AGRICULTURE STATUS REPORT IN AFRICA UNVEILED

AGRICULTURE STATUS REPORT IN AFRICA UNVEILED

By Mary Kibe

The 2020 Africa Agriculture Status Report

(AASR) was launched at the African

Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) virtual summit

in Kigali, Rwanda.

This year’s AASR focuses on Feeding Africa’s

Cities by assessing the opportunities,

challenges and policies required to enable

African farmers and agribusinesses to serve the

rapidly growing urban food markets. The report

seeks to find ways for smallholder farmers to

drive food security, rural prosperity, and

inclusive economic growth.

“This report highlights the opportunity for all

agriculture industry stakeholders to bring

together viewpoints that define the

transformation agenda while outlining the

practical next steps to an agricultural

revolution,” said Dr Agnes Kalibata, President of

the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa

(AGRA).

The report begins by outlining the opportunities

provided by Africa’s urban food markets to the

continent’s 60 million farms. It indicates that

cities shape Africa’s agribusiness environment

by affecting patterns of agricultural production

and inducing the rapid expansion of food

processing and distribution plans.

“This year’s AASR shows that as the centre of

gravity in Africa’s agri-food systems shifts

increasingly towards urban areas, a cohort of

new, non-traditional actors – including city

planners, mayors, district councils, trader

organizations and public health professionals –

are becoming key players in the

implementation of agricultural policy,” said

Andrew Cox, AGRA’s Chief of Staff and Strategy.

Subsequent chapters touch on the

opportunities in Africa’s growing urban food

markets while recognizing that the effective

governance of urban food systems requires

inclusive models that coordinate and

harmonize the actions of the many diverse

players now shaping African agri-food systems.

“Traditional markets and small-format shops

currently account for 80 – 90% of urban food

retailing in African cities. Supermarket shares,

though currently small, seem likely to increase

in the coming decades.

Small farmers reach urban food markets

primarily via traditional wholesale markets and

the efficient operation of these markets,

therefore, becomes key to small farmer access

and competitiveness,” reads the report, in part.

While recognizing the debilitating effects of the

COVID-19 pandemic and its role in exacerbating

existing economic and social inequalities, the

report defines five focus areas in a bid to

overcome the problem of urban under-nutrition

and accelerate the urgency of urban food

system planning.

These focus areas are improved urban food

system governance; efficient urban wholesale

markets; food safety regulation and

enforcement; regional free trade and

agricultural policy harmonization; and

agricultural research focused on high-growth,

high-value food commodities.

Domestic food distribution systems, intra-

African trade and food safety are the other

themes of the report leading to the conclusion

that improved urban food system governance

and performance can create new opportunities

for Africa to transform its agricultural

endeavours into thriving businesses.

The report was launched at the 10th edition of

the AGRF, an annual gathering that has this

year brought together 4,000 delegates including

heads of state and government, agriculture

ministers, members of the civil society, private

sector leaders, scientists and farmers in

discussions to find ways of feeding Africa’s

increasing urban populations.

This is the first time in history that the AGRF is

held virtually, in line with COVID-19

containment measures. The theme of the

Forum is Feed the Cities, Grow the Continent:

Leveraging Urban Food Markets to Achieve

Sustainable Food Systems in Africa, a call to

action to rethink Africa’s food systems in the

delivery of resilient, better nourished, and more

prosperous outcomes for all.

The Africa Agriculture Status Report (AASR) is

an annual publication that is published by the

Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

since 2013.

The annual publication has become a reference

point for emerging topics on agriculture in Sub-

Saharan Africa, such as Staple Crops (2013),

Climate Change (2014), Youth in Agriculture

(2015), Agricultural Transformation (2016),

Smallholder Agriculture (2017), Government

Capacity (2018) and The Hidden Middle (2019).

The report has grown to be an important

handbook for Africa’s leaders in their plans to

transform the continent’s agricultural

prospects. Among the trends observed in past

reports include increased public-private

partnership, adoption of technology, the use of

improved agricultural inputs, a greater focus on

capacity development and an expanded focus

on extension services.

AGRA is a farmer-centred, African-led,

partnerships-driven institution that is working

to transforming smallholder farming from a

solitary struggle to survive to a business that

thrives.

In collaboration with its partners—including

African governments, researchers, development

partners, the private sector and civil society—

AGRA’s work primarily focuses on smallholder

farmers – men and women who typically

cultivate staple crops on two hectares or less.

AGRA has learned a lot from efforts during its

first decade and is now recognized across the

continent as a strong voice for African rural

development, a prosperous agricultural

economy, and for supporting thousands of

small African businesses and millions of

African families to improve agriculture as a way

to ensure food security and improve their

livelihoods.

The African Green Revolution Forum was first

held in 2006 as the African Green Revolution

Conference (AGRC), hosted by Yara

International ASA in Norway.

The conference moved to Africa in 2010 with

the championing of former UN Secretary-

General, Kofi Annan, who oversaw its transition

to African identity.

The Forum now consists of an annual event

combined with thematic platforms and

activities throughout the year to ensure

continuous progress over time. Rwanda is the

second country, after Ghana, to host the event

twice, having successfully hosted the 2018

edition.

Afterwards, Rwanda will host the event in

alternate years, having been named the home

of the AGRF seat. Other AGRF member

countries will host the Forum in the years

between.

In its current format, the AGRF is organised by

the AGRF Partners Group, a coalition of

institutions that care about Africa’s

agriculture transformation.

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