By Ayuure Kapini
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has sponsored the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF), Africa’s largest agriculture conference, which will be held online for the first time on 8-11 September 2020 as a result of the incidence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tenth annual AGRF is being attended by African Heads of State and Government, and delegates from governments, civil society, the private sector and research communities. AGRF 2020 is hosted by the Government of Rwanda and the AGRF Partners Group.
The forum is organized on the theme ‘Feed the Cities, Grow the Continent. Leveraging Urban Food Markets to Achieve Sustainable Food Systems in Africa.’ This was made known in a press release issued by AfDB from its headquarters in Abidjan, the commercial capital of Cote d’Ivoire, on 7 September, 2020.
“As COVID-19 causes disruptions across Africa, we must prioritize policy support, especially for small and medium enterprises that produce, process and market 60% of food consumed on the continent,” said Wambui Gichuri, Acting Vice President of AfDB for Agriculture, Human and Social Development.
“We need to enhance movement of inputs and food, increase production of and access to healthy and nutritious foods, establish food security task forces in countries, as well as strengthen regional organization capacity to monitor multi-country initiatives. AGRF is the platform to move these policy conversations forward,” Gichuri stated.
He leads AfDB’s “digital delegation” to AGRF, which includes Atsuko Toda, Director for Agricultural Finance and Rural Development; Martin Fregene, Director for Agriculture and Agro-industry; Esther Dassanou, Coordinator of the Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for the Women of Africa initiative (AFAWA); and Edson Mpyisi, Coordinator of AfDB’s Enable Youth program. AfDB’s delegation will take part in nine AGRF sessions.
Gichuri is scheduled to make a presentation during a nutrition-themed plenary on the topic: Building Back Better – Growing the Continent. This policy symposium, to be held on 9 September, will discuss the UN’s The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, the ongoing pandemic and feeding the continent.
Director Toda moderated a Bank-organized AGRF side event on 7 September on the topic: Integrating African Food Systems through the Lens of SME Champions which amplified the voices of small and medium enterprises in the production, processing, logistics, and cold chain solutions sub-sectors.
“Feeding Africa’s growing population is not just about producing more food. It’s also about getting food to people who need it most. We support entrepreneurs along food system value chains helping to make that happen,” Toda said.
Fregene was a panelist at an AGRF pre-event, Scaling Up, which took place last Monday. He also spoke during another pre-event session, Agriculture Technologies for Feeding Cities on the same day.
“Agriculture and strengthening food systems are cornerstones of Africa’s plan to build back better coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Fregene. “AGRF online will convene the most senior decision-makers of governments in the same digital space as grassroots players along the agricultural value chain – we at the Bank are proud to be part of it,” he continued.
Mpyisi will help judge the AGRF Agripreneur Competition Finale parallel session today. The competition brings together young entrepreneurs, innovators and “movers and shakers” in Africa’s agri-food sector. He will also serve as a panelist on the ‘Strengthening the Ecosystem for Young African Agripreneurs’ session, which will look at action plans on how to better serve the needs of young agripreneurs.
AFAWA Coordinator Dassanou will join a panel of experts discussing ‘Making the Most of Gender-Based Financing’ on 9 September. The session will home in on the methods needed to identify and fund women entrepreneurs who are part of the hidden middle that links farmers to the value-added processing, retailing and food service sectors in urban centers across the continent.
AfDB Group is Africa’s premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: AfDB, the African Development Fund (ADF) and Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). The Group is active in 41 African countries, with an external office in Japan. The Bank contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 54 regional member states.
