Invest in Innovative Agricultural Training in Africa

25 July 2016. RUFORUM Press Release. The MasterCard Foundation and the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) will collaborate to test new models of agricultural education in Africa. The eight year commitment of US$ 27.1 Million from MasterCard will focus on smallholder farmers, connecting university education to the needs of rural communities to meaningfully contribute to Africa’s growth and development. Gulu University (Uganda) and Egerton University (Kenya), both early adopters of the RUFORUM approach, will be the key implementers of the program.

This eight year project will support the training of 220 (110 undergraduate and 110 post graduate) economically disadvantaged students from across Africa. Students will benefit from leadership training to ensure that they become Africa’s next generation of agricultural leaders. The Program will further provide opportunities for transformative action research using the expanded RUFORUM Community Action Research Program (CARP+) to enhance university-led community impact. The CARP+ will include supplemental focus on Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions to enhance gains through greater collaboration and joint action between universities and TVET institutions. The Program will be scaled out through a series of competitive challenge programs and policy to other universities in Africa.

This funding supports RUFORUM’s broader objective to train the next generation of agricultural scientists within Africa. It also strengthens RUFORUM’s vision of achieving ‘a vibrant agricultural sector linked to African universities that can produce high-performing graduates and high-quality research, responsive to the demands of Africa’s farmers for innovations, and able to generate sustainable livelihoods and national economic development’. The partnership between RUFORUM and MasterCard Foundation will help fast track the achievement of this vision.

Click here to download full press release.
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The AfDB strategy for Africa’s agricultural transformation



22 May 2016. Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.  The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank
Group (AfDB) has approved an agricultural transformation strategy for a competitive and inclusive agribusiness sector that creates wealth, improves lives and secures the environment. The document was widely reviewed by global stakeholders, peer institutions and partners as well as through regional consultations held in Rabat, Kinshasa, Lusaka, Dar es Salaam and Accra.

Focusing on transformation, scaling up agriculture as a business through value addition, led by the private sector and enabled by the public sector, and using innovative financing mechanisms, the strategy aims to end hunger and rural poverty in Africa in the next decade.

It is the second of the Bank’s High 5 priorities – Light up and power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, Integrate Africa, and Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa – a blueprint for the implementation of its Ten Year Strategy 2013-2022.

Realizing the objectives of the strategy would involve increased productivity; value addition; investment in infrastructure; creating an enabling agribusiness environment; catalyzing capital flows; ensuring inclusivity, sustainability and effective nutrition; all in a coordinated manner.
  • The idea is to drive transformation through 15 priority commodity value chains in given agro-ecological zones specifically to achieve self-sufficiency in key commodities such as rice, wheat, fish, palm oil, horticulture, cassava; move up the value chain in key export-oriented commodities like cocoa, coffee, cotton, cashew; create a food-secure Sahel in sorghum, millet, livestock; and realize the potential of the Guinea savannah in maize, soybean and livestock.
  • The Feed Africa Strategy makes a strong case for reversing the situation of a continent that spends US $35.4 billion on food imports annually despite being home to 65% of the world’s undeveloped arable land.
  • The total investment for the realization of the transformation agenda over 10 years is estimated at US $315-400 billion with annual returns of US $85 billion, when fully funded.
  • The Bank will itself invest US $24 billion and leverage additional investments through equity, quasi equity, debt and risk instruments to catalyze investments at scale from the private sector and with co-financing from traditional donors and new players. 
  • The identified financing gap estimated at US $23 billion can be met using innovative de-risking tools and blended financing from combined sovereign, pension and private equity funds.
Related PAEPARD blog post:
23-27 May 2016. Lusaka. 2016 AfDB Annual Meetings to focus on energy and climate change


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African Union Commission (AUC) launches African Union Research Grants 2016

18 May 2016. The African Union Commission launched Phase 2 of the African Union Research Grants programme with an open call for proposals for Research and Innovation in Africa supported by the European Union.



The African Union Research Grants (AURG) programme supports research and innovation in Africa and is supported by the European Union through the Pan African programme (2014-2020) with a budget of €17.5 million for two calls in 2016 and 2017.

The AURG programme supports the Africa’s Science Technology and Innovation Strategy-2024 which addresses the aspirations identified under Agenda 2063, as well as the Africa-EU Partnership priority on Human Development.

The call addresses the priorities set out in the Research and Innovation Roadmap on Food & Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture (FNSSA) which was determined through the EU-Africa High Level Policy Dialogue on Science, Technology and Innovation.

  • The programme encourages "the creation of partnerships (research networks) for regional and sub-regional co-operation and of inter-institutional co-operation in Africa via setting up of consortia of scientists with minimum participation of at least three organisations out of which a majority should be from Africa with at least two different African countries. Additional partners could come from elsewhere" (including Europe).
  • Applicants must refer to official documents for rules and procedures.
  • The AURG programme is entirely managed by the AUC. All inquiries should be addressed to the AUC.
  • The closing date for applications is 17 August 2016 at 5pm Addis Ababa time (Applications must be submitted in both paper and electronic version – see official documents for details).
  • All information and documents pertaining to the call are available on the AURG website
  • Call Application documents are also available for download via DropBox
  • News about the programme can be followed on Facebook and Twitter 
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Think Agric: Agrotech on Edge of Second Green Revolution – Weilbach



Agribusiness industry leader at PwC Africa, FransWeilbach, has said that agriculture is currently standing on the edge of a second green revolution with the aid of technology, NaijaAgroNet reports.

Speaking on desperate need for food security, Weilbach said that as the global population is growing rapidly, innovative technology and advancements in productivity are becoming increasingly important as pressure mounts on food systems.

“It is predicted that technological innovation will act as a catalyst in lifting agribusiness to the next level in Africa. The winners will be those agribusinesses that seize the opportunity to create new opportunities through technology – they will be able to reach their strategic goals faster and more efficiently,” he said.

Also commenting, the PwC Director in Kenya, Edward Kerich, said “Kenya relies heavily on the agricultural sector as the mainstay of its economy, with agriculture contributing 29 per cent of GDP. Kenya is SSA’s leading tea exporter and one of the world’s largest black tea producers. A significant development in the agricultural sector is growth in the number of privately owned tea factories outside of those owned by the KTDA and the large multinationals in the country, and the benefits realized is expected to increase as some factories move to cheaper renewable energy such as hydropower production.”

PwC Partner in Nigeria, Rasheed Rahji said “Agriculture contributed 24.18% to real GDP in Nigeria in Q4 2015 and this is mainly due to mechanised farming and to other activities in the agribusiness value chain.”

NaijaAgroNet gathered that human resources (HR) models and processes are beginning to evolve, with more emphasis being placed on technology to improve networks and data.

Though industry analysts observed that majority of agribusinesses view climate change as having significant impact on SSA agriculture in the future – 41.2 per cent indicated that there will be a significant impact in the short term, while 35.3 per cent said there will be an impact over the next 20 years.

Meanwhile, NaijaAgroNet reports that agribusiness leaders are considering investing in renewable energy, the main forms of energy being considered are solar energy and biogas.

Okoli Vincent/GEE

 

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology
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