AGRA

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso: July 3, 2021-  Former Prime Minister of Ethiopia and Board Chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA),  H.E. Hailemariam Dessalegn, will be in Burkina Faso on a four-day visit that will see him hold critical engagements with H.E. President Roch Marc Christian Kabore and the Rgt. Hon. Prime Minister Christophe Joseph Marie Dabire .

H.E. Dessalegn will arrive in the country on July 4, 2021 and stay until July 8, 2021 as part of his tour of West Africa to assess the impact of AGRA’s investments in food systems transformation.

His dialogue with H.E. Kabore and Rgt. Hon. Dabire will center around the priorities of the Burkinabè government in agricultural development and food security, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The AGRA Board Chair will also use the opportunity to welcome the participation of H.E. President Kabore’s government in the AGRF 2021 to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, between September 7 and September 10. 

Launched in 2010, the AGRF is the first global forum for African agriculture that brings together different stakeholders to boost the political will and advance the programs, investments, and policies necessary to meet the challenges of the structural transformation of African food systems.

This year’s AGRF will be held right after the UN Food Systems Summit (UN FSS), in New York, USA. The UN FSS is a special convening to deliver progress on all 17 of the SDGs while leveraging the interconnectedness of food systems to global challenges such as hunger, climate change, poverty and inequality. 

Together, the AGRF, the UN FSS will be critical for advancing dialogue and partnerships for the achievement of key food systems objectives, including the sustainable development goal of eradicating hunger and poverty by 2030. 

Meanwhile, before leaving Burkina Faso, H.E. Dessalegn will hold working sessions with stakeholders and beneficiaries of projects supported by AGRA in agricultural research, integrated soil fertility management, market access and stakeholder mobilization.

He will culminate his trip with a visit to rice production and processing sites in the Bagré region of Boulgou Province in the Eastern part of the country, as well as a corn-processing facility, in the industrial zone of the Kossodo District, some 9Km North-East of Ouagadougou.

ABOUT AGRA

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

More information: https://agra.org/ ; Rebecca Weaver, rweaver@agra.org

ABOUT AGRF

AGRF is the premier forum for African agriculture, bringing together agricultural landscape actors to take practical action and share lessons that will advance African agriculture. The Forum is designed to energize political will and advance the policies, programs, and investments needed to achieve inclusive and sustainable agricultural transformation across the continent.

More information: https://agrf.org  ; Catherine Ndung’u, cndungu@agra.org