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.

African Agriculture: over $30billion in new investment commitment

African agriculture has received a boost as African leaders, businesses, and major development partners pledge more than US$30 billion dollars in investments to increase production, income and employment for smallholder farmers and local African agriculture businesses over the next ten years.

The collective pledges are believed to represent the largest package of financial commitments to the African agricultural sector to date, backed by the broadest coalitions ever assembled in support of food production on the continent.

The commitments were made at the official opening of the sixth African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Nairobi, Kenya that has attracted more than 1,500 influential figures from 40 countries for three days of brokering new agricultural initiatives.

The historic investments represent just the first wave of support for the new “Seize the Moment” campaign, one backed by the African Union Commission, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), key NGOs, companies and donor countries.

While African agriculture has seen significant progress in the last ten years, the “Seize the Moment” campaign is a frank acknowledgment that much more is needed for African countries to achieve inclusive economic development—and ultimately realize the international community’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The campaign is a decisive push for the political, policy, and financial commitments essential to transforming Africa’s agricultural sector.

The goal is to breed a new era of business opportunities for the 70 percent of the African population that depend on farming for food and income, yet too often face poverty and poor nutrition.

Committing himself to deliver on both the political and policy agenda, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced his government will invest US$200 million so at least 150,000 young farmers and young agriculture entrepreneurs can gain access to markets, finance, and insurance.

He then called on his fellow heads of state across Africa to step-up and invest aggressively over the next five years in agriculture-related endeavors.

Gayle Smith, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), set the tone for the day with a call for investors and donors to be bold and do their part to achieve “A Food-Secure 2030”.

The US government already has invested more than $6.6 billion in global food security and nutrition efforts through its Feed the Future initiative. This commitment is now locked in for the long-term following approval in July of the bipartisan Global Food Security Act legislation.

Mr. Smith noted that the initiative “signals the US government's enduring commitment to global food security and nutrition and is the largest development authorization the US Congress has made in a decade.”

Other agriculture investors and development partners announcing new financial and policy commitments included: The African Development Bank, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Group, OCP Africa, World Food Programme, Yara International ASA, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Additional new investments are expected at the three-day forum.

Strive Masiyiwa, AGRF Partners Chairman and Founder and CEO of Econet called for other investors and partners to join the “Seize the Moment” campaign during the year ahead.

President Kenyatta, as Chair of the African Peer Review Mechanism concluded the ceremony by calling for a continental scorecard that will measure and track the commitments to agriculture transformation and ensure they translate into action.

AGRA boosts African seed market with a plant breeding initiative

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) is implementing an initiative to increase availability of a new set of plant breeders who can better service Africa’s seed sector.

The Improved Msc in Cultivar Development for Africa (IMCDA) program has a revised practical training and internship approach to enable students to be more productive and useful to the private and public sectors.

The Program will train 90 students in three regional training hubs in Africa – Ghana (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology), Uganda (Makerere University) and South Africa (University of Kwazulu Natal).

The Ghana component of the initiative was launched at KNUST, where 30 students from Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger will be trained.

AGRA is providing a grant of $2.67million to offer full scholarship to students over a five year period.

The agric sector continues to face challenges of improved quality seed for improved yields.

According to Vice-Chancellor of the KNUST, Prof. Otoo Ellis, certified seed usage and marching applications of other simple agricultural technologies can lead to higher crop yields.

“Therefore an increase in the number of plant breeders who can develop improved varieties with significant genetic gains quickly, in either the private seed companies or the public sector using modern data management and breeding methodologies, can result in higher crop yields and improved incomes for our resource poor farmers,” he stated.

The program, he believes, will empower the KNUST to train industry-ready graduates to produce improved varieties more quickly and efficiently in order to address the “dwindling productivity of staple food crops due to the inability of unimproved local varieties to adequately tolerate emerging biotic and abiotic constraints”.

He believes KNUST is adequately positioned to address problems of smallholder farmers in crop production.

AGRA has been funding other programs in soil science and seed systems at the university.

Dr. Rufaro Madakadze, Programme Officer at AGRA, the program should be beneficial to farmers and the private sector agricultural actors.

“We are beginning to realize that providing scientists for the public sector without some for the private sector does not work,” she stated. “The whole point of breeding is to develop a variety of cultivar that the farmers will adopt, that the farmers can grow and improve their yields.”

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

Local farmers can be part of global food security system – Kofi Annan

Kofi Annan championed the establishment of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) with the objective of catalyzing the transformation of smallholder agriculture into a highly productive, efficient, sustainable and competitive system.

Since inception in 2007, AGRA has reached over 15 million farmers in 16 African countries with over $386 million invested in projects.

Ghana is among the four “breadbasket” countries receiving 44% of AGRA’s resources in support of farmers with seed and soil health and water management along the agricultural value chain. Other countries include Mali, Mozambique and Tanzania.

Today, the former UN Secretary-General says he has a bigger ambition for farming in Africa.

Kofi Annan wants smallholder farmers to become part of the global food security system.

According to him, local farmers can produce to feed their families and also for export by taking a collectively decision at the community level.

“Today Africa is spending $35 billion to import food and we have all the land around us; we have the labour, we can encourage young people to go into farming. If they don’t want to be called farmers, we’ll call them agribusinesses but get it done,” he stated.

Mr. Annan and Mrs. Nane Annan met with the International Potato Centre (CIP) to discuss collaboration with the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to promote sweet potato for health and wealth in Ghana and West Africa.

Citing the efforts of Ghanaian farmers in producing cocoa to feed the world, Mr. Annan noted that such drive can be extended to other crops like sweet potato.

“As a continent, some of us have the habit of producing what we don’t eat and importing what we eat; that has to stop,” he said.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh 

Ghana Soil Health Consortium to improve agric productivity

A Ghana Soil Health Consortium has been constituted to improve agricultural productivity in the country.

The goal of the consortium is to facilitate a wider update of better adapted integrated soil fertility management practices with visible positive impacts on rural livelihoods.

It was instituted by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Ghana’s Soil Research Institute (SRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

“The African continent is facing a soil health crisis,” observed Dr. Marie Rarieya, AGRA’s Program Officer for Soil Health Program. “This challenge suggests urgency in rethinking and reshaping the way agricultural development within sub-Saharan Africa, and Ghana specifically, is realized.”

 

Rural communities, especially smallholder farmers, depend on the soils for their livelihoods. The health of the soils therefore determines the level of agricultural productivity.

Scientists estimate the world now loses about 75 billion tons of topsoil a year as it tries to feed itself.

“Such losses are not sustainable and must cease if we are to mitigate serious risk to food security. We need to share the keys to successful soils management at a much faster rate, in order to contribute to food security into the future,” noted Dr. Zoumana Bamba of the IITA’s Capacity Development Office.

The Ghana Soil Health Consortium will bring together stakeholders along the agricultural value chain to synthesize and disseminate knowledge on integrated soil fertility management generated by research institutions.

Chairman of the Consortium’s steering committee, Prof. S.G.K. Adiku, has proposed the establishment of a Soil Care Policy “with specific guides to developing appropriate management practices tailored to meet the different soils and their management demands”.

The Policy, he added, must also develop guides to reward farmers who adopt and practice soil health programs.

Ghana’s 24,000km² total land area has 30-40% of arable – a per capita arable land of approximately 0.5 hectares is what should produce all the maize, legumes, fruits and other food requirements for a person.

This demands high levels of soil productivity, but the soils lose their productivity within a period of four years of continues cultivation, due to poor land management such as bush burning, crop residue removal and excessive tillage.

“Everyday, we have to put food on the table; it means that plants are continuously mining the soils but the question is how much are we putting back? The focus of the consortium is to look at how we can manage our soils well to sustain lives, not only for now but for the future,” stated Dr. Marie Rarieya.

AGRA’s Soil Health Program is supporting the implementation of country level soil health consortia to enhance dissemination of soil fertility technologies across 13 countries in Africa.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Transforming the Ghanaian grain market – GGC rescues farmers and industry

Work by the newly formed Ghana Grains Council is helping to transform the country’s grain market. Farmers are given the ability to obtain more affordable loans against the collateral of their grain, and food processors are better able to compete internationally, thanks to a cleaner, higher quality raw material.

Working with farmers in Ghana’s Northern, Upper West and Upper East regions, Premium Foods Ltd processes maize for Ghanaian breweries and for export. When it began trading in 1994, the company only bought grain that had been inspected by its officers after harvest. Yet a foolproof quality system could not be achieved, with harvested grains often contaminated with stones and metal particles.

Over recent years, the Government of Ghana has formulated several policies geared towards creating a supportive environment for the local grain industry. But clear ownership among targeted beneficiaries had been lacking.

However, with the establishment of the Ghana Grains Council (GGC) the situation has improved significantly. Incorporated in 2010, following a study by USAID which recommended establishing a private sector entity to improve competitiveness in the sector, the Council is mandated to represent the interests of private sector operators in Ghana’s grain industry.

 

“GGC came in at the right time,” says Prince Andoh, officer-in-charge of purchasing at Premium Foods. “What they are doing helps us as end-users because if we mill stones, it damages our machinery and this works against our competitiveness in the export market,” he explains.

The Council is keen on developing and enforcing standards to bring about competitiveness in the sector - achieving this mainly through the establishment of a warehouse receipt system. “Whether you are involved in production, trading or warehousing, we believe that working in an association like the GGC gives you a bigger platform to enhance what you’re doing,” says Dr Kadri Alfah, GGC chief executive officer.

A marked improvement

The GGC’s target groups cut across the grain value chain, and include producers, processors, warehouse operators, financial institutions and other service providers. According to processors, the introduction of minimum standards and grain grades (colour, level of disease, insect damage), and the establishment of the warehouse receipt system are the Council’s most significant interventions. “Once there is grading, it makes our work easier,” says Andoh. “In the end we get the quality of produce that we expect and the challenge of sorting grains containing foreign matter is all in the past.”

Initial challenges for the GGC included explaining the mandate of the Council and ensuring that interventions on warehouse certification and pre- and post-harvest training actually reached the target groups, especially the farmers.

But Alfah notes that “good progress” has been made in building a broad membership base, and through partnerships with USAID and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, a network of farmers has now been trained on best practices in grain handling and storage.

Farmer sensitisation sessions have also helped improve the industry: farmers are now conscious of producing premium quality grain and adhering to standards to obtain a premium price for their produce. “If you have good quality, you have a good market,” notes Alhaji Zakaria Alhassan, director of Gundaa Produce Company, a grain trading company in Tamale.

With 25 years of experience in the business of producing and marketing grains, he understands that lack of storage facilities increases postharvest losses and constrains the income levels of small-scale food producers. “The farmers don’t know where to store the maize; some of them are storing in their houses, and when they’re ready to sell, often the maize has rotted,” he says.

A win-win situation

Today, over 3,000 smallholder farmers under the GGC in the Northern Region have more control over the weighing and pricing of their produce with the establishment of a 500 t GGC certified warehouse for grain storage, funded by USAID. “Two months after establishment, the warehouse is currently full of maize,” says Zakaria.

With the establishment of the warehouse, farmers’ grain is cleaned, packaged and stored under the warehouse receipt system. While the GGC, under a project that was supported by the Common Fund for Commodities, currently works with only four commercial banks – the Agricultural Development Bank, Ecobank, CCH Finance and Stanbic

Bank - the system is expected to help build confidence amongst financial institutions to invest in agricultural enterprises.

Zakaria believes that more financial institutions need to come on board to sustain funding for the scheme.

In pursuit of its mandate to increase quality, productivity and profitability in the grain value chain, the GGC has engaged the Ghana Standards Authority and other bodies in reviewing existing standards for major grains, including maize, rice, soya beans and sorghum.

 

Alfah describes the GGC’s collaboration with the public sector as a win-win situation, especially as a means to upscale the warehouse receipt system. However, he notes that the Council wants to remain an autonomous private entity. “To function as an entity, GGC has its own sustainability plans and revenue generation plan, so that it can stand on its own, with or without donor support,” he says.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

(Article originally commissioned for the Special Issue of CTA’s Spore magazine http://spore.cta.int/en/).

Laboratory technologists in Ghana and Nigeria build capacity on soil and plant analysis

The Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and IITA organized a capacity development workshop for laboratory technologists from the national agricultural research systems of Ghana and Nigeria.

The training aims to improve the professional skills of laboratory technicians in soil and plant analytical laboratories in Ghana and Nigeria, and improve the capacity of the countries’ laboratories in soil and plant testing to enhance the quality of fertilizer recommendations to farmers.

The 2-week training covered areas such as quality control in soil analysis, data analysis and fertilizer recommendation, plant analysis and soil fertility management, modern trends in plant and soil analysis, safety in the laboratory and management of commercial laboratory, among others. Participants also developed country action plans.

Dr. Kenton Dashiell, a deputy Director-General at the IITA has reiterated the Institute’s commitment to capacity development across Africa. He said that the Institute would redouble its efforts towards building the critical human capacity that would fight hunger and poverty in Africa.

Prof. G.O. Adeoye of the Department of Agronomy, University of Ibadan, called for greater attention to laboratory science.

In his presentation, “Equipment Selection and Environment”, Prof Adeoye gave a series of parameters to be considered when selecting equipment for laboratories. These include cost, speed of delivery from the manufacturers, quality, availability of installation and maintenance manuals, areas of installation and human resource to operate the equipment.

Mr Joseph Uponi, Project Manager with IITA, said that the training workshop was timely and it would contribute to food security. He noted that with the right knowledge and skills in soil and plant analysis, participants would be able to tackle the challenges facing their individual countries.

The training course had 10 participants from Ghana and 13 participants from Nigeria.

IFAD and AGRA call for continued investments in Africa's farming

Two institutions committed to transforming Africa’s agriculture have called for a continued global push for governments and the private sector to increase smart investments in Africa’s agriculture.  

President of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Kanayo F. Nwanze and President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Jane Karuku, addressed a group of international media in London, after speaking at the Chatham House Food Security 2012 Sustainable Intensification: Miracle or Mirage conference.

They emphasized that farming is a business and the private sector must fuel the development of Africa’s agribusiness in upgrading smallholder agriculture to meet demand from foreign and emerging markets in developing countries.

“Smallholders are a vast and underutilised resource. These are the people we work with – whether smallholders, pastoralists or herders – not just to increase productivity, but to nurture the land, to improve their businesses and strengthen market access. IFAD supports projects that enable these farmers to feed themselves, educate their children and invest in the growth of their own communities.

“Rural people are not just aid recipients, they are partners. They must be part of the process of designing and realizing developing from the very beginning. Development efforts can only succeed when the people we serve are convinced that the will grow more food, earn more money and feed themselves better,” said Nwanze.

Emphasizing the critical role of agriculture to reduce poverty, improve food security, and create a better future for all Africans, Karuku said, “Agricultural intensification and ecological farming are not contradictory concepts, but rather two approaches that can be used in a complimentary fashion to put Africa on a pathway towards attaining food security.”

“Everything we do must be geared towards empowering smallholder producers, especially women, enabling them to transition from subsistence farming to running their farms as profitable businesses, and to market their surpluses,” she said.

Jane Karuku argued that what Africa needs is practical blend of locally appropriate farming practices, as well as new technologies brought about by on-going research efforts.

“But at the end of the day, any approach must be driven by the need to improve smallholder productivity while protecting – and even improving – the natural resource base,” she added. 

“Sustainable agricultural intensification is an achievable, knowledge-intensive, and necessarily complex process of increasing agricultural productivity by building on and caring for farm- and landscape-level biodiversity.”

Both Nwanze and Karuku shared their optimism for Africa’s future and the world’s ability to achieve food and nutrition security as African governments begin to implement policies that encourage both public and private investment in their agricultural sectors. 

Meanwhile, former UN Secretary-General and Chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Kofi Annan, has outlined how food and nutrition security, particularly for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable, can be achieved by transforming agriculture and reshaping the global food security system.

Speaking at the high-level Flagship Forum: “Securing Food, Harvesting the Future”, in Berlin, Mr. Annan warned that “in an era of plenty, nearly one in eight people do not have enough food to eat and another billion lack the nutrition necessary for proper health and development.”

He outlined the serious threat to food and nutrition security from the damaging impact of climate change, stating that “vast areas of once-fertile land are no longer productive. Rising temperatures and changes to rainfall patterns are reducing crop yields.”

Mr. Annan therefore called for climate-resilient and climate-smart agriculture. “New crops and techniques must be developed so the productivity of land and intensity of farming can be increased, without harming the environment or biodiversity on which our food security depends”, he said.

The AGRA Chair also urged world leaders from the public and private sectors to accelerate investment in agriculture in developing countries where he believes there is the need and the potential to increase agricultural production and productivity are greatest.

“Food production can’t be increased at the speed and scale needed without mobilizing the army of small-holder farmers in developing countries”, observed Mr. Annan, who also called for fair and equitable global trade rules to allow crops to be sold at fair prices.

He said that the global community has to provide “effective, efficient and equitable market access policies for food”.

Recognising Africa’s strong economic growth, and increased investment and revenues from the extractive industries, Mr. Annan emphasized that “there is still a great deal to be done to ensure this money is used wisely for the long-term benefit of all the country’s citizens”.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

AGRA President sets out decisive actions for world food security, says ‘fine words do not produce food’

President of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Jane Karuku, has set out three core decisive actions to be taken in order to drive forward world food security and feed future generations.   

These areas, she says, include building new, innovative public-private partnerships; ensuring international donors and African policymakers keep and fund their commitments; and listening to what farmers really want and need. 

Jane Karuku recently joined former U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Quinn at the World Food Prize Symposium in the United States to discuss the need for public-private partnerships and new commitments to fund agricultural development.

According to her, much of the progress in reducing global hunger announced by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization can be attributed to improvements in African agriculture.

“Globally, however, approximately 870 million people still suffer from hunger and chronic malnutrition.  So while we have made important headway, we cannot afford to lose momentum”, she added. 

She has observed the need to work creatively across sectors to rapidly expand African agricultural yields and improve global economic growth.

AGRA has been working to establish small risk-sharing loans with several commercial banks in order to leverage more affordable credit for farmers and agribusinesses, stated the AGRA President.

“Together with our financial partners, we have made a total of $17 million US dollars available to three commercial banks, which leveraged access to about $160 million US dollars in credit to farmers and African businesspeople on the ground. Our efforts demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach, which is now being taken up on a much larger scale by several African governments”, Jane said. 

She noted that the most successful partnerships are those in which everyone has put money on the table and is tangibly invested in a shared outcome.

“Whether we are working with private-sector agribusinesses, small farmers, governments, or international NGOs, we know that in order to succeed, we must share skills and resources to move African agriculture forward”.

 

In addition to building equitable partnerships, Jane Karuku said African governments and international donors must be held accountable to keep and fund their commitments.

“When the funds reach our fields, we must ensure they are invested across the full agricultural value chain – from better seeds and soils, to improved markets, more affordable financing and smarter policies.  We need to ensure balanced growth to transform subsistence farming into a viable commercial enterprise that will drive economic growth”, she demanded.

The AGRA President firmly believes that African farmers can lead the way to a stronger global economy, hence the need to listen to the voices of African farmers by delivering solutions that address the challenges and opportunities they face every day in the fields and marketplace. 

“At AGRA, we know that farmers are battling climate change.  Therefore the action we take should be focused on long-term sustainability.  AGRA and its partners promote “climate smart” agriculture. Rebuilding soil health and enabling Africa's smallholders to grow more on less land will reduce the pressure to clear and cultivate forests and savannahs, thus helping conserve biodiversity and the environment” emphasized Jane Karuku.

Whilst calling for application of global best practices to dramatically increase yields, Jane said it is most important to demonstrate to young people that there is a strong financial future in farming.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh