3rd PAFO Continental Briefing

Advancing African agriculture through agribusiness development

28-29 November 2015, Durban, South Africa

 Organised by the Panafrican Farmer’s Organisations (PAFO) and the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA)

Organised in the context of the GFIA

3rd Continental Briefing Logo

Follow live on twitter @ctaflash @ctabrussels #ContBrief #GFIAAfrica 

This Briefing is linked to the Brussels Briefings organized by the CTA, EC/DGDEVCO, ACP Group and Concord every two months on key issues related to agriculture in ACP countries.

The continent’s leaders have renewed their commitment to transforming agriculture as a driver of job creation, improved incomes, and access to nutritious food.  The Heads of State and Government of the African Union met at the 23rd Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, from 26-27 June 2014, on the Theme of the African Year of Agriculture and Food Security: “Transforming Africa’s Agriculture for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods through Harnessing Opportunities for Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development, also marking the tenth Anniversary of the Adoption of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP)”. The Malabo Declaration highlights Commitment to Enhancing Investment Finance, both public and private, to agriculture, and creates and enhances necessary appropriate policy and institutional conditions and support systems for facilitation of private investment in agriculture, agri-business and agro-industries, by giving priority to local investors.
The need to transform the African agri-business sector is a development challenge as it involves small-scale and family farmers who are the largest private investors into African agriculture.
Promoting innovative business models in African countries opens up new business opportunities, helps raise efficiency and advances national economic development. However, only a few agribusiness companies pursue the goal of sustainable agriculture, with a view to improving local and regional food production and trade. More analysis needs to be carried out into the successes on the ground of those companies, and into ways of upscaling them through new transformative partnerships.

The Briefing objectives are to: (i) highlight the key opportunities in agribusiness development favourable to the farmer’s organisations; (ii) promote sustainable and inclusive PPPs in support of agribusiness development; and (iii) identify new opportunities in data and ICTs in support of agribusiness and agricultural development in the continent.

This Briefing will feed into the GFIA Conference to be held in Durban on 1-3 December 2015.


Programme & Background Note

Photos

Biodata of speakers 

Additional Resources:

– Reader: In depth research document from the Brussels Development Briefings on  Agricultural Transformation in Africa,  Value Chains Finance, and Data Revolution for Agriculture

– Resources on PPP

Launch of the Food Security Portal for Africa South of the Sahara

*** Programme ***

Saturday 28 November

 13h00-14h45   Registration

15h00-15h15   Welcome and introductory remarks: Theo de Jager, President, PAFO; Michael Hailu, Director, CTA.

15h15-17h30 Session: Successes from farmer’s-led business  

 This session will present some of the cases of farmer’s led business which have been documented by the FOs since the last PAFO Briefing held in Nairobi in July 2014. In some cases, linkages have been made with the financial institutions. The session will also identify new opportunities to move forward this agenda.

Chair: Theo de Jager, President, PAFO

Context and achievements: Isolina Boto, Manager, CTA [Presentation]
– East Africa (Oromia Coffee, Ethopia; Nucafe Coffee, Igara Tea, Kapchorwa District farmers association, Uganda; and Limuru dairy co-operative Kenya) EAFF

– West Africa (Fédération des Professionnels Agricoles du Burkina (FEPA-B) on maize; La Fédération des unions des coopératives des producteurs du Niger (FUCOPRI) on rice) ROPPA

– Central Africa (FNEC on livestock in Central Africa; ABBON on soya in Congo; Sooopmata in Cameroon for cassava) PROPAC

 Discussion

  Sunday 29 November

 9h00-11h00 Session : New opportunities for Agribusiness development

This panel will discuss the drivers of agribusiness development in EU and regional markets favourable to farmers’ organisations and new market opportunities. It will bring perspectives from policy makers, private sector and finance.

Chair: Philip Kiriro, President, EAFF

– Agricultural trade, regional integration and new opportunities for agribusiness
Mmatlou Kalaba, International Trade Economist, Pretoria University [Presentation]

– Successes from the African private sector in the development of agribusiness
Daniel Gad, Managing Director, Omega Farms & Ethiopian Horticulture Co-operative

– Regional trade and agribusiness development: the experience in the COMESA region
George Magai, Director of Trade and Markets for ACTESA, COMESA [Presentation]

– The perspective of input suppliers
Erick Rajaonary, CEO, Guanomad [Presentation|Video|Guanomad]

 Discussion

11h15-13h00 Session: New opportunities for Agribusiness development through improved financing

This panel will discuss the drivers of agribusiness development in EU and regional markets favourable to farmers’ organisations and new market opportunities. It will bring perspectives from policy makers, private sector and finance.

– Opportunities in the EU Market for agrifood products and PPPs
Francis Fay, Head of Unit for ACP Policy, European Commission/DG Agriculture and Rural Development, ACP Countries and Development Issues [Presentation]

– Financing agribusiness: new trends and opportunities
Elias Masilela,Executive Chairman, DNA Economics

– Innovative funding for agribusiness SMEs
Francois Stepman, Platform for African – European Partnership in ARD [Presentation]

14h00- 16h00 Session: Data-driven farming, Big data and Precision Agriculture 

This session will look at new opportunities offered by Big data and ICTs successful applications to farmers in various areas supporting agribusiness. The session will also map specific gaps and needs which need to be addressed for farmer‘s organisations.

Chair: Theo de Jager, President, PAFO

– Open data for agriculture: new opportunities for farmers
Andre Laperrierre, Director, Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) [Presentation|GODAN]

– Precision agriculture: a reality for Smallholder farmers?
Chris Addison, Senior Coordinator, Knowledge management

– Agriconnexions: A new ICT approach to supporting Farmers Organisation services
Getaw Tadesse, Researcher, IFPRI [Presentation|Executive Summary]

-Agricultural Data and the Food Security Portal (FSP-SSA)
Summer Allen, Research Coordinator, Markets, Trends and Institutions,  International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) [Presentation|FSP-SSA]

Discussion

16h15- 17h30 Session: The way forward 

Action plan to promote Agribusiness and PPPs favourable to farmers organisations.

 Conclusions and Closure