Africa but around the world. We saw that in Thailand with the rice farmers because of a subsidy programme that didn’t work out.”

He fears that a lot of small and medium enterprises in agriculture will go out of business unless governments take the necessary action to support them, as they have for airlines and the hospitality trade. That needs political leadership, whether through a support fund, insurance mechanism systems or other fiscal incentives. Araba is confident the pandemic will reinforce the need for investment and reform and will bring about fundamental changes. 

“We need to invest in infrastructure and technologies. There are means and measures to dampen the effect [like using] cold storage and cold chain supply and using modern technologies like solar powered cooling systems.” 

There is room for greater collaboration at a continental level, especially in terms of data. Araba has been touting the need for the continent to collate data of grain reserves and government and private food stocks. These simple measures will help map stocks so that when a crisis hits an accurate food map of the continent exists to help manage surpluses and shortages in a more effective manner. This can then be integrated into an interconnected trading platform, to help trade within Africa and enable Africa to set the terms of its global trade. 

This is all part of “being more deliberate”, he explains. “Right now, every planting season is done with hope. Every harvest is met with uncertainty in terms of how much you’re going to sell and at which price.”

Araba is an advocate of the private sector being at the heart of the transformation. Like the AfDB’s Adesina, Araba wants people to look at agriculture as a profitable business sector. “Agriculture is not something you do when all else has failed,” he says. “Agribusiness is complicated, and that’s why it needs serious, business-minded people who are dedicated and intelligent to make a success of it.”

Transforming agriculture

But it also needs supportive government policy. His home market of Nigeria offers an interesting case study in the controversies of agricultural policy. While the government is keen to encourage domestic production, central bank activity to limit access to foreign exchange for importers of maize has proved controversial. 

One outcome that policymakers should expect is a rise in the price of maize, and “as a policymaker you need to be comfortable with the consequences of this action,” he explains.

He’d like to see a programme focused on increasing productivity, investing in seed systems, mechanisation and security so that cultivation areas are not threatened by encroaching livestock. Investment in irrigation and roads and market systems will smoothen volatility. 

“Transformation is about moving from one way of doing things to another, better way. The yield gap is there and Nigeria needs to increase productivity when it comes to producing maize.” 

He lauds entrepreneurial Nigerian businesses like Babban Gona Farms and Tomato Jos that have introduced innovations to the business model, outperformed national average yields and built strong businesses.

“It requires a cohesive and sustained assault on the challenges holding productivity back,” says Araba. “So I’d like to see everything [central bank policy alongside a programme focused on production and productivity] happening at the same time. And we should not simply focus on maize for domestic consumption.

“This is where I think we miss the core message: Nigeria should be a global agriculture and food powerhouse and a net exporter, supplying maize to West Africa. We need people with big ambitions both in the public and private sector. We’re starting to see these people.”

The 2020 AGRF summit

The theme of the 2020 AGRF Summit, “Feed the Cities, Grow the Continent”, was chosen last November, long before the pandemic struck. But it is prescient, says Araba, with urban centres particularly vulnerable to shocks.

“We need to have an honest conversation on agri­culture and food, what we grow, how we process it, what we consume and in what quantities,” he says. “We need to understand what future we want and how Africa can play a greater role in global food production and do so in a more sustainable and cohesive manner.”

This year’s gathering will take place online from  8-11 September and will be centred around four broad issues:

1. Resilience: investing in enterprises and innovations to build a sustainable and inclusive future
2. Markets and trade: building inter-connected African markets to create opportunities across the supply chain
3. Nutritious food: creating markets for African products that fuel diverse, healthy diets
4. Food systems: looking at the whole agricultural ecosystem to ensure Africa is producing the right foods in a sustainable manner.

High-level dignitaries and private-sector experts will debate the questions and registered delegates will be able to pose questions to speakers via integrated chat functions, as well as via social media.

The summit will provide a platform for Africa to sort out its priorities ahead of the UN Food Systems Conference taking place in 2021. 

“AGRF is the confluence of the ideas, energy and drive of the agriculture and food sector in Africa,” says Araba. “My message to the general public is that people are working day and night to ensure our food systems thrive. To government, we need to work even harder but we can lean on each other for support and knowledge. And to the private sector, it is through their ingenuity and persistence that economies thrive, but they need to make their voices heard by the public sector. Private enterprise does not thrive in silence.” 

Despite the difficulties of the pandemic, climate change, and East African locust swarms, 2020 has also seen impressive cooperation among multilateral agencies and governments, including the World Bank, the FAO, and the AfDB. AGRA is leading the way by providing technical support to national governments to align resources in response to Covid-19. 

“Africa will not wilt in the face of this pandemic,” says Araba. 

For more information about the AGRF Summit go to www.agrf.org

Source: https://africanbusinessmagazine.com/sectors/agriculture/agrf-md-debisi-araba-africa-can-feed-the-world/