Green Economy – from intention to action

Tony Simons (far right) speaking at the SusCon in Bonn

27-28 November 2012, Bonn. SusCon 2012. For the third time SusCon, the International Conference on Sustainable Business and Consumption.

The conference brought - under the patronage of Mr. Janez Potočnik, European Commissioner for the Environment together - around 450 participants from 37 countries. Businesses, NGOs and politicians discussed on issues related to a “Green Economy” and debated on solutions for sustainable supply chains.

Major topics were technical innovations, CSR 2.0, resource efficiency, certification as well as financial transitions and lifestyles.

SusCon's Bonn Declaration -Green Economy Offers Solutions for Global Challenges. Comment on and/or support the declaration! The declaration summarizes the elements of shared convictions of the endorsing SusCon networking partners and serves as an appeal to promote the development of an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable future for our planet as well as for present and future generations.

Tree Product Value Chains in Africa: Sharing Innovations that Work for Smallholders

26-28 November 2012. Yaounde, Cameroon. Tree Product Value Chains in Africa: Sharing Innovations that Work for Smallholders.

This conference was a forum for a wide group of (inter)national stakeholders to learn and share knowledge, experience and innovations on emerging trends relating to the production, processing and marketing of tree products by smallholder farmers.

The conference was organised by the Agroforestry Tree Products for Africa (AFTP4A) project, financed by the Belgian Development Cooperation in Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The project contributes to improving participation and active involvement of poor farmers in agroforestry tree product value chains and markets in order to increase and diversify their incomes. 

The project followed the value chain approach and involved all economic actors who contributed directly to the production, processing, transport and commercialisation of a product up to the consumption stage.

Innovative Composting Alternatives

26-30 November 2012. Accra, Ghana. Promoting Affordable Sources of Plant Nutrients in Africa Through Innovative Composting Alternatives. Co-sponsored by African Union Commission Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture.  

The objectives of this five-day training program included:

1. Improving participants’ capabilities to overcome constraints that hamper waste recycling and the feasibility of recycling strategies and their contribution to ensuring sustainable agricultural productivity and improved sanitation in rapidly growing rural, urban and peri-urban environments.
2. Increase participants’ knowledge of the principles and methodologies of solid waste and fecal sludge collection, storage and handling to ensure efficiency.
3. Update participants on the development of innovative composting technologies to enhance the effectiveness, aesthetics and applicability of the composted material to increase acceptability among smallholder farmers.
4. Increase participants’ knowledge on: (i) proper handling of composted organic fertilizer to eliminate any risks associated with their use; (ii) calculate optimal application rates; and (iii) the long-term benefits of their use on soil health.
5. Identify sound policy options for promoting municipal and human waste fertilizer use and supply in Africa.

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!

Joint Ministerial Conference of Agriculture and Trade (JMCAT)

26 and 27 November 2012 – Meeting of senior officials and experts of trade and agriculture
29 and 30 November 2012 – Conference of Ministers of Agriculture and Ministers of Trade.

The two day Ministerial Conference themed, “Boosting intra African trade: a key to agricultural transformation and ensuring food and nutrition security,'' reviewed progress on implementation of continental agriculture and trade development initiatives and revisit efforts from the two sectors that impact on intra-African Trade, agricultural transformation and achievement of food security in the continent.

1. Session 1. Joint expert session to review and consider reports and issues that affect both agriculture and trade.
2. Session 2a. Trade expert’s session to review and consider the reports.
3. Session 2b. Agriculture expert session to review and consider the reports.

The Joint Ministerial tried to:

• Identify synergies, linkages and complementarities in on-going initiatives in agriculture and trade development (CAADP, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Frameworks, Aid for Trade, Grow Africa, African 
• Agribusiness and Agroindustries Development Initiative-3ADI, etc).
• Agree on areas of immediate follow up actions at country and sub-regional levels, including coordination mechanisms between Ministries of Agriculture and Ministries of Trade at Member State level, also linked to those at the level of Regional Economic Communities.
• Build consensus on specific programmatic areas, approaches and actions for high-level political engagement with the AU Heads of State and Government, meeting next time in January 2013.

The Commissioner of Rural Economy and Agriculture, Tumusiime Rhoda Peace on her part indicated that the issues of agricultural production and trade are two interlinked matters that the continent has not made best use of. “Africa has great potentials in agriculture and trade. We must ensure that what is produced is traded, but we haven’t done much about trade within Africa,” the commissioner said.

The Commissioner also said that intra-African trade of agricultural products is very low while most agricultural products in the continent are imported from countries outside of the continent.

“Africa trades more with the outside world rather than with itself. Africa’s trade values are close to $40 billion to $60 billion with the outside world,” said the Commissioner, “had this money been invested within, it would have a crucial value in the development of agriculture,” she added.

She also stated that adding value and trading strategic commodities such as wheat would enable Africans to feed themselves. According to her, the conference is to focus on filling the gap for challenges in agricultural production and trading, employment in agricultural production as well as value chain in agricultural products.

The Ethiopian Minister of Agriculture, Wondirad Mandefro, mentioning Ethiopia’s experience indicated that value chain plays an important role in trading agricultural products for African nations. He also said that Ethiopia promotes cotton, sugar and palm as value added products in its agricultural market.

“Africa lacked the capacity to subsidize its small scale farmers who feed the majority of its population. Africa needs the support of the developed nations on how best it can support its smallscale farmers to achieve food security.”

Wondirad also said that the AU’s Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP), provides with the necessary framework to shape agricultural policies for countries on the continent.

Related:
ECDPM Briefing Notes:
The Joint Ministerial was originally scheduled to take place from 29 October to 2 November, but was postponed. This came as a surprise, announced only four days before the start of the meetings in Addis. According to the related AU press release, the reason was the low response and confirmation of attendance by AU Member States. This is worrying, since apparently some African Ministers were not available to start working on the integration of trade and agriculture policies for achieving food security on the continent. Although the postponement may also have been related to the insufficiently advanced technical preparations (background papers, etc.), there is a clear risk that the Ministerial Conference only produces a Declaration, without real commitment or follow-upand very slow implementation. This happened before in other important areas for the development of the Continent (including regional integration and the CFTA itself), and should be avoided.

ECDPM blog Talking points, 07/12/2012. African trade and agriculture ministers sow a seed for closer cooperation. A number of important commitments by Ministers and requests for further work are worth emphasis:

• Accelerating implementation of the Plan of Action for Boosting Intra-Africa Trade in both agricultural commodities and processed food products. Hopefully this will lead to an early deal to liberalise key regional food staples markets, which could bring a significant ‘early harvest’ from negotiations for aContinental Free Trade Area;
• Ensuring that the national and regional compacts and investment plans of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP, i.e. the continent-wide agriculture initiative under implementation in most African countries) are the instruments to define and operationalize trade-agriculture collaboration, and enhancing inter-ministerial Working Groups at national and Regional Economic Communities levels;
• Strengthening the capacity of relevant institutions and producers to effectively participate in these innovative practices and monitor their impact at country level;
• Mandating the African Union Commission, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Agency and the Regional Economic Communities to institutionalize policy dialogue aimed at realizing synergies between agriculture and trade sectors

BBC World Debate Why Poverty?

26 November 2012. BBC. Why is that despite all our advancements, technological progress and increasing wealth, the twin scourges of extreme poverty and inequality still blight the lives of vast numbers of people in the 21st Century?

Joined by the former British prime minister Tony Blair, Oby Ezekwesili, a former Nigerian government minister, Vandana Shiva, a scientist and grassroots activist from India and the South African author Moeletsi Mbeki, Zeinab Badawi hosts the BBC World Debate from Johannesburg.

This Debate is part of a global event hosted by the BBC and 50 other broadcasters around the world. The debate explores the causes of and cures for the enduring problem of severe poverty which still affects many people in the world.

It was recorded in front of a live audience in Johannesburg earlier this year.

Part 1 The causes of poverty
Part 2 The need for opportunity
Part 3 The prospects for Africa
Part 4 The importance of agriculture
Part 5 Possible solutions

CTA Strategic Youth Stakeholder Workshop

14th to 16th November 2012 in Wageningen, The Netherlands. About 25 young professionals, youth champions from ACP countries and partners from international organizations working on Youth in Agriculture and Rural Development were brought together by the CTA to participate in its Strategic Youth Stakeholder Workshop.

CTA presented key elements of its 2011-2015 Strategic Plan abd the Youth in agriculture activities it has been undertaking in three key areas (youth in agricultural science and research, youth in agriculture policies, youths and ICTs).

Some of the organisations which were represented during the workshop included: Yam-Pukri, CARICOM, Caribbean Regional Agricultural Policy Network (CARPAN), Biosecurity Authority of Fiji, Savannah Young Farmers Network, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), Ndola Youth Resource Center, University of Nairobi, FAO, IFAD, Young Professionals' Platform for Agricultural Research for Development (YPARD), African Youth Forum (AFY), Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), SangoNet, International Labor Organization (ILO), and Caribbean Farmers Network (CaFAN).

During the 3-day workshop, the participants shared their experiences allowing for an improved understanding on key issues and initiatives undertaken in ACP countries. With this information, recommendations on the strategic focus areas targeted by CTA youth activities will be validated and potential project ideas, collaborative initiatives and partnerships for future actions will also be identified.