Press Releases
AGRA President, USAID Administrator Discuss Ways to Foster Stronger Food Systems in Africa
The President of AGRA, Dr. Agnes Kalibata, met with USAID Administrator Samantha Power to review the outcomes of the UN Food Systems Summit (UN FSS), held in New York, USA, last week.
In the Wednesday September 29, 2021 meeting, Dr. Kalibata and Administrator Power discussed strategies for supporting countries in fast-tracking the transformation of their food systems, and implementing other commitments made at the UN FSS.
The conversation addressed the urgent need for action on nutrition and healthy diets, adaptation to climate change, and the development of more inclusive food systems, with an emphasis on engaging women and young people.
Administrator Power and Dr. Kalibata also discussed how AGRA can collaborate with the United States’ Feed the Future Initiative’s in-country efforts to reach farmers with climate-adapted crop varieties and large-scale food fortification in response to current crises, while building more nutritious, sustainable, and equitable food systems.
Started in 2009, Feed the Future is the U.S. Government’s initiative to address global hunger and food security, with the primary goal of reducing poverty and undernutrition by simultaneously promoting inclusive agriculture sector growth and improved nutritional status for women and children. At the UN FSS, the United States pledged a multi-year, USD 5 billion investment in Feed the Future.
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.
-ENDS-