Four eco-enterprises from Ghana receive SWITCH Africa Green-SEED Awards

Four innovative start-ups from Ghana have emerged winners of UN-backed 2016 SWITCH Africa Green-SEED Awards for eco-inclusive innovation.

They form part of a group of 20 award winners from eight African countries whose business models help to overcome sustainable development challenges of those countries.

Winners will receive technical assistance and six months of free, tailor-made support to develop their business.

The four enterprises from Ghana are:

“City Waste Recycling” provides responsible waste processing for a wide range of materials. It is pioneering recycling of electronic waste in Ghana, which is commonly burned without authorisation. The enterprise has further set up the only refrigerator degassing plant in sub-Saharan Africa and has created social security and health insurance to hundreds of waste collectors in the informal sector.
 

“Eco-Shoes” designs and markets shoes, slippers, sandals, belts and bags from upcycled truck tires and scrap metal. The products are produced by local disabled artisans, providing them with a livelihood while recycling waste at the same time. So far, Eco-Shoes has upcycled thousands of truck tires and over 100 tonnes of scrap metal to create fashionable shoes and accessories.
 

“Farmerline” provides information and services needed by farmers through its mobile software technology MERGDATA. The localised data help transform smallholder farmers into successful entrepreneurs and mitigate effects from climate change. The software and applications are marketed to institutions and farmers, and additional financial services increase farmers’ access to savings and loans.
 

“Unique Quality Product Enterprise” represents the first business in Ghana that adds value to Fonio, a neglected, indigenous and nutritious grain crop that grows well on unfertilised marginal land. The company mobilises and supports landless rural women to cultivate Fonio, and processes and markets the products in rural and urban markets, therefore providing rural livelihoods and contributing to food security while supporting the revitalisation of degraded soils.

Founded in 2002 by UN Environment, UN Development and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the SEED global partnership recognises the most innovative, environmentally friendly start-ups in developing countries and provides them with technical support and business know-how to help them grow and share their experiences.

“Small and growing businesses in developing countries are helping drive green economies, and are vital to achieving global goals for green growth,” said Erik Solheim, Head of UN Environment.” The 2016 SEED Winners are exceptional examples of entrepreneurial talent that not only support green growth goals, but inspire other individuals and businesses to contribute as well. From innovative waste management in Mauritius to solar power deployment in Burkina Faso, SEED Winners are driving their local and national economies toward resource efficiency, and growing Africa as a hub of sustainability innovation."

This year's 20 SEED Award winners include companies and cooperatives from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa and Uganda whose business models help to overcome sustainable development challenges of those countries.

By facilitating the scale-up and replication of eco-innovations SEED boosts local economies and tackles poverty, while promoting the sustainable use of natural resources and ecosystems.

The 2016 SAG-SEED Awards are sponsored by the SWITCH Africa Green Project implemented by UN Environment and funded by the European Union.

A special SEED Gender Equality Award aimed at promoting gender equality and women's empowerment will go to a community-based initiative in Kenya, which uses renewable energy to enable women entrepreneurs run a restaurant and catering, and offer sanitation and phone-charging services.

Every SEED Award winner will receive free access to supporting institutions, and tailor-made assistance over a period of six months to develop their business.

The support methodology and content is based on more than 10 years of experience in assisting eco-inclusive enterprises worldwide. The winners will also join a network of more than 200 enterprises from 38 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America – laureates of the SEED Awards.

All Winners are honoured at the International Awards Ceremony held at the SEED Africa Symposium in Nairobi, Kenya.

Agricultural students protest scrapping of trainee allowances

Trainees in the various agricultural colleges of education across the country are protesting the scrapping of trainee allowances by the government.

The Agricultural College Students Union (ACSU) at a press conference in Kumasi issued a one week ultimatum for government to address their grievances.

“The future of the Agricultural Colleges looks bleak, as the allowances which help majority of us in covering our tuition has been cancelled. As I speak, many students from all the colleges still owe fees and are wondering where to get funding,” said Lawrence Amegboe, National Public relations officer of ACSU.

The agricultural colleges at Kwadaso, Ejura and Ohawu and Damango as well as the Veterinary College were established to train extension officers and other skilled personnel for the agricultural sector.

The Colleges are currently running three-year certificate and diploma programs in general agric, with courses ranging from 10 to 11 per semester. Students pay fees ranging from 700 to 800 Ghana Cedis per semester, in addition to the purchase of course handouts.

Trainees in all five agricultural colleges say they enrolled on the assurance of receiving government’s allowances to support them in covering some of the cost of staying in school.

They are therefore lamenting scrapped the allowances, which took effect from September 2015.

“We want the government to understand that majority of the students who make it to the colleges are from very poor and less privilege homes, and with that we sorely depend heavily on the allowances to go through the training successfully,” said Lawrence.

The trainees say without the allowances, they would be challenged in raising start-up capital to start their farm enterprises and agribusinesses after school.

Courses taught include livestock and crop production, non-traditional farming including snail and mushroom production and beekeeping.

“The government has a goal of building a country of entrepreneurs, who would not depend on employment in the public sector,” they observed. “Such a brilliant plan can work very well for the agric sector, especially after the trainees complete school. But then, we shall need start-up capitals. We are appealing to the government to restore the cancelled agric trainee allowances to safeguard the future of our agric sector”.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Paris Climate Agreement Moves Closer to Entry into Force in 2016

The Paris Agreement on climate change moved closer toward entering into force in 2016 as 31 more countries have joined the agreement at a special event hosted by United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon.

Several large emitting countries, which had not yet completed their domestic approval processes in time for the event, also announced they were committed to joining the agreement this year.

The Paris Agreement will enter into force 30 days after 55 countries, representing 55 percent of global emissions, deposit their instruments of ratification, acceptance or accession with the Secretary-General.

One of the two thresholds for entry into force has now been met. There are now 60 countries that have joined the agreement—one more than the required 55 needed. These countries represent 48 percent of global emissions, just shy of the 55 percent needed for entry into force.

In addition, 14 countries, representing 12.58 percent of emissions, committed to joining the agreement in 2016, virtually assuring that the Agreement will enter into force this year.

“This momentum is remarkable,” Mr. Ban said. “It can sometimes take years or even decades for a treaty to enter into force. It is just nine months since the Paris climate conference. This is testament to the urgency of the crisis we all face.”

In early September, the world’s two largest emitters, China and the United States, joined the Agreement, providing considerable impetus for other countries to quickly complete their domestic ratification or approval processes.

The Paris Climate Agreement marked a watershed moment in taking action on climate change. Adopted by 195 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) last December in Paris, the Agreement calls on countries to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future, and to adapt to the increasing impacts of climate change.

The early entry into force of the Paris Agreement would trigger the operational provisions of the agreement and accelerate efforts to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and to build climate resilience. 


"We now look forward to the final threshold that will, 30 days later, trigger entry into force. Namely, at least 55 per cent of the global greenhouse gas emissions also being covered by Parties who have ratified, accepted, approved or acceded to the Paris Agreement with the UN’s Depositary," said Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
 
Even as the agreement was adopted, countries recognized that present pledges to reduce emissions were still insufficient to reach these goals. The Paris Agreement mandates regular meetings every five years, starting in 2018, to review progress and to consider how to strengthen the level of ambition.

Countries depositing their instruments of ratification at the event included: Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Dominica, Ghana, Guinea, Honduras, Iceland, Kiribati, Madagascar, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Senegal, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Thailand, Tonga, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, and Vanuatu.

Countries announcing their commitment to join the Agreement in 2016 included: Austria, Australia, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, European Union, France, Germany, Hungary, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Poland, and the Republic of Korea.

On 22 April this year, 175 world leaders signed the Paris Agreement, the most to ever sign a treaty on a single day.  By the end of this week, 190 will have signed the Agreement, including Armenia, Chile, Kyrgyz Republic, Malawi, Moldova, Nigeria, Togo, Turkmenistan, Yemen and Zambia.

"Today we can say with ever more confidence that this historic moment is likely to come very soon, perhaps even by the time governments meet for the next round of climate negotiations in Marrakech, Morocco in November," said Ms Espinosa. "Here many issues need to be progressed, ranging from the development of a rule book to operationalize the agreement up to building confidence among developing countries that the $100 billion pledged to them by developed nations is truly building".

 

Inform Ghanaians on how you want to tackle corruption – politicians charged

Anti-corruption crusader, Dr. Kojo Osei-Wusuh, is on a mission to engage political parties and politicians to make corruption a major subject for political campaigns in Ghana’s Election 2016.

He believes this is the best time to commit politicians to rid the society of corrupt practices that retard development, emphasizing that corruption is becoming endemic and forms the basis of most problems faced by the country.

“Poverty, unemployment and lack of amenities can be traced to the fact that monies are being channeled to people’s pockets,” he said.

Rev. Osei-Wusuh, who is Board Member of anti-corruption agency, Ghana Transparency Initiative, wants political parties to move beyond their fixation on corruption accusations and counter-accusations and rather be consistent in informing Ghanaians on how they intend to tackle the canker.

“Any government who thinks he is fighting corruption should be fighting the one that ordinary people always encounter in the public places, on the roads and market places,” he stated.

The former President of the Ghana Baptist Convention expects Christians to lead the crusade of a corruption-free environment.

“The voice of the church seems to be muted,” he observed.

Rev. Osei-Wusuh wants the status quo changed with the formation of the ‘Forum for Christians Against Corruption’ (FoFCAC), a platform to mobilize Christians to shun corruption whilst campaigning against the practice in everyday life – schools, health centers, workplaces among others.

Among activities of the Forum is to engage aspiring parliamentarians to inform the electorates on their plan of action to support government in uprooting corruption when voted to power.

The first voter-education against corruption forum, on Wednesday September 21, will involve all parliamentary candidates in the Subin Constituency in the Ashanti region who will speak on what they will do to fight corruption when voted for.

“If any politician mounts campaign, in the area of corruption, he should start telling us that as the citizenry goes to the public places and they are asked money that they should not be paying, what are they going to do specifically to stop that practice?” quizzed Rev. Osei-Wusuh.

He said the electorates must be able to hold politicians to commit to uprooting the corruptions from all facets of society.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Audio Report: Dynamics of rural-urban youth economic empowerment

Food imports into the African countries stand at a staggering $40billion annually. 

Yet the continent has a post-harvest loss of over 40percent – indicating a huge capacity to produce enough food to feed people on the continent and for experts.

There is therefore the need for strong policies to protect local agribusinesses from unbridled food imports, whilst encouraging value addition to reduce post-harvest losses.

Such drive has been identified as potent to push young people to establish ventures along the agri-business value chain to create jobs and develop rural economies.

The 2^nd Africa Rural Development Forum, held in Yaoundé, Cameroon, focused on transforming Africa’s rural area through skills Development, job creation and youth economic empowerment.

Kofi Adu Domfeh reports on the dynamics of rural-urban youth economic empowerment…

https://soundcloud.com/kofi-adu-domfeh-1/dynamics-of-rural-urban-youth-economic-empowerment

The dynamics of rural-urban youth economic empowerment

Nana Adwoa Amponsah Sifa is a young Ghanaian graduate Agripreneur with hands on experience in food security and strategic management from Africa, Europe and Asia.

She shares the experience of her initiative, Guzakuza, a venture with the mission to transform the mindsets of young women to go into agribusiness to be job providers and not job seekers.

“The young people know what they want and they are ready to take up their destinies into their own hands,” she said, emphasizing the need to involve young people in decision making processes.

Guzakuza in Swahili means ‘grow’ and Nana wants to grow wealthy agriculture entrepreneurs, mainly women from Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya.

The venture has recognized a need among the rural youth who have jobs but are underemployed, hence earn less from the abundant opportunities.

Meanwhile, young graduates roam the urban streets in search of non-existing white-collar jobs.

The combined burden of a youth bulge and shrinking job market have left millions of young people jobless, underemployed and excluded from economic opportunities.

Under Guzakuza, the ‘Ignite’ program has been developed to connect the rural and urban young woman to help address the challenges of lack of capital and capacity to be successful in agribusinesses.

This year, 15 beneficiaries are receiving a six month intensive skill incubation which involves mentorship and internship to learn on the job.

“We want it to be as practical as possible because we’ve had enough of the theory in Africa,” said Nana Adwoa, who is among young people who participated in the 2^nd Africa Rural Development Forum (ARDF) in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

The Forum, which is under the AU/NEPAD Rural Futures program, was held under the context of youth employment and its attendant dynamics of rural development, farming systems and agriculture food markets.

“Whilst developing national strategies and action plans are important, making a better inroad in transforming our rural areas through job creation for youth calls for a decentralized approach to designing and implementing policies for employment and skills development,” said Estherine Lisinge-Fotabong, Director of Programme Implementation and Coordination Directorate at NEPAD Agency.

She also advocates a reformation of the tertiary education systems so as to reconfigure the future workforce in Africa towards needs and tastes of a youthful continent that produces and consumes its own value-added products and services.

Research indicates that the proportion of rural youth is decreasing in all sub-regions as well as the absolute number of rural youth, with the exception of sub-Saharan Africa where their number will continue to increase until 2030 or 2040.

Lack of access to relevant entrepreneurship training, technology, credit and finances in both urban and rural contexts are huge disincentives for youth to engage in business.

Projects like Guzakuza build synergies with organizations like Agri-Impact Consult which offer technical support to agribusiness start-ups.

Executive Director of Agri-Impact, Dan Acquaye, has a 20 year experience as an agribusiness development expert, nurturing and growing agri-business SMEs in Africa.

He has observed that “much as we have a lot of young people moving from rural areas to urban areas, we also see some of the young people moving from the urban areas going into the rural areas; I think what is driving the movement from one place to the other is the ability to exploit opportunities”.

Mr. Acquaye says rural industrialization should not only focus on farming but the entire agri-business value chain “and the young people have ideas on how they can turn most of our post-harvest losses in rural areas into businesses”.

The Yaoundé Declaration and Plan of Action for Africa Rural Transformation has recommended, among others, the need to build on the comparative advantage of youth by investing in hard and soft rural infrastructure, including ICT to build the capacity of youth to leverage on the rural-urban nexus.

“We really want to move from that picture of looking at subsistence agriculture; we want to look at agriculture as a business which will attract young people into it,” noted Estherine.

Young agripreneurs like Nana Adwoa believe a deliberate attempt to integrate youth economic empowerment programmes in national policy frameworks will help advance both rural and urban economies.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Zero hunger in Africa by 2025 is possible

The NEPAD Agency and the Pardee Center for International Futures have launched a report that will help to put in perspective the magnitude of the task ‘to zero hunger by 2025’.

The ‘Zero hunger in Africa by 2025: conditions for success report’ highlights the major levers in policies, investments, technologies as well as human and institutional capacities necessary to sustain desired levels of supply and demand-access to food.

Nearly one in five people is hungry. Hunger has decreased steadily since the mid-1990s, due to population growth. However, it has actually increased in absolute numbers. In addition, net food imports since the early 1990s have grown to about 14 percent of the total demand.

One of the goals set in the 2014 Malabo Declaration, through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), is ending hunger in Africa by 2025.

The CEO of the NEPAD Agency, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki, has emphasised that success in Africa will therefore be through regional integration, be it in ending hunger, agriculture or infrastructure.

“We cannot continue doing business as we are doing it today, since growth in Africa has not been inclusive enough. We need improved capacity to implement various interventions to do things differently if we are to deliver on Africa’s Agenda 2063 and the goal of eliminating hunger by 2025,” he underscored.

During the launch of the report on ending hunger in Africa, it was recognised that while the goal of eliminating hunger by 2025 might be very ambitious, it is not impossible.

Dr Lindiwe Sibanda, CEO of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), noted that hunger affects women and children disproportionately, while women are the backbone of agriculture in Africa.

“The face of hunger in Africa is that 32 percent of under-5 children are stunted – the numbers have stagnated instead of going down. If the cognitive capacity of children in Africa is reduced for life, who are the future leaders for the continent? Agriculture needs to be more nutrition sensitive. Hidden hunger challenges are therefore critical and need to be addressed,” Dr Sibanda said.

Steve Hedden, Research System Developer from Pardee Center maintained that how we define hunger will dictate how we get there and how we reach our targets.

The available food needs to be increased by 437 million metric tons by 2025 or 47 percent of current demand. To do this requires cropland to increase by 1.5 percent; crop yields need to increase by 3.2 percent, and livestock head size needs to increase by 5.8 percent year.

In order for Africa to attain its goal by 2025, a wide range of actions by different actors to bring about the necessary substantial change in the dynamics of demand and supply is requisite:

On the supply side is productivity and production – expansion of cropland, yield increase, livestock heads and reduction of post-harvest losses.

And on the demand side is increasing access – incomes, consumer subsidies, prices, school feeding programmes, support to under-5 children and mothers, including pregnant women.

It was concluded that any efforts to eliminate hunger will have to factor in robust risk assessments, including climate change.

“If we continue on the current trajectory, we will not be able to achieve the Malabo Declaration target of ending hunger by 2025 and eliminating child stunting. Conditions for success include political will, as well as addressing the challenges of the impact of climate change and weather shocks,” concurred Chris Nikoi, Regional Director for World Food Programme in Johannesburg.

New blueprint for Africa Rural Transformation endorsed

A Blueprint to implement rural development policies in Africa has been endorsed at the 2nd Africa Rural Development Forum (ARDF) in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

The document serves as a vehicle for advancing rural transformation across the content and to accelerate the pace towards the visions of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 – a strategy to optimize use of Africa’s resources for the benefit of all Africans.

The Blueprint, under the “Yaoundé Declaration and Plan of Action”, will support member states and regional players towards an integrated, cross-sectorial, and coherent set of actions based on local realities, priorities and a shared African vision and narrative.

The Second Edition of the Atlas was also launched under the theme “A new Emerging Rural World: An Overview of rural Change in Africa” providing information and analysis on cross-sectorial factors and dynamics to inform public policy debates and decisions on rural transformation.

According to Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, CEO of the NEPAD Agency, “It is increasingly clear that advancing rural transformation is not pity or charity to the rural populations. It is critical and integral success factor for Africa’s sustainable economic growth and inclusive development agenda”.

He added that attaining Arica’s aspirations and goals, to a large extent depends on the change in Africa’s rural areas – both in location and people terms.

The 2nd ARDF was organized by the NEPAD Agency under the theme “Transforming Africa’s Rural Areas through Skills Development, Job Creation and Youth Economic Empowerment”.

Among the key thematic issues the Forum highlighted include: Youth Economic Empowerment and skills Development; Rural Development – Policies and Institutions; Rural Infrastructure and ICT; and Green Economy and job creation in advancing Rural Development in Africa.

The Forum also adopted the overarching strategy for rural transformation.

Amongst them is that rural transformation has to be driven by the whole economy as overarching approach to graduating from the structural limits of dualism; Growing the domestic market base through land and agrarian reforms and agriculture-led rural industrialization; and the crucial role of the State, especially in policy reforms and legislation that reforms the public expenditure architecture towards rural transformation investment priorities.

The Plan of Action will operationalise the Blueprint including adoption by Heads of State and implementation by member states; Establishing a support network for expanded use of the Atlas across all regions; and examine and consider support to strengthen local capacity for generating quality data on rural development.

An implementation and performance management framework will also be developed for the Yaounde Declaration and Plan of Action, and generate evidence-based indicators of the envisioned rural transformation based on mapping and scenario planning based on of Agenda 2063.

The Forum was attended by Ministers of states, experts, civil society including youth and private sector, development partners and local authorities.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Momentum growing for Paris Agreement’s early entry into force

Countries are accelerating efforts to join the Paris Agreement on climate change at a special high-level event to be hosted by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 21 September.

“We must put the aspirations of Paris into action,” the Secretary-General said. “We have no time to waste, and much to gain, from the historic Paris Agreement on climate change entering into force this year. To build further momentum, I have asked leaders to come to New York with their instruments of ratification or to publicly commit to joining the agreement before the end of 2016.”

The 21 September high-level event will advance efforts to secure early entry into force of the Paris Agreement by providing an opportunity for countries to deposit their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession to the agreement with the Secretary-General, as stipulated in the agreement.

The event will also recognize those countries that have joined the agreement since the 22 April signing ceremony.   The event will further recognize countries that have committed to join the agreement in 2016, but because of the need to finalize domestic processes, cannot deposit their instruments on 21 September.

To date, 27 countries accounting for 39.08 per cent of the total global greenhouse gas emissions have officially joined the Paris Agreement. Efforts to join the agreement have accelerated since   China and the United States officially joined the Agreement on 3 September by presenting their documents to the Secretary-General at a ceremony prior to the G-20 Summit in Hangzhou, China.

The Paris Agreement will enter into force 30 days after at least 55 countries, accounting for 55 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, deposit their instruments of ratification or acceptance with the Secretary-General.

In April, 175 countries signed the agreement—a record for one day—at a signing ceremony in New York. The final step in the process is for countries to join the agreement at the national level and deposit their legal instruments with the Secretary-General.

“With the Paris Agreement,” the Secretary-General said, “the world has an equitable, durable yet flexible global framework for reducing emissions, strengthening climate resilience and providing support to developing countries to build low-carbon economies and adapt to inevitable climate impacts.”

The Paris Climate Agreement, adopted by 195 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) last December in Paris, calls on countries to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future.

The Paris Agreement marked a watershed moment in taking action on climate change.  After years of negotiation, countries agreed to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius, while pursuing efforts to keep temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.

Even as the agreement was adopted, countries recognized that present pledges to reduce emissions were still insufficient to reach these goals.  The Paris Agreement mandates regular meetings every five years, starting in 2018, to review progress and to consider whether it is necessary to increase ambition.
 

A concrete Action Plan to Seize the Moment for African Agriculture

In the final communiqué from the Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF2016), delegates pledged over the next 16 months to focus on smallholder farmers to achieve significant growth in agriculture productivity and profits in at least 20 countries.

This will be achieved whilst unleashing US$200 billion in investments in the agriculture sector. The action plan also commits countries to developing a public “scorecard” that would track progress and hold them accountable.

Specific commitments include unlocking 10 percent of public expenditures for agriculture, as many countries agreed to do when they first joined the CAADP partnership. Action steps also will involve launching innovative approaches to providing finance for smallholder farmers and agribusinesses and working through initiatives such as GROW Africa to bring in at least $20 billion in private investment.

“This has been the most productive AGRF since the call to launch the Green Revolution in Africa was made ten years ago by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan,” said Agnes Kalibata, President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), which serves as the secretariat for AGRF. “As an alliance, AGRA is committed to working every day with our partners to ensure the ‘Seize the Moment’ campaign has a tangible, meaningful impact in the lives of millions of Africans.”

The AGRF 2016 delivered a massive infusion of both financial, political and policy commitments to African farmers and agriculture businesses on a continent eager for new, more inclusive opportunities for economic growth.

“Seize the Moment” was first launched in April at the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Plan (CAADP) Partnership Platform in Accra, Ghana. It has quickly become a rallying point for accelerating work around the African Union’s 2014 Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

A key highlight from AGRF 2016 included the launch of the African Agriculture Status Report (AASR) for 2016. The report detailed progress over the last decade and identified key priorities for moving ahead.

The head of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Gayle Smith, launched a global report entitled “A Food Secure 2030.” She told delegates that as President Barack Obama’s administration comes to a close, she was confident that the US would continue to be deeply engaged in African agriculture for many years to come. She pointed to the overwhelming support across the political spectrum for President Obama’s Global Food Security Act and his Feed the Future initiative.

Other promises include pledges by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation to continue their generous support for African agriculture and particularly for partnerships established by AGRA over the last ten years.

Also, Dr. Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of the Rome-based International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), was awarded the inaugural Africa Food Prize.

Regional institutions led by the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) committed to driving the CAADP biennial review process and implementing the scorecard for tracking progress in the “Seize the Moment” campaign for agricultural transformation.

AGRF 2016 attracted more than 1,500 delegates from 40 countries, including African Heads of State, global business leaders, government ministers, farmers, agribusiness firms, financial institutions, NGOs, civil society groups and scientists, as well as international development and technical partners.

They pledged more than US $30 billion dollars in investments over the next 10 years to increase production, income and employment for smallholder farmers and local African agriculture businesses.

The AGRF partners concluded AGRF 2016 with an agreement that the 2017 AGRF will be co-hosted by the Government of Côte d’Ivoire, AfDB and AGRA in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

Ghanaian farmers to benefit from new finance for capital and capacity building

Impact investing pioneer, Root Capital, has announced a new partnership with The MasterCard Foundation that will help raise incomes for over 300,000 smallholder farmers in West Africa.

The Foundation has committed $5.2 million to Root Capital over five years to support early-stage agricultural businesses that generate transformational impact in rural communities in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Senegal.

This was announced on the sidelines of the 6^th African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF2016) in Nairobi, Kenya.

“With Root Capital we will help to bring much-needed financing and capacity building to businesses in West Africa that work with farmers otherwise excluded from the formal economy,” said Ann Miles, Director of Financial Inclusion and Youth Livelihoods at The MasterCard Foundation. “We see this as a good avenue to help increase incomes and opportunities for 4,000 employees of agricultural businesses, 300,000 smallholder farmers, and over two million farm family members.”

Without access to predictable markets for their crops, small-scale rural farmers are often forced to accept lower prices for their crops and find themselves trapped in a cycle of poverty. While the global credit supply for smallholders has grown in recent years, it is geographically skewed with less than 10 percent of financial flows reaching sub-Saharan Africa.

Over the seven years that Root Capital has worked in West Africa, it has provided loans of between $50,000 and $2 million to 52 agricultural businesses that have raised incomes for nearly 12,000 employees and over 190,000 smallholder farmers.

Root Capital has also scaled its advisory program in the region, offering agricultural business leaders a suite of training modules to develop the leadership and financial management skills they need to grow and sustain their businesses.

“With the support of The MasterCard Foundation, Root Capital will be able to increasingly target earlier-stage businesses in West Africa that operate on the fringes of financial inclusion – businesses that demonstrate potential to grow and generate increased impact,” said Diaka Sall, Root Capital’s General Manager for West Africa.

Specifically, Root Capital will collaborate with The MasterCard Foundation to accelerate the bankability and growth of more than 100 high-impact, early-stage agricultural businesses with capital needs under $150,000 and/or business revenues under $300,000.

They will also pilot an expanded set of advisory services, including leadership development of agribusiness employees; financial literacy training for smallholder farmers; mobile technology and mobile money; and empowering local microfinance institutions to better serve the agricultural sector.

The partnership will also contribute to sector learning by developing a framework for documenting and analyzing the costs and impacts associated with early business growth in the agricultural sector.

With an estimated 48 million smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, who remain disconnected from such businesses and the stable sources of income they offer, a great deal of work remains to be done.