4th PAFO Continental Briefing and 1st PAFO Youth Forum

logos-for-4th-pafo-briefing

 The future of African farming and agribusiness:
New opportunities for youth

   6th-9th October 2016, Accra, Ghana

In the context of the African Agribusiness Incubators Network Conference and Expo 2016
MPlaza Hotel

Twitter: use  #AAINTSB  + #ContBrief  & follow @CTAflash 


Organised by the Panafrican Farmer’s Organisation (PAFO) and the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA)
With the partnership of AgriCord

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

RESOURCES

Read about CTA at the 2nd Pan African Agri-Business Incubators Conference and Expo

Successful Farmer-Led Agribusiness Models:
– Cooperative Business Models in Uganda: The Case of Nyakyera-Rukoni Area Cooperative Enterprise (NRACE) (by Paul Thangata, 2015)
– Smallholder Cashew Business Model in Tanzania: Lessons from the Tandahimba Newala Cooperative Union (TANECU) Ltd. (by Paul Thangata, 2015)

More Info:
Brussels Briefing 45: Smart Farming in Africa (July 2016, Brussels)
– 3rd African Continental Briefing:  Agribusiness & PPPs (December 2015, Durban)
2nd African Continental Briefing: Finance 4 Farmers (July 2014, Nairobi)

Learn more:
– Second Pan African Agribusiness Conference opens in Accra, Ghana
– African agribusiness incubation conference opens in Ghana

CONTEXT

The 4th PAFO Continental Briefing will focus on realising the potential of smart farming and youth entrepreneurship for African agribusiness. Taking place in the context of the African Agribusiness Incubators Network Conference and Expo 2016, the Briefing will provide an unparalleled opportunity to bring the umbrella organisation of the regional farmer’s organisations and its members together with youth agribusiness innovators in a forum attended by the leading agribusiness private and public sector representatives, successful agribusiness innovators, and stakeholders representing agriculture, technology and finance who are debating and developing solutions that are transforming Africa’s agricultural landscape.

The focus being Youth, the selected young farmers and entrepreneurs will be invited to attend the 3 days of African Agribusiness Incubators Network (AAIN) Conference & Expo in Accra and notably to the session on Youth engagement in agribusiness and agri-sessions for start-ups.

A side event to the AAIN Conference will be organised between PAFO members previously, the date and time will be provided when the agenda will be determined.

The 5th October will be a PAFO/AAIN/CTA Youth Day with sessions on agribusinesses successes and policies and tools to support them.

PAFO BRIEFING: PAFO YOUTH STRATEGY

The proposed sessions for the Briefing are:

  1. Youth Led Agribusiness Successes
    Innovative and successful agribusiness cases and new business opportunities will be shown and explored during this session, with a focus on the factors for success, including the processes and partnerships which have supported these successes. Lessons learned, opportunities for scaling up and out, and potential replication of the successes will be a priority outcome for this session.
  1. Investment in Agribusiness Services
    Participants in this session will discuss key issues related to the provision of innovative, competitive and accessible agribusiness services for farmers. The challenges faced in service development and delivery, and the opportunities for investment by various stakeholders, particularly in the context of PPPs, will be explored. A key priority will be the identification of lessons learnt from successful initiatives, and action needed from farmers, FOs, private and public sectors to overcome bottlenecks and create incentives for greater innovation and scaling up of service delivery.
  1. Smart Farming and the role of young farmers and entrepreneurs
    The goal of this session will be to advance the dialogue and share best practices on smart farming, mechanisation and technology-based innovations for farmers and agribusiness in Africa, improved uptake of appropriate data and ICT tools for African farmers, establishing better information baselines in respect of the technology needs of farmers, existing and successful agritech and mechanisation solutions. It will also identify partnership opportunities at various levels.
  1. Enhancing Policy Dialogue and Partnership Engagement
    Empowering PAFO and its members to engage with and drive policy dialogue with stakeholders is critical for promoting an enabling environment for the future of agriculture in Africa, both in terms of youth capacity and technology. This session will focus on strategies and priorities for developing, identifying and scaling up successful policy dialogue within PAFO and its members, and how partners can work with FOs to support this objective.
  1. Towards a PAFO Youth Strategy
    This session led by youth will aim at exploring a Youth Strategy for PAFO, identifying the key issues that can be addressed by the strategy and the priorities and strategic areas it should reflect. It will build on existing frameworks within its membership (for example, ROPPA’s Collège des femmes et des jeunes and SACAU’s Regional Young Farmers’ Forum). Strengths and weaknesses of the current approach will be discussed with a view to developing a clear plan of action to deliver a visionary, inclusive and sound Youth Strategy.

PARTICIPANTS AND EXPECTED RESULTS

The invited participants will represent the African Regional Farmers Organizations, Youth representatives, Co-organisers and development partners and experts/speakers on the selected areas, as well as Experts from relevant disciplines (ICTs, agribusiness, financial institutions…) and Partner organisations (local, regional, international).
Expected results are:
Exchange of experience around successes and potential opportunities for young farmers and entrepreneurs in agribusiness

  • Hands-on sessions on applications of smart-farming tools which facilitate production, market access and management of resources
  • Design of 1-2 regional projects for investment in youth in agribusiness
  • Innovation space for youth in agribusiness and PAFO Youth in agribusiness platform
  • PAFO Youth strategy designed

 Programme

Thursday 6 October afternoon (Conference Centre)
The 6th October afternoon is dedicated to ICT training especially training on the use of social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) for professional purposes.

Friday 7 October: Field visit (Nsawam – a district in the Eastern Region of Ghana)

The field visit, exclusive for CTA-supported participants, is dedicated to smart farming applications to visualise and better understand smart farming technologies accessible and affordable to farmers’ organisations and small-scale farmers.

Thus, CTA organises a field demonstration about the use of drones for agriculture. The demonstration will be carried out by different service providers, AIRINOV having headquarters in France and Uhurulabs in Tanzania. It will include presentations of hardware and software used; the launch of drones and observing them flying at different altitudes. Participants will be exposed to different types of drones (fixed wing and quadcopter) and flights at different altitudes which will generate imagery at variable resolutions and for different usages. The drone operators will explain how the devices are operated, data captured and analysed.

Saturday 8 October

8:00-9:00       Registration

9:00-9:15      Introductory remarks: PAFO, CTA. AUC

 9:15-11:00 Panel 1: Youth Led Agribusiness Successes
This panel will discuss innovative and successful agribusiness cases and new business opportunities will be shown and explored with a focus on the factors for success, including the processes and partnerships which have supported these successes. Lessons learned, opportunities for scaling up and out, and potential replication of the successes will be a priority outcome for this session.

Panelists:

– Mrs Caroline Nabukonde (Uganda)
– Youth Participation in agro-processing in Malawi: The case of Lakeshore Agro-Processing Enterprise (LAPE)
Mrs Maness Ngoma Nkhata, SACAU Young Farmers Forum, Malawi
– Famers-led successful business models: lessons learned
Mrs Marie Joseph Medzeme, value chain expert, PROPAC
– Successes in youth-led agribusiness
Mr Ken Lohento, Coordinator, ARDYIS, CTA

11:00-11:15  Coffee break

11:15-13:00 Panel 2:  Investment in Agribusiness Services
Participants in this session will discuss key issues related to the provision of innovative, competitive and accessible agribusiness services for farmers. The challenges faced in service development and delivery, and the opportunities for investment by various stakeholders, particularly in the context of PPPs, will be explored. A key priority will be the identification of lessons learnt from successful initiatives, and action needed from farmers, FOs, private and public sectors to overcome bottlenecks and create incentives for greater innovation and scaling up of service delivery.

Panelists: Discussion on capacity building programme

-Mrs Stella Tsiko (Congo)
– Investment in Agribusiness Services: Starting and growing a business from limited resources – success factors
Mr Sibusiso Gule, SACAU Young Farmers Forum, Swaziland
– Transforming services delivering with data management
Mr Chris Addison, Senior Coordinatorm, Data4Ag, CTA

13:00-14:00  Lunch

 14:00-15:45 Panel 3:  Smart Farming and the role of young farmers and entrepreneurs
The goal of this session will be to advance the dialogue and share best practices on smart farming, mechanisation and technology-based innovations for farmers and agribusiness in Africa, improved uptake of appropriate data and ICT tools for African farmers, establishing better information baselines in respect of the technology needs of farmers, existing and successful agritech and mechanisation solutions. It will also identify partnership opportunities at various levels.

Panelists:
– Mr Michael Neligwa (Tanzania)
– Smart Farming and the role of young farmers and entrepreneurs: Smart Management of a poultry farm by a young farmer
Mr Teboho Mosebo, SACAU Farmers’ Forum, Lesotho
– UAVs for Agriculture: the potential for young farmers
Mr Giacomo Rambaldi, Senior Coordinator, ICT4Ag, CTA

 15:45-16:00  Coffee break

 16:00-17:45 Panel 4:  Enhancing Policy Dialogue and Partnership Engagement
Empowering PAFO and its members to engage with and drive policy dialogue with stakeholders is critical for promoting an enabling environment for the future of agriculture in Africa, both in terms of youth capacity and technology. This session will focus on strategies and priorities for developing, identifying and scaling up successful policy dialogue within PAFO and its members, and how partners can work with FOs to support this objective.

Panelists:

– The Impact of State and Organizational policies in promoting youth in Agriculture – the case of Southern Africa
Mr Benito Eliasi (SACAU)
– Youth in AR4D case study of the PAEPARD project
Mrs Marygoretti Gachagua (EAFF)
– Enhancing Policy Dialogue and Partnership Engagement: Linking Young farmers with Services providers – Sokoine initiatiave in Tanzania
Ms. Magdalene Shirima (SACAU Young Farmers Forum)
– Partnership engagement for PAFO youth
Fatma Ben Rajeb, CEO, PAFO
– Supporting young farmers in policy dialogue: opportunities and next steps
Isolina Boto, Manager CTA Brussels Office, CTA

 Conclusion 1st day.

Sunday 9 October morning

9:00-9:15      Wrap up of the 1st day

9;15-11:00  Working Groups / Plenary: Towards a PAFO Youth Strategy

11:00-11:15  Coffee break

11:15-13:00 Working Groups / Plenary: Towards a PAFO Youth Strategy (Continuation)

Closing

Lunch