AGRA

Lilongwe: March 17, 2022 – The Government of Malawi has signed a host country agreement with AGRA (the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa) reaffirming support for implementation of its programmes in the country.

The agreement will also grant AGRA diplomatic status in Malawi, once the legal process is completed, including gazettement.  

Speaking during the signing of the agreement, Malawi’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Honourable Nancy Gladys Tembo pledged her ministry’s support in facilitating smooth operations of AGRA, noting that with climate and resilience among its focus areas, it would help tackle Tropical Cyclone Ana which one of the emerging issues affecting livelihoods in the country.

“There has to be a way of addressing challenges faced by people in the Lower Shire Valley who refuse to move to the Upper land because of land ownership issues. We can still encourage them to relocate to the upper areas and allow them to use their flood-prone land for agricultural production and irrigation. We have not been harvesting water which can be put into good use for irrigation and other productive purposes. We also need to emphasize the role of private sector as a key focus to transform agriculture and Malawi’s economy” Tembo said.

AGRA’s Country Manager, Sophie Lusungu Chitedze said: “AGRA’s support going forward aims at enabling cross-ministerial collaboration and multistakeholder implementation of the agriculture and food systems transformation in Malawi, where the role of private sector is key”.

AGRA has been operating in Malawi since 2006, as one of the initial 11 focus countries. Initially, it implemented individual projects through local partners before it shifted to facilitating an agricultural transformation agenda in 2017 to drive impact at scale through targeted catalytic investments around government policy and state capability strengthening, agricultural systems strengthening, and facilitation of effective public-private partnerships. 

Ms Chitedze noted that AGRA’s role has been that of identifying gaps in the agriculture sector and contributing towards unlocking the potential for agriculture transformation at scale using a highly consultative process that avoids duplication, while promoting an integrated approach to catalyse resources for more investments for scalable agriculture models. 

“We have done so as a convener, facilitator and catalyst or neutral broker that puts government at the centre of leading the transformation agenda,” she added. 

AGRA is also a founding partner of the African Agriculture Transformation Initiative (AATI) together with IFAD, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and McKinsey, which aims at supporting African governments to close the gap between their agriculture transformation strategies and execution. This is by supporting the set-up of dedicated agriculture transformation delivery units for poverty reduction, food security and climate resilience for smallholder farmers under Agenda 2063 and the first pillar on Agriculture Productivity and Commercialization. 

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About AGRA

Established in 2006, AGRA is an African-led and Africa-based institution that puts smallholder farmers at the centre 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 catalyse and sustain an inclusive agricultural transformation to increase incomes and improve food security in 11 countries.
More information: https://agra.org/|  Rebecca Weaver, rweaver@agra.org|