Growing Africa: Unlocking the Potential of Agribusiness

WASHINGTON, March 4, 2013–A new World Bank report “Growing Africa: Unlocking the Potential of Agribusiness,” says that Africa’s farmers and agribusinesses could create a trillion-dollar food market by 2030 if they can expand their access to more capital, electricity, better technology and irrigated land to grow high-value nutritious foods. 

The report calls on governments to work side-by-side with agribusinesses, to link farmers with consumers in an increasingly urbanized Africa.

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“The time has come for making African agriculture and agribusiness a catalyst for ending poverty,” says Makhtar Diop, World Bank Vice President for Africa Region. “We cannot overstate the importance of agriculture to Africa’s determination to maintain and boost its high growth rates, create more jobs, significantly reduce poverty, and grow enough cheap, nutritious food to feed its families, export its surplus crops, while safeguarding the continent’s environment.”

The report pursues several lines of analysis. 

1. First, it synthesizes the large body of work on agriculture and agribusiness in Africa. 
2. Second, it builds on a diagnosis of specific value chains. As part of this effort, the value chain for Africa's largest and fastest-growing food import, rice, is benchmarked in Senegal and Ghana against Thailand's rice value chain. 
3. Third, 170 agribusiness investments by the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) in Africa and Southeast Asia are analyzed to gain perspective on the elements of success and failure. 
4. Fourth, the report synthesizes perspectives from the private sector through interviews with 23 leading agribusiness investors and a number of other key informants. In conclusion, the report offers practical policy advice based on the experience of countries from within and outside Africa. 

The huge diversity of Africa's agro-ecological, market, and business environments, however, necessarily means that each country (and indeed regions within countries) will need to adapt the broad guidance provided here to the local context.

6th Forum for the Future of Agriculture (FFA 2013)

Bob Zoellick, former president of the World Bank

Akin Adesina, Minister of Agriculture, Nigeria

5th March 2013. Brussels. 6th Forum for the Future of Agriculture. Following last year's successful event which saw over 1200 participants join distinguished speakers and interesting debates and discussions, the sixth edition turned the spotlight on Meeting the Food & Environmental Challenge and focused on Africa. Last year the focus was on Brazil.

Themes included Africa's new ways for food production and economic development, reform of the Common Agriculture Policy hanging in the balance, protection of the consumer, and the challenges around resource extraction, efficiency, and waste.

Discussions were moderated by BBC's Stephen Sackur, and Matthew Dempsey from the "Irish Farmers Journal".

Paolo De Castro, Chair Agriculture and Rural
Development Committee, European Parlement

International decision makers including President Barroso of the European Commission, and Bob Zoellick, former president of the World Bank, headlined the event. The debates seeked to uncover how best to boldly reconcile crop production with ecological preservation.

As world population hits the seven billion mark on its way to 9 billion by 2050, and Africa approaches critical mass in its capacity to become an agricultural powerhouse, FFA panellists examined what these issues and others mean for the future of EU agriculture and the balance to be struck between production, ecology and EU consumer well-being.

Speaking to the FFA, committee chairman Paolo De Castro, an Italian Socialist MEP, said the committee vote had yielded a confusing result and some of it would need to be changed in the plenary. This included a provision that would allow farmers to receive ‘double payments' – from both CAP direct payments and rural development funds, something not allowed under the rules of th World Trade Organization.

“We made some mistakes,” he said. “So in the next plenary we will adjust some problems.”

After changes made by the Lisbon treaty, this will be the first time the Parliament has exercised co-decision powers over the CAP, which remains one of the most unpopular EU policies with the public. Environmental campaigners have said that, without the greening element proposed by the Commission, the new CAP for the budgetary period 2014-20 will not be publicly acceptable.

But De Castro denied that watering down of the greening measures meant the CAP would lack legitimacy with the European public.

The CAP reform would have legitimacy, he argued, because of the increasing worldwide demand for food, the growing concern for food security, and the recognition that Europe's potential for agriculture had to be increased.

Retrospective review of private and public sector agribusiness investments in Africa

Investments in Agribusiness: A Retrospective View of a Development Bank’s Investments in Agribusiness in Africa and East Asia. Research paper

Authors: Geoff Tyler and Grahame Dixie

Date of publication: 10/2012

Organization of reference: World Bank

While there are some very good and very bad agribusiness investments the general view is that the majority create a mixture of positive and negative impacts. 

The positives are mainly related to economic development in terms of jobs and access to markets, but often also include some investments in social infrastructure, improved access to rural infrastructure, the transfer of useful technologies and skills, and in a smaller number of projects, increased production of staple foods. 

The negatives are most often associated with a lack of consultation with the communities concerned, limited transparency, an absence of mechanisms for resolving disputes, and issues involving land rights – especially informal land rights. Negative impacts may also be seen in irresponsible environmental practices and in the social and economic consequences if the investment fails. 

In view of these concerns over the risks associated with increased interest in larger-scale investment in agricultural land, a retrospective review of a large number of private and public sector agribusiness investments was commissioned to generate objective empirical knowledge about outcomes; to differentiate between alternative business models; to provide insights into the likely correlates of success and failure over time; and to deliver this knowledge into the public domain.

This study analyses the experience of the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) as an investor in commercial smallholder and estate agriculture and agro-processing in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia and the Pacific between 1948 and 2000."

TIPPING THE BALANCE Policies to shape agricultural investments and markets in favour of small-scale farmers

Tipping the Balance. Policies to shape agricultural investments and markets in favor of small-scale farmers

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Published: 6 December 2012
Author: Bill Vorley, Principle Researcher, Sustainable Markets Group, IIED; Lorenzo Cotula, Senior Researcher, Natural Resources Group, IIED; Man-Kwun Chan, Independent consultant

A recent wave of large-scale land acquisitions and other commercial investment in agriculture has raised concerns that small-scale producers are being marginalized.

Oxfam and IIED collaborated on research to take a new look at the role of public policy and market governance at a national level in supporting inclusive sustainable development. This report identifies key policy levers that can tip commercial investments in favor of either small- or large-scale farming. And it shows how policy levers influence market governance to constrain or to support the fair sharing of risk and reward between small-scale producers and the rest of the market.

A key element of the report is the examination of policy elements that can specifically contribute to gender-equitable results. Four country case studies, conducted in Guatemala, Nigeria, Tanzania and the Philippines, supported the research.

Engaging the domestic and international private sector for smallholder farmers

January 9, 2013. London. Prorustica, advisors on agribusiness partnerships, and africapractice, a Pan-African strategic advisory and communications consultancy, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate and foster agricultural partnerships in Africa  The combined skills and expertise of Prorustica and africapractice will help to develop agricultural partnerships that create value for governments, investors, and rural communities.

The partnership has also joined Farming First, a multi-stakeholder coalition, working on practical, actionable policy recommendations to further sustainable agricultural development worldwide representing the full agricultural value chain, with a focus on the farmer – particularly smallholder farmers. Through Farming First, Prorustica and africapractice will engage with public and private sector stakeholders to strengthen their approach and collaboration.

Marcus Courage, Managing Director of africapractice said: “Agriculture investments throughout Africa have been characterized by too much failure, either because they don’t deliver adequate returns for investors, or because they fail to accommodate the needs of local communities and regulators. Many factors are at play, ranging from licenses and permits, to labour and technology, infrastructure and tax regimes. In many cases, there’s a lack of transparency and an absence of dialogue, which leads to misaligned expectations and a breakdown of trust, resulting in project failure. “

AgriBusiness Forum 2012

25-28 November 2012 Dakar, Senegal.« Partenariat, investissement et technologie pour relancer l’agriculture africaine ». Tel etait le thème du forum Agribusiness à Dakar.

L’Agribusiness Forum du Centre européen de recherche en marketing (Emrc) est co-organisé par le Pnud et le Consortium Panafricain de l’agrobusiness et l’agro-industrie (Panaac), en collaboration avec la Fao et le secteur privé africain. Il vise à renforcer le secteur agricole et agro-alimentaire en Afrique, en encourageant les partenariats et l’échange de bonnes pratiques pour attirer les investissements.

Selon le ministre de l’Agriculture et de l’Equipement rural, Abdoulaye Baldé, qui a présidé la cérémonie d’ouverture, la crise alimentaire de 2008 a fait que les organisations du système des Nations unies ont pris davantage conscience de l’importance du secteur agricole et agro-alimentaire, et ont placé l’agriculture au centre de l’agenda des politiques internationales.

Le Sénégal, poursuit le ministre, met en œuvre une telle politique à travers l’Agence nationale d’insertion et de développement agricole (Anida) dont la mission principale est dédiée à l’insertion des jeunes sénégalais aux métiers de l’Agriculture.

D’après Moussa Seck du Panaac, le forum réunit tous les acteurs de la chaine de valeurs. Il plaide en faveur d’une reconsidération de l’agriculture à tous les niveaux. « Ce n’est pas normal que l’activité sur laquelle repose la vie ne soit pas élevée à un niveau supérieur dans nos ministères », soutient-il. Il veut que le pourcentage du budget alloué au secteur soit plus important, d’autant plus que les besoins vont suivre l’évolution constante de la population.

Une idée renforcée par le président d’Emrc international, le Belge Pierre Mathijsen. A l’en croire, les pays occidentaux consacrent en moyenne 40 % de leur budget à l’agriculture. Le docteur Amadou Ouatara de la Fao pense, quant à lui, qu’il faut faire en sorte que l’agriculture soit un métier. Pour cela, il invite à allouer des prêts aux jeunes qui veulent s’investir dans le secteur, les former, les initier aux programmes de maîtrise de l’eau et régler les questions liées au foncier.

Pour sa part, le vice président d’Olam Sénégal, Jean Claude Gruner, estime qu’il y a un déséquilibre entre l’offre et la demande. En Afrique, soutient-il, l’agriculture emploie plus de 60 % de la population alors qu’elle fournit moins de 10 % du Pib. De son point de vue, il faut un gouvernement fort, avec des partenaires forts, pour développer le secteur agricole africain. Ce qui suppose une agriculture compétitive, des usines de transformation, une amélioration des pratiques culturales, une prise en compte de la question foncière, etc.

Ce forum de trois jours, a ete rythmé par des des sous-thèmes, comme le financement de l’agriculture africaine, la jeunesse et les technologies agricoles, les nouvelles initiatives pour promouvoir les Pme africaines, le développement d’un agrobusiness inclusif...

Related:
FARA and UniBRAIN hosted a side event at the AgriBusiness Forum 2012: 6 UniBRAIN incubees to present their projects!

U.S.-Africa Agribusiness Investment Forum

November 12-14, 2012. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. U.S.-Africa Agribusiness Investment Forum: Private Sector Opportunities in Support of Inclusive Agricultural Growth. The Corporate Council on Africa hosted the 2012 U.S.-Africa Agribusiness Investment Forum in Ethiopia to introduce the U.S.-Africa Business Center (USABC) and its role in facilitating U.S.-African trade and highlight other initiatives designed to boost agricultural growth, trade and investment.

Attended by a number of industry members drawn from the USA, Canada, Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso as well as Ethiopia, the conference brought together U.S. and African businesses, investors and financiers, policy makers, representatives of the public sector, capital market experts and service providers. They were able to discuss various cross-cutting issues, including finance, risk mitigation, value-chain development, and industry best practices and trends. The forum was also intended to introduce the U.S.-Africa Business Center and its role in facilitating U.S.-African trade as well as highlight other initiatives designed to boost agricultural growth, trade and investment.
One of the speakers at the Workshop 4: Fork: Opportunities at the End of the Value Chain was Lucy Muchoki, Chief Executive Officer, Pan African Agribusiness and Agro Industry Consortium.

Mark Carrato, Foreign Service- Private Enterprise at USAID  noted the ineffectiveness of the donor support approach and praised the growing focus on public-private partnership as a significant step forward.

Workshop 7 addressed The Role of Regional Economic Communities in Facilitating Agricultural Trade and Investment. The EAC is developing a partnership with the United States that is being designed to increase investment and trade, and private sector participation will be critical to its success.

Related:
25-28 November 2012 - Dakar, Senegal. FARA and UniBRAIN host a side event at the AgriBusiness Forum 2012: 6 UniBRAIN incubees to present their projects!

UniBRAIN is an initiative of the Forum of Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the government of Denmark whose objective is to enable universities, business and agricultural research institutions to commercialise agricultural technologies and produce graduates with entrepreneurial and business skills.

"Africa is blessed with the world’s youngest population but if the youth are not gainfully employed they will become frustrated, angry and dangerous. This must be avoided by creating jobs and for that it is necessary to have job-creators, in other words successful entrepreneurs and business men and women", explains Ralph von Kaufmann, FARA's Facility Coordinator. 

Read Ralph von Kaufmann's full interview here:

Matooke Agribusiness Incubator

Biogas from peels burning

The Afri Banana Products Limited, formerly Incubation and Diversification of Banana Products for Agribusiness (IDBPA), aims to upscale innovations and improve entrepreneurial skills in banana production- to – marketing value chains with emphasis on capacity building for increased production, development of SME’s, training in entrepreneurship and agribusiness at B.Sc. and M.Sc. levels, linking of research innovations to agribusiness, and marketing of banana and its value added products including disease-free seedlongs, fresh peeled and vacuum sealed bananas, vinegar, banana wine, enriched animal feeds, biogas, charcoal briquettes, biodegradable bags and textile fibre materials.

Hereunder follows an interview with Dr. Byarugaba Bazirake, director of Afribanana Products Ltd. He was interviewed by PAEPARD during the EAC-Europe Food Security Thematic Policy Dialogue organised by CAAST-net.

Dr. Byarugaba Bazirake responds to following questions:

• What motivated you to researh matoke and find a solution for the enormous amount of banana garbage?
• How did you manage to extend the shelve life of matoke?
• How important is extending the shelve life of matoke for Ugandans living abroad?
• How do you bring the diverse chain actors together?
• Where did you get the idea of a value chain approach around the matoke / banana plantain?

GOOD HARVEST FROM MULCHED
(STALKS & PEELS) PLANTATION

Bananas(matooke) constitute a very important staple crop in Uganda, and are being grown by 75% of the country’s farmers on 40% of the total arable land.

The triploid, Musa acuminata East African highland cultivar (AAA-EA genotype) locally known as matooke predominates banana production in Uganda and provides major food for over 7 million people including two thirds of the urban population. Bananas are so important in Uganda so much so that in some parts of the country the word “matooke” means both “banana” and “food” and the crop contributes about 35% of total food consumption expenditure. 

The Uganda’s per capita consumption of bananas ranges between 220kg and 460 kg per year according This banana per capita consumption is the highest in the world.

The demand and supply of matooke in urban areas has come with associated problems of: 

• Discoloration due to enzymatic reactions and oxidation after peel inefficient transportation (40% waste) with undesired bulk garbage accumulation (over 500 ton/day) in Kampala. 
• Costs high ($7/ton ) to dispose garbage (KCC). 
• Perishability-short post-harvest shelf-life. 
• Soil nutrients depletion from banana plantation due to: Poor agrarian management systems Transportation of waste which would serve as manure to urban areas

Banana by-product utilization. Production of:

• Biogas 
• Vinegar 
• Enriched animal feeds 
• Charcoal briquettes 
• Fiber-biodegradable (textile,bags) 
• Manure,mulch,etc.

Matooke Bulk Marketing problems: They include: 

• Poor (road network) infrastructure 
• High fuel prices for transporting trucks 
• Weak reconditioned trucks 
• Lack of organised markets 
• Quick spoilage of raw food materials 
• Lack of value-addition technologies

Innovation Objectives

The technological approach objectives were to:

1. inactivate enzymes responsible for browning (oxidation) of peeled matooke. 
2. preserve and prolong shelf life of the peeled matooke as a food stuff. 
3. reduce transportation load that is very bulky

HAND-MACHINE PEELING TECH

Materials

• Sodium metabisulphite was purchased from “Desbro” (food grade chemical dealers) in Industrial area,Kampala, 
•  vacuum sealer (Micromark, UK) was obtained from Midway Technologies,Kampala. 
• The jaws hand peeler type (ED MARK, Malaysia) machines were purchased from Lugogo at the International Trade Fair,2007 and 
• the transparent non-permeable vacuum sealable plastic packaging materials were procured from Shoprite, Kampala.

 Research Methods

TREATMENT(ANTIMICROBIAL & DICOLORATION)

• The research work was done at the Uganda Industrial Research Institute(UIRI), Kampala. 
• In the experimental study, the matooke were sorted, weighed and peeled using jaws hand peelers . 
• They were washed in treated tap water and grouped into two categories. Category 1 was immersed in sodium metabisulphite –distilled water solution (1000 ppm) for 30 seconds to inactivate enzymes responsible for browning and serve as antimicrobial agent, drained in a stainless steel metal-mesh with reciprocated agitation for 5 minutes, vacuum sealed and labeled. Category 2 was just drained (untreated) and not vacuum sealed . 
• The products were stored at chilling temperatures (100C)and set for further observations.

Results:

Matooke shipped to the US targeting
10,000 Ugandans consumers.
Dr. Byarugaba Bazirake stands second left.

• Approximately 60% of the matooke was obtained after peeling .They were stored under chilled conditions. 
• The vacuum sealed matooke remained fresh as desired by the consumers for 10 days. 
• The untreated matooke (control) turned brown after a few minutes and had moulds grown on them on the fourth day of storage(shelf-life). 
• The banana waste was returned to rural areas profitable utilization as manure, livestock feeds, fuel (biogas) source and for inoculation of starter cultures useful in vinegar production.
• matooke can be processed & preserved into a food stuff that is convenient to prepare with prolonged shelf life (10 days). 
• Bananas can be transported from rural areas to the user ends at reduced logistical expenses by prior peeling to eliminate averagely 40% of waste.
• Waste products can be used as manure to fertilize and replenish matooke plantations besides supplementary usage like biogas production and formulation of animal feeds. 
• Rural based industries should be set up to process and solve the logistical problems involved in bulky post harvested food handling in Africa.

Further Background:
Dr. Byarugaba Bazirake is a lecturer of food technology and biotechnology at Kyambogo University and works with Prof. Wilson Byarugaba of Kampala International University Western Campus.  The project was given part of Uganda Investment Authoritys land in Mbarara Industrial Park and has been able to put up a factory which opened on March 15 this year. The site was selected because of its proximity to the matooke-producing areas of western Uganda. Twenty-five people are currently employed in the factory.

• Bazirake says he came up with the idea after UNESCO sponsored his research in 2001. 
• In 2006, President Yoweri Museveni contributed $2,000, which was used to purchase hand peelers. In the same year, he won the first Presidential Scientific Award at an exhibition in Munyonyo. It was then that he wrote a proposal to UNCST, which was approved in 2008.
• They also got financial support from the Ministry of Finance in the financial year 2008/2009.
• FREVASEMA is one of the projects funded by the Government under the presidential support to scientists through Uganda National Council for Science and Technology.

UniBRAIN AIICs perspective to incubating overseas ventures-II from abi-icrisat

The Afri Banana Products Limited, aims to upscale innovations and improve entrepreneurial skills, through training and mentoring, identification and/or development of viable research innovations and linkage to agribusiness, information generation and dissemination, community mobilization and market linkages, provision of business services to Incubatee SMEs, setting up a consortium comprising membership from Universities, Research Institutions, Private Sector Companies and Government Support Agencies.

The consortium is led by Kyambogo University with the following as members; Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Excel Hort Consult Ltd, FREVASEMA, Uganda Industrial Research Institute, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Uganda Carbon Bureau and Adaptive Seed Company.

Read more on UniBRAIN ABP

Vacuum sealed banana - Uganda's latest export

Vacuum-sealed cooking banana ready for sale or export

© George Bazirake

Cooking banana, known in Uganda as matooke, has a relatively short shelf life - too short for fresh bananas to be easily exported and sold in Europe. But in a new initiative, a Ugandan company has begun to export peeled, vacuum-packed matooke, which can last for up to a month. This is an exciting way of adding value to a crop which occupies nearly 40 per cent of Uganda's arable land. Wambi Michael talks to banana experts, an exporter and a consumer about the new innovation.

• Audio
• Broadcast Information
• Transcript
• Feedback

Interview by:

Wambi Michael

Country:

Uganda

Duration:

4'26"

Date published:

January 2010

Download file

Related:
Bananas could replace potatoes in warming world

Philip Thornton

Climate change could lead to bananas becoming a critical source of food for millions of people, a new study has claimed.

The study, Impacts of climate change on the agricultural and aquatic systems and natural resources within the CGIAR’s mandate, should help decision-makers at all levels prepare better for future food production on our warming planet.

Read the policy brief by CCAFS that outlines the challenges required in feeding the estimated 9–10 billion people who will live in this world by 2050. In the brief, the need for a complete recalibration of what crops we grow and animals we raise around the world is detailed, as climate change will bring challenges in weather, water use, and increased pests and diseases of crops and animals alike.

Researchers from the CGIAR agricultural partnership said that the fruit might replace potatoes in some developing countries, the BBC reported. The authors of the report also said that cassava and the little known cowpea plant could play increasingly important roles in agriculture, as temperatures rise and people will have to adapt to new and varied menus as traditional crops struggle.

Responding to a request from the United Nations' committee on world food security, a team of experts in the field looked at the projected effects of climate change on 22 of the world's most important agricultural commodities. They predict that the production of world's three biggest crops in terms of calories provided - maize, rice and wheat - will decrease in many developing countries.

What is the role of the private sector in agricultural R&D in developing countries?

A series of country reports and thematic papers published by ASTI—based on a collaborative project led by Rutgers University, IFPRI, and McGill University—address these questions and examine recent trends in private sector agricultural R&D in a number of developing countries.

Synthesis reports

• Private Investment in Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer in Africa (Pray, Gisselquist, and Nagarajan 2011)
• Changing donor priorities and strategies for agricultural R&D in developing countries: Evidence from Africa (Spielman, Zaidi, and Flaherty 2011)

Country reports and notes

• Bangladesh country note
• Bangladesh country report
• Senegal country note
• Senegal country report (En) (Fr)
• South Africa country note
• South Africa country report
• Zambia country note
• Zambia country report

Over the past decades, technologies transferred by foreign private companies have been a major source of innovation in eight countries in South Asia and Africa (Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Pakistan, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia), especially in the areas of crop protection, agrochemicals, poultry farming, agricultural machinery, and processing. In addition to technology transfer, many local and multinational companies conduct some level of in-country research.

Despite the private sector’s role in agricultural innovation, there is still scope for improvement. Public policy and regulatory reforms could significantly reduce the time, effort and costs associated with bringing new technologies and products to the agricultural sector. Farmers, rural entrepreneurs, and agribusinesses could benefit from reductions in lengthy administrative procedures to import agricultural inputs, removals of cumbersome regulations for registering new products, and improvements in tax incentives for investments in research.

Few studies have been able to take a close look at private investment in agricultural research and its drivers in developing countries. Researchers for the current studies collected and analyzed data on private agricultural R&D capacity and investment from hundreds of companies in the eight countries in South Asia and Africa. The reports examined trends in private investment in research, interactions between technology transfer and research investment, and the policies that influence private research and innovation in the agricultural sector.

The series of reports offers a number of policy recommendations aimed at promoting greater private sector involvement in agricultural research. They also make a case for more in-depth analysis on the impact of policy changes on private sector innovation, and the impact of private sector innovation on productivity and poverty.

Training Beninese youth in agribusiness

14/09. UNDP. Training Beninese youth in agribusiness

Cybelle Agossou, the youngest of a family of six children, decided to enroll in a practical training course to become self-employed and help her parents. Today, at age 20, she manages a small soap-making business and employs four people.

The Songhai Center in Porto-Novo works towards reducing youth unemployment and underemployment by training young people in organic agriculture, food processing, and natural resource management. It also facilitates access to land, seeds, and tools to allow young people to support themselves in their community and to prevent rural exodus.

The Government of Benin recently signed a funding agreement with UNDP for the amount of 51 million US dollars to strengthen and create new centers throughout the country. UNDP is providing additional funding of 1.5 million dollars as part of its 2009−2013 program.

Depuis 1985, le centre Songhaï est un centre
de formation aux techniques agricoles et à l'élevage
qui a développé une approche assez originale
centrée sur le développement durable et la
priorité donnée à la réinsertion des jeunes

“In order to sustainably reduce poverty, Benin needs to achieve minimum economic growth of seven percent per year. This will happen only by increasing productivity and agricultural production,” stressed Ms. Nardos Bekele-Thomas, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Benin.

Project Songhai will train 1,500 young people over a period of five years. “When they finish their 18-month training course, they know how to manage a business,” said Guy Louèkè, business manager of the Porto-Novo Center.

Accelerate agricultural transformation

18/05/2012 - Food security was a key theme 

of the G8 summit taking place in Camp David 

6-7 September. Dar es Salaam. Tanzania . Launching of the New Alliance. Tanzanian senior government officials, together with representatives of international donors and the private sector, had a two-day strategy session on how to accelerate agricultural transformation in Tanzania. The session, being held at the Bank of Tanzania, was basically about coordinating the partnership between Tanzania, international donors and the private sector to create sustained economic growth in Tanzania.

Specifically, the meeting agenda focused on three main themes:

1. increasing stability and transparency in policy reforms regarding land, seeds, taxes and trade; improving the private sector investment climate for long term economic growth; 
2. and developing domestic and regional input policies that encourage greater private sector participation in the production, marketing, 
3. and trade in seeds and other inputs.

Programme national d`investissement agricole: 

les bailleurs de fonds internationaux 

se sont concertes pendant deux jours à Abidjan.

Prior to the session, 20 local and international private sector entities signed letters of intent to make specific agricultural investments in Tanzania. Led by the US Agency for International Development, Feed the Future harnesses the strengths of partner US Government organisations, multilateral institutions, the private sector, and civil society groups to help reduce poverty and under-nutrition through agriculture-led growth.

12-13 September 2012. Cote d’Ivoire launching of the New Alliance and CAADP investment plan The Cote d’Ivoire government organized a roundtable to mobilize resources to support its program on national investments in agriculture (PNIA). The launching was headed by the Ministry of Foreign Affaires representing the President of the Republic, H.E. Mr. Outtara. Several Ministers were in attendance, such as Agriculture (as lead of the initiative), Livestocks, Economy and Finance, Water and Forest, Health and Nutrition, Energy, Commerce and Environment.

The European Commission Ambassador as representative of the G8 shared the concept behind the New Alliance for food security and nutrition. The EC pledged 3 million euro for this initiative in Cote d’Ivoire.

Background
Kick-off workshops for implementation of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition Cooperation Frameworks were held in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Tanzania, etc. The workshops focus on the implementation of actions outlined in the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition Cooperation Frameworks to accelerate country plans and priorities for improved food security and nutrition. They also address alignment of expanded public and private agricultural investments to help ensure that this implementation complements existing efforts to support food security, nutrition, and inclusive economic growth through development of the agricultural sector.

Led by the respective host country government partners, the workshops include participation from African and G8 country government officials, international donors, private sector partners, and civil society groups. They were held on August 21 in Ethiopia, August 29 in Ghana, and September 6-7 in Tanzania, September 12-13  in Ivory Coast.

To take innovation to scale, the New Alliance will:

• Determine 10-year targets in partner countries for sustainable agricultural yield improvements, adoption of improved production technologies, including improved seed varieties, as well as post-harvest management practices as part of a value-chain approach, and measures to ensure ecological sustainability and safeguard agro-biodiversity. 
• Launch a Technology Platform with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa and other partners in consultation with the Tropical Agriculture Platform and the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD) initiative that will assess the availability of improved technologies for food commodities critical to achieve sustainable yield, resilience, and nutrition impacts, identify current constraints to adoption, and create a roadmap to accelerate adoption of technologies. 

Related:

Tanzania: Sh160bn fund planned for agriculture
Programme national d’investissement agricole (PNIA) : La Côte d’Ivoire mobilise 2002 milliards FCFA

An indigenous agribusines success: Shito, a traditional pepper sauce

African entrepreneurs have incredible potential to make African agriculture a dynamic, growth-generating sector that fills a growing market niche and engages the youth. However, small- to medium-scale food producers and processors face enormous challenges in building successful businesses, including access to finance, restrictive policy and legal environments, and a lack of technical and business skills.

Leticia Osafo-Addo, CEO of Samba Foods and recipient of numerous awards for entrepreneurship, shared her incredible story with attendees of the Partnership's 2012 US-Africa Forum in Washington, DC.

Samba Foods, a food processing company 

based in Ghana, was the first to 

commercially produce and sell packaged 

shito pepper sauces.

After returning to my home country of Ghana from Germany, where I had trained as a nurse-anaesthetist and intensive therapist, I set up an out-patient clinic in the village of Dawhenya and began to cultivate peppers on the side. As I considered how to add value to the produce I raised, I had a wonderful idea. Shito, a traditional pepper sauce that is a central part of the diet in Ghana’s coastal regions in Ghana, had become very popular among students in boarding institutions. Yet there was no ready-made shito on Ghanaian market shelves. This was the market niche that I identified and set out to capture.

I first tested the market by supplying a small number of processed shito products to markets in Accra. As my company was the first to produce, package, and distribute shito in commercial quantities, the sales were overwhelming. A new enterprise was born and christened Samba. Samba grew rapidly, and our shito products were soon found in department stores throughout Ghana. Samba shito accompanied the Ghana Armed Forces troops on peace-keeping operations around the world, and small quantities were exported to the U.S. and Europe.

Having achieved this success, it is clear that banks and other traditional finance institutions underestimated the resilience, tenacity, and determination of Samba. It is unfortunate that finance institutions, rather than assisting small enterprises in the identification of suitable solutions to their struggles, too often allow them to fold. SMEs in the agribusiness industry have the potential to lead Ghana’s development agenda through value addition to agricultural raw materials. With adequate support, Samba could become an indigenous agribusiness giant in Ghana and the sub-region—a household name that is recognized around the world and proudly associated with Ghana.

THE ROLES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE PRIVATE SECTOR IN AFRICA’S AGRO-FOOD INDUSTRY

THE ROLES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE PRIVATE SECTOR IN AFRICA’S AGRO-FOOD INDUSTRY

This study (June 2012, 81 pages) commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) African Facility for Inclusive Markets (AFIM) seeks to identify the roles and opportunities for the private sector in Africa’s agro-food industry.

It focuses on successful inclusive market development models in Africa and highlights the incentives required for the private sector to capture business opportunities and deepen investment in the agro-food sector. Furthermore the study explores mechanisms through which the private sector can engage smallholder farmers and turn them from subsistence farmers into viable agri-enterprises.

Perspectives on the subject were drawn from Chief Executive Oicers (C.E.O.s) and Directors of over 55 global, multinational, regional and national agro-business irms comprising: Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Farmer-based and Development Organizations, Financial Institutions, Agro-input Suppliers, Agro-processers, Supermarkets and Agribusiness Platforms details of which are presented in annexes 1 and 2.

In-depth discussions with these irms provide succinct investments opportunities in Africa’s agro-food industry and reveal Africa’s successful inclusive market development models, modern trends in agro-food inancing, incentives required to engage and deepen private sector investment in the National Agricultural and Food Security Investment Plan (NA&FSIP).

The Africa Finance & Investment Forum (AFIF)

17 – 19 June 2012. Rabobank Headquarters – Utrecht, Netherlands. The Africa Finance & Investment Forum (AFIF) 2012, was held in the framework of the UN’s "International Year of Cooperatives”, and organised in partnership with Rabobank Foundation, the Dutch international finance service provider operating on the basis of cooperative principles.

The Africa Finance & Investment Forum is one of EMRC’s showcase events, aimed at strengthening the private sector in Africa, by encouraging partnerships andattracting investments. The Forum is designed for entrepreneurs interested in securing finance for their projects, for private investors looking for projects, as well as for policy makers, financiers and bankers.

AFIF  featured over 250 decision makers from around the world; African Companies and financing institutions; International and bi-lateral organisations; NGOs and foundations working in Africa. The Rabobank Foundation, Centenary Bank, Global Development Cooperative, the World Bank, GIZ (German International Cooperation Organisation), FARA and the Shell Foundation are just a few of the organisations that attended the AFIF this year. Prof Monty Jones of FARA made a presentation on "Strategic partnerships to enhance investments in Africa’s Agricultural Productivity and Competitiveness" during the Session on: Innovative solutions to address the financial needs of SMEs & Cooperatives.

Related: EMRC Project Incubator Award Session

CESACOPA is the winner of 2012 Incubator Award. CESACOPA is a coffee cooperative located in Amboim province, Angola. The main objective of the CESACOPA project is to increase coffee quality standards for export while at the same time making a clear contribution to the community e.g., employment generation and pollution abatement. The coffee is produced without use of chemicals or pesticides and the fertilizer used is organic. It is also noted that the project impacts some 6000 families as direct beneficiaries. 
This year’s 2012 Incubator Award was sponsored by Hivos, a leading Dutch organisation and Venture Capital for Africa (VC4A), a global platform connecting entrepreneurs and investors throughout Africa. With two leading organisations associated to this year’s award, the winner and nominees will receive increased international recognition and the opportunity to expand their global contacts. This prestigious award will be presided by a panel of international experts and the winner will receive a cash prize of US$15,000.
The project promoter Anastácio Roque Gonçalves explained, "This project aims to obtain a coffee grader machine and installing a small coffee laboratory to help the export chain and create the proper environment for fair trade and coffee certification". 

Related:

Innovations in Rural and Agriculture Finance

See brief 4: Rural Banking in Africa: The Rabobank Approach by Gerard Van Empel

Rural and agricultural finance innovations have significant potential to improve the livelihoods and food security of the poor. Although microfinance has been widely studied, a large knowledge gap still exists on the nuts and bolts of expanding access to rural and agricultural finance.

IFPRI’s 2020 Vision Initiative (July 2010) approached the rural finance team of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of the World Bank to conceptualize and assemble this collection of briefs to narrow the knowledge gap by examining innovations in providing financial services to rural households

Setting-up an equity fund for SMEs agribusinesses in Uganda

May 10, 2012. The European Union and other partners are working with the Government to explore the possibilities of setting-up an equity fund for SMEs agribusinesses in Uganda.

The proposed equity fund would blend resources from development partners, Uganda’s institutional investors and private investors. It would invest in small and medium enterprises in need of capital to develop new agribusinesses.

The objective of the initiative would be to contribute to the development of Uganda’s agriculture and agribusiness sector and to improve rural livelihoods, incomes and food security. A public private equity fund would support the development SMEs engaged in agribusiness by providing both access to “patient capital” and business development services to address capacity constraints. BenefitsIncorporated in Uganda, the fund would be able to work very closely with Uganda’s SMEs. It would also allow Uganda’s investors to invest their money in the development of Ugandan agriculture, rather than on international markets. Producing crops and livestock is not the task of public institutions. SMEs, including the millions of Uganda’s smallholder producers are the driving force in agriculture. Public institutions are simply there to establish the policy and principles and regulations and to create an enabling environment for the private sector.

Equity funds, by providing long-term equity finance, contribute to address the funding gap. Equity funds are mutual investment funds that invest in private companies, becoming shareholders of these companies.

A feasibility study in August 2011 has concluded that the “equity fund initiative is relevant to support the mid-size agribusiness in Uganda” and would deliver impact on the sector. Capacity constraints also affect small and medium agribusinesses. There is a high need and demand for business development services to reinforce many of the key aspects of their business. These include financial management, corporate governance, access to - and management of information, production management and marketing. The European Union Commissioner for Development Cooperation, Andris Piebalgs, will visit Uganda on the November 8-9. One of the main events of his mission will be a high level roundtable on public private partnerships to boost investments in agriculture.

Related:
Agricultural investment funds for developing countries.FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 2010, 165 pages Agricultural investment funds, which have experienced significant growth in numbers and volume in recent years, have underscored public and private sectors’ interest to help address the resource constraints for achieving food security. Moreover, the growing attractiveness of agricultural investment projects as profitable business ventures has played a role in the emergence and growth of such funds, especially in light of higher agricultural prices and improved business climates that favour longer-term investments. This publication provides insight into the nature and operations of these funds and draws lessons for development agencies, governments and investors.

Businesses in Agric Sector Get Funding Boost

April 15, 2012. The Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) has launched a new competition for agri-business and rural financial services for Liberia and Sierra Leone, DR. Congo, and Somalia. The competition allows privately-owned businesses involved in the agriculture sector in the post-conflict economies of Liberia, Sierra Leone, DR Congo, and Somalia to compete for its matching grant funds, which range from US$250,000 to US$1.5 million per project.

 The AECF runs competitions open only to for-profit companies, and has to date funded over 80 projects in Africa including three in Sierra Leone. KPMG is the Fund Manager of the AECF. The competition seeks innovative business ideas in agri-business, financial services and value chains that combine commercial viability with development.

The West Africa Director of the Fund, Dr. George Manu, told reporters during the launch in Monrovia on Wednesday, April 19, 2012 that:

A project must be commercially viable and have a positive impact on the rural poor in Africa in order to qualify for funding. Furthermore, as the AECF operates on a risk sharing basis, companies applying would need to match our funding or make significant contribution to the projects.