Author: AGRF Digital

The Youth Town Hall event, held today at the AGRF 2022 Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, saw policy makers, NGO leaders, business leaders and young entrepreneurs come together, providing a platform for young people to articulate their issues, challenges and aspirations within the agri-food space and to pose their questions to those leading the charge.

With an opening section celebrating the winners of this year’s GoGettaz competition, the session rapidly took on the dynamic and vibrant nature of Africa’s young entrepreneurship scene, reflecting the innovative and exciting potential of these individuals and their work. Nozipho Mbanjwa told attendees, “This is all about celebrating young agripreneurs who are really pioneering African solutions.”

As the applause wound down, Edson Mpyisi, Chief Financial Economist and Coordinator of ENABLE Youth at African Development Bank Group, took to the stage and had two messages for the young people in the room. Firstly, that everyone is truly rooting for them. He also urged them not to try to do everything alone. “Reach out for support” was his parting message.

Next was Amade Miquidade, the Ambassador of Mozambique in Rwanda, who for the most part, addressed the audience in his native Portuguese – he told the young attendees that this really is the time to build the future. A time in which we have multiple tools at our disposal, including developing technologies and various means of obtaining information. He highlighted that we can constantly learn from different people and different countries. In his words: “The youth mustn’t sit down and wait for others to draw and make policy – you must build the capacity for implementing policies that will help make the future you want.” He went on to make the point that to embark on further education and study doesn’t mean it’s imperative to follow a theoretical course – making the point that learning the technical aspects of producing crops has as much use and merit as studying to be a doctor or white collar worker.

What followed was an ambitious and inquisitive conversation between the young founders and co-founders of some of Africa’s most exciting new agribusinesses. The issues raised varied; from the difficulty in getting access to Africa’s governments, and therefore, appropriate agribusiness funding and technology; to unfair competition in markets where global imports account for a huge proportion of the country’s food.

Ronald Diang’a, CEO of Kenarava – a business advisory company – realised after undertaking training in Israel, that there is a big gap in support and advisory services that are youth-led and youth- centric.He was keen to argue that governments need to take a contemporary, technology-led approach in order to push young agripreneurship forward. He insisted that within government interventions, investments and strategies,modern technologies be wholly embedded – so that young people can do business their way, with the tools they know, and thrive.

Other panelists agreed, strongly acknowledging that a technology-centric approach to agriculture will be paramount to success in the sector. Other ideas included stipulating that government policies must hold a commercial advantage for young entrepreneurs in agriculture. For example, decreasing tax burdens, or ensuring that banks feel the need to provide competitive advantages in terms of funding and investment for youth agripreneur projects.

The conversation turned towards reach, education and marketing around nutrition and of the local, healthy food that is available to our populations.  As one panellist stated, producing healthy and nutritious food is one thing – but the challenge is then how to sell it, and how to reach people to educate them on its benefits? There is a need to shift mainstream consumer behaviour, and to do so at scale. Dr Florence Sibomana, Senior Program Officer on NCDs at PATH Rwanda &Youth Leader for Nutrition-SUN Movement, added, “it’s about advocating distinct branding strategies with help from governments, to help improve knowledge amongst the people on health and nutrition choices.”

Next was the question on how policymakers equip players with a high-potential market, ensuring local producers and agripreneurs can enter markets easily – instead of competing with multinational giants stocking shelves all over the world. Around 90% of food on supermarket shelves in Africa is currently imported. The answer? That it will require more than one approach: firstly, food security at a local level. Secondly, resolving supply chain issues – there is a distinct lack of skills in this area, and in marketing too. Dr Sibomania remarked on the need to upskill farmers on communication with supermarkets and hotels, to ensure their products are stocked and sold to customers. The same goes for reducing post-harvest loss. Governments, individuals and startups must prioritise the harnessing and dissemination of best practices in these areas – in a way that builds on current expertise, rather than constantly reinventing the wheel.

The big question that resounded and was returned to, was, ultimately, how young people create and sustain a productive dialogue with their governments. Kombo Ekra Noël N’guessan, Founder of LONO, challenged the Ambassador on what Mozambique is doing to help with the common frustration of having to communicate with multiple government ministries as an agricultural startup. In other words, how do we ensure the linkage between those responsible for land, energy and water, in order to facilitate the work of leading agripreneurs?

Miquidade’s final commentary focused on the Mozambican government’s efforts to greenlight funding from financial institutions, as well as the provision of and access to high-value equipment for early-stage startups.

As Dr Agnes Kalibata made her closing remarks, she told attendees, assuredly, that “Africa has no future if its future is not about investing in young people.”

Her message to everyone present was that Africa must insist on this mission to feed itself – because if not, by 2030 we will be a poor continent. And her message to the young population? “Remember – nothing about us, without us. Don’t allow anybody to determine or mess with your future. You have a voice.”

As the sun sets on a hugely successful and incredibly important AGRF 2022, the closing plenary reflected on the week’s events, activities and outcomes – to scrutinise and discuss the lessons learned and the commitments made. The final plenary sought to underline how collaborative partnerships globally and nationally play an important role in reaching the goals of food security and advance the transformation of food systems.

The focus of this year’s summit has been around addressing the challenges facing the continent, from climate change to food security, the need to work collaboratively and recognising that forging the right partnerships will be fundamental to tackling the task at hand. We have reached the halfway point for the Sustainable Development Goals and are entering the final year of the first decade of Agenda 2063. The need for partnerships between countries, between institutions and stakeholder groups will all need to be strengthened to meet the ambitious goals that have been set.

The moderator, Ms. Fiona Mbabazi, opened by setting out the format and introducing Ms. Jennifer Baarn, Managing Director, AGRF for the official welcome, who began by noting that, ‘Everything that is happening is only exposing vulnerabilities that were already there, we need to ensure that in every corner of this continent, the voice of food systems transformation is clear.’ Reflecting on what happens after the summit ends she urged the importance of ‘carrying the baton and ensuring that every event taking place across the world, the voice of the African continent is clear.’

Dr. Ousmane Badiane, Founder and Executive Chairperson, Akademiya 2063 offered some thoughts and framed the conversation by highlighting the progress that has been made in the last twenty years but warned it was stalling, with reduced spending, and the per capita income diminished but he also spoke about opportunity by embracing change and seizing upon the technological innovations that are available.

The keynote speaker, Dr. Claudia Sadoff, Executive Managing Director (EMD), CGIAR began by remarking on what a fantastic opportunity it had been to reconnect with one another. Praising the ‘collegiality and sense of cautious optimism.’ Going on to iterate the need for practical action and investment in research to avoid further backslides, ‘we simply cannot succeed in taking technologies to scale unless we’re working in concert with Africa’s technical and research systems.’

The need for forging partnerships has been a leitmotif throughout the conference and today looked to underscore its importance. The discussion that followed, Reinforcing Global Cooperation for Food Systems emphasised the benefits and necessity for regional and national partnering.

Mr. Jorge Werthein, Senior Adviser to the Director General, IICA noted the common issues that they face in Central America and how advantageous it could be to cooperate and exchange ideas and information across the regions.

Mr. Yerlan Alimzhanuly Baidaulet, Director General, Islamic Organization for Food

Security expressed the need for continued communication, ‘out of Covid we’ve found the facility to communicate with one another which has been extremely important given the logistical issues faced by working across nations. Partnerships in action: create the partnerships, do the action. The problem with big conferences is we talk, we have to act immediately not just talk.’

H.E. Ambassador Ertharin Cousin, Founder and CEO, Food Systems for the Future opined that to ensure that agriculture is the driving force for economic growth, ‘we can’t achieve the goals if we can’t attract the capital and learn how to create a narrative that is appealing to private investment, by focusing not on the risk but upselling the advantages.’  

Ms. Diane Karusisi, CEO, Bank of Kigali appealed for renewed urgency to work with all the stakeholders to ensure there was food on the table and be resilient to shock.

After the discussion Ms. Jennifer Baarn underlined the takeaways of the event, saying, ‘The AGRF 2022 marks a turning point for Africa’s agricultural and food systems – we call upon governments, private sector and farmer organizations to turn promises into action. And let that action be accompanied by investments.’ She then handed over to Mr. Adam Gerstenmier, Executive Director, Food Action Alliance who praised how the continent has mobilized itself to make it a central part of the conversation on the global stage, remarking, ‘Africa was a leader at the UN food summit and is now showing the same leadership in implementation.’ He concluded on a similarly upbeat note, ‘in terms of climate change, Africa is at a crossroads, but there is an unprecedented opportunity for transformation.’

There followed remarks from Dr. Agnes Kalibata, President, AGRA and Host of the AGRF Secretariat who stated the intention to rebrand the AGRF from being a Green Revolution to being a Food Systems Transformation to great applause.

The closing remarks went to H.E. Hailemariam Dessalegn, Chair, AGRF Partners Group and Former Prime Minister, Ethiopia who declared that the progress and commitments that had been made this week were but one part of the puzzle, ‘We need our leaders to act decisively and swiftly to implement the ambitions and practical actions that have been outlined in the AGRF 2022 summit.’

For only the second time in history following the inaugural event last year The Council of the Wise and Elders this morning brought together some of the foremost African leaders and former Heads of State and Government. The council have all lined up behind the promise of supporting initiatives and actions around the continent towards achieving inclusive agriculture and food systems transformation as well as the SDGs commitments. The Council of the Wise is a vision of continuous engagement of leaders across the year, taking advantage of key moments to build and strengthen a common voice and position to deliver an Africa agenda. The Council gives an opportunity for these leaders to bring their considerable experience as former Heads of State and Government to share their insights, review progress, trigger action and support activity.

The session began with the moderator Aggie Konde, Vice President, AGRA setting out the agenda for the day before handing over to Ms. Jennifer Baarn, Managing Director, AGRF for welcome remarks who expressed her gratitude for being in the presence of ‘so many decades of experience.’

Mr. Maximo Torero, Chief Economist, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations was then introduced to the stage as the Keynote speaker who cautioned against what the world would continue to look like if change wasn’t ambitiously pushed, his speech, ‘Our Future with Business as Usual’ whilst sobering struck a positive note in terms of what could be done and was met with enthusiasm from the attendees.

He highlighted the many issues that the continent still faces, ‘Africa is facing overlapping crises which are drivers of the current food and nutrition trends. We need to address the emergency situation of the increase in the food import bill.’  But he also offered solutions, ‘it’s not simply that investment and higher spending is necessary but how best to spend that money’. To embrace the considerable challenges and turn them into opportunities ‘we need to innovate, the way we work with the government, all the systems are interlinked.’

He went on to outline how the current approach to global food systems requires a shift from business as usual to a more calculated and coordinated approach towards building a resilient and sustainable system for humanity and the planet. Recognizing that food systems are big drivers of greenhouse emissions, they also provide an opportunity to innovate with great solutions and exciting pathways moving forward, both for mitigation and adaptation.

Currently African food systems are failing to deliver healthy diets to all and remain a major challenge to environmental sustainability. Healthy diets demand a systems approach that acknowledges the central role and responsibility of different actors and stakeholders across the world, working collaboratively across other key systems to provide better diets for all, while also sustaining the planet for future generations.

Africa can achieve a resilient and sustainable food system through innovation in technology, science and policies tailored to address the needs of countries at a contextual level. The warning was stark however Africa must act now and change the narrative of a hungry continent to becoming one that is food secured, resilient to shocks and environmentally sustainable.

Following the stimulating and though provoking keynote address there followed an engaging panel discussion discussing not just how the continent had fared in the year since the summit in Kenya but what must happen in the coming year. 

H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn, Chair, AGRF Partners Group and Former Prime Minister, Ethiopia began with opening remarks and spoke about internal conflicts and how whilst it would be easy to blame the Ukraine conflict they could not ignore the issues on their own doorstep. However, he did express confidence that they could ‘overcome hunger and create opportunities for the young’. He later went on to throw down the gauntlet, ‘I would like to challenge us to share insights that address the challenges that smallholder farmers face. I implore us to work together.’

Joining the panel remotely H.E. Ibrahim Hassane Mayaki, Former Prime Minister, Niger picked up that thread and asked what can we do differently. He encouraged greater inter African trade citing it as being fundamental to success, ‘Trading better internally we have a greater weight in terms of a global trading influence.’ He cited a lack of political will rather than technical issues as being the obstacle to this progress, ‘The technical tools are there, the improvement needs to come from governance.’

H.E. Lionel Zinsou, Former Prime Minister, Benin continued and focused on the growth they had accomplished in the last half a decade and encouraged the need to go further, faster. From inheriting an unviable continent in 1960 where the expected life span in some areas was as low as 28, the continent has made huge leaps forward but as Maximo Torero noted, ‘progress has stalled.’

The final thoughts went to H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn who spoke about the need to ‘relinquish national sovereignty in favour of regional sovereignty’ which would be to the benefit of many.  

Kicking off Day 2 of the summit this exciting session looked to address the topic of accelerating climate action through food systems – both from a strategic/policy driven position and from a regenerative/hands on technical perspective. The Speakers sought to explore what could be done to mitigate the risks of climate change through policies, action and investment. What followed was an insightful and thorough discussion about how the farming community can move to resilience farming by embracing regenerative agriculture to promote increased soil health, production and climate change driven agricultural development.

Ms. Barbara Stinton,President of The World Food Prize Foundation began by offering some background and context for the session. The state of the Climate Africa (2020) report highlighted that Africa is at an inflection point: The compounded impact of political instability, the pandemic, pest outbreaks and economic crises, all of which are exacerbated by the impacts of climate variability, were the key drivers in a significant increase in food insecurity. The report suggested that most African countries will enter unprecedentedly hot climates earlier this century than the generally wealthier, higher latitude countries, thus highlighting the urgency for adaptation measures. She praised the GoGettaz finals from the previous day, highlighting the positive work being done by the youth to overcome the challenges the continent is facing. She went on to explain the role The World Food Prize Foundation plays in rewarding this innovation, ‘Each year we recognize tremendous innovators… these people have enabled large numbers of people to escape hunger. We face an urgent need for action now. Accelerate resilient food systems and elevate exceptional achievement in food security.’

The primary objective of the morning’s session was to exchange thinking, best practice and policy dimension. The hope being that through the free exchange of ideas policy makers and thinkers can contribute to climate change adaptation, resilience building and assess investment opportunities that can secure climate-resilient development in Africa, including climate smart agriculture, hydrometeorological infrastructure and early warning systems to prepare for escalating high-impact events.

There followed a panel discussion where Mr. Ibrahima Cheikh-Diong, UN-ASG and Director-General, Africa Risk Capacity Group spoke about the problem of climate change, what needs to happen, and challenged the recommendations to make Africa more resilient.  He suggested that by profiling the risks Africa will be better prepared to tackle them in a proactive and positive manner, ‘We can’t address our problems if we don’t understand the scale of them.’

Mr. Charles Karangwa, Regional Lead for Forests, Landscapes and Livelihoods Programme for Africa at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) spoke about how to tap into scientific communities for Earth positive solutions. He highlighted the devastating impact of losing top soil to climate change, in some areas as much as 60 tonnes per hectare, although he was quick to point out that progress was being made. Their projections show that if Sub-Saharan Africa embrace the opportunities for proper crop management the benefits could include reducing soil erosion by as much as 30%.

Mr. Andy Jarvis, Director for the Future of Food, Bezos Earth Fund detailed what the fund was focused on, conservation, restoration and food systems. He spoke about how philanthropic money could help in way that conventional investment may not, by being vision driven, taking risks and being more far sighted by taking the longer view.

A second panel comprising Hon. Olegario dos Anjos Banze, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mozambique who told the panel about how they are adopting a unified approach across the country but on a local level. This has included new seeds and fertilizers that are more robust than previous iterations to ensure they can better weather the challenges thrown up by climate change.

Ms. Sara Mbago-Bhunu, Director East and Southern Africa Division, IFAD and Commissioner, Commission on Sustainable Agriculture Intensification (COSAI) talked about the need to engage with green finance and development investment and how to make that attractive to those outside the agri-bubble.

Mr. Enock Chikava, Acting Director, Agricultural Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation highlighted the need to focus on smallholder agriculture, rather than seeing it as ‘farming is affecting climate but rather climate is affecting livelihoods’. He remained optimistic about the global community’s ability to co-ordinate their efforts however, highlighting the work the Foundation has already done and where their focus will be in the near future.

Mr. Santiago Alba-Corral, Director, Climate Resilient Food Programs, IDRC intervened and cautioned the need for robust policy and specifically the ‘don’t forget the don’t harm policy’ whereby they sought to ensure that policies didn’t have unintended consequences and encouraged diversity and inclusion to be at the heart of the changes necessary to thrive and overcome and adapt to the challenges the farming communities are facing.

Dr. Naoko Ishii, Executive Vice President, Director for Center for Global Commons, University of Tokyo, Japan finished the session with the buoyant statement, ‘the good news is that there is a growing interest in investing in nature.’ Thus resulting in better reporting, better data and greater investment.

Accelerating Climate Action through Food Systems Part II

Technical Session

After a short break, the second session began with the moderator Chris Mitchell, MD & Partner, BCG Group, Kenya introducing Keynote speaker Dr. Michael Misiko, Africa Agriculture Director, The Nature Conservancy, who addressed the need for technical solutions with farmers across the African continent being challenged to increase the resilience of their crops, farms, and livelihoods in the face of accelerating environmental degradation and challenging trade links. He stated that for change to happen ‘we can’t stay within ideologies’ and we need to follow the science, a unified approach whilst necessary also required that approach to be adaptable as what may work in one area may not be applicable elsewhere.

Balancing food and nutritional security, income stability, and a positive relationship with the natural world presents a compelling challenge, but a refreshed approach to how farmers use and think about crop cultivation may offer a path to true resilience and prosperity.

Regenerative agriculture recognizes that farmers live in harmony with their farms, and that the health of their cropping conditions is tantamount to the health of their crops. Offering a pragmatic framework of actions, from crop diversification, to agroforestry, and cover cropping, regenerative agricultural interventions offer farmers a broad spectrum of resilience outcomes, from hardier crops, reduced water intensification, and manifold biodiversity benefits. But chief among these outcomes – and central to their realization – is soil health, as was touched upon in the first session. Building and preserving the health of soils provides immediate and long-term benefits to farmers and the food system, integrating regenerative practices as a first principle while acknowledging and championing the natural technologies contained within soils as the reactive area for healthy crops, predictable yields, and even soil-carbon sequestration.

There followed a series of panel discussions covering a range of very specific, targeted technical solutions although on a more human level

Ms. Winnie Onyango, Associate Director, PlantVillage, Kenya praised the team she worked with for the innovations that were occurring. Specifically, the team’s engagement with youth.

After a detailed and fascinating pair of sessions, the feeling was one of cautious optimism. By understanding and recognizing the scale of the challenges it will be easier to surmount them, the skills and abilities that are being brought to bear on the problem, the will to change, to innovate, to invent and adapt, to inspire the next generation and galvanise the efforts of the entire farming eco-system was palpable.

Oluyemisi Iranloye, the managing director of Psaltry International, a Nigerian agro-processing company that refines cassava into starch for consumer products like toothpaste, is the winner of the 2022 VALUE4HER Women Agripreneurs of the Year Awards (WAYA). The award is designed to recognize the female entrepreneurs that excelling in different segments of the agricultural value chain.

Ms. Iranloye, whose company reaches more than 100,000 people by working with smallholder farmers, was feted during the First Ladies Special Event of the AGRF Summit in Kigali Rwanda. The session was attended by H.E. Jeannette Kagame, the first lady of Rwanda, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, the first lady of Ghana, Roman Tesfaye, the former first lady of Ethiopia, and H.E. Josefa Sacko, the African Union’s Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment. 

A total of 1,078 applications had been received for the award, which comes with a USD$25,000 cash prize. Three other category winners were also awarded $20,000 each. Gambian Fatou Manneh, the founder of Jelmah Herbella, took the Young Female Agripreneurs award, while Rwandese Uwintwari Liliane, founder of Mahwi Tech, won the Female Agtech Innovator award. The Outstanding Value Adding Enterprise award went to Célia Chabi, the CEO of Kiel Bien-Être, a Baobab processor in Benin.

To qualify, entrepreneurs were required to have an innovative product or service in the agricultural value chains, with evidence of impact on their communities and countries.

Earlier, the first ladies made presentations on the need for urgency in accelerating Africa’s nutrition transformation.

H.E. Jeannette Kagame reiterated that economic development could not be attained in the continent without regard for nutrition transformation, adding that “good nutrition is the cornerstone of health, peace, holistic wellness & prosperity,” she said.

Her sentiments were echoed by H.E. Rebecca Akufo-Addo, who appealed for collaboration between African countries in fighting malnutrition.

“It is important that, together, as African countries, we build the will and investment across the continent to promote nutrition and end malnutrition. We must transform our food systems to make nutritious diets accessible, affordable, desirable and sustainable,” she said.

For a step-change, H.E. Amb. Josefa Sacko urged African leaders to fast track the transformation of the food system pathways established at the UN Food Systems Summit in New York last year into strategies and investments.

“Following the Africa Common Position of the UN Food Systems Summit, the onus is on all of us to facilitate and implement the proposed interventions and outcomes proposed,” she said.

H.E. Roman Tesfaye cited the implementation of local solutions like school feeding programs as foundational for ending Africa’s nutritional problems.

“If we are dedicated to bringing down the mortality rate of children [in Africa] we have to work on nutrition. In Ethiopia, children who participated in school feeding programs reported improved academic performance, gained weight and had reduced incidence of dropping out and absenteeism,” she said.

The session also featured a moderated panel discussion that had the participation of Prof. Ruth Oniang’o, the Founder and Director of Rural Outreach Africa; H.E. Gerda Verburg, Coordinator of the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement; Coumba Dieng Sow, an agronomist; Hon. Ildephonse Musafiri, Rwanda’s Minister for Agriculture, and Dr. Gunhild Stordalen, Founder and chair of the EAT Forum.

The panel addressed the strategies for integrating nutritious foods into diets, with a focus on the integration of locally available ingredients in meal plans.