FAO and FARA renew partnership for agricultural research and innovation in Africa
FAO and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa sign 5-year agreement
31 March 2023, Accra – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has signed a five-year partnership agreement with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). The deal renews and formalizes the two organizations’ long collaboration.
Working closely with each other for more than 20 years, FAO and FARA are now pursuing a more strategic and sustainable partnership to facilitate greater collaboration for improved food and agriculture production and productivity in Africa.
“I am proud of what we have achieved so far but we also recognize that there is still room for stronger cooperation,” FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa Abebe Haile-Gabriel said at today’s ceremony at the FAO Regional Office for Africa in Accra, Ghana. “This Memorandum of Understanding will enable us to leverage each other’s strengths, align our actions with national and regional priorities, and deliver tangible results, creating greater impact on the ground,” he said.
“The complex challenges facing Africa’s food security and agriculture call for more effective partnerships and an holistic approach,” said FARA Executive Director Yemi Akinbamijo. “This partnership will help us to jointly identify constraints and co-create solutions. Such a model will bring coherence in actions, enhance coordination and prevent duplication of efforts,” he said.
Working together to advance agricultural research and innovation
FAO and FARA have collaborated on various activities and initiatives since 2003. The new partnership is expected to facilitate greater collaboration, focusing on six areas, namely: capacity development for agricultural research and innovation systems, agriculture policy and advocacy, youth empowerment, response to crises, knowledge co-creation, exchange and data sharing, and joint resource mobilization and partnerships development.
The partnership aims to contribute to the 2063 Agenda of the African Union and specifically to achievement of the CAADP/Malabo Commitments on agricultural growth and transformation, by leveraging science and innovation This partnership will also contribute to achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals through the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.
FARA is attending the African Union Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Coordination Forum meeting in Kigali, Rwanda. As the Secretariat of the African Seed and Biotechnology Partnership Platform (ASBPP) and the coordination unit of the Common African Agro-Parks Programme (CAAPs), FARA contribuites to the goal of enhancing SPS capacity by providing technical support to national and regional organizations in strengthening quality control of agricultural inputs and products to increase cross-border trade. This includes developing knowledge management strategies, supporting the formulation of CSA (climate-smart agriculture) indicators for tracking commitments on Malabo and climate change resilience, conducting regional reviews of trade policies, advocating for intra-African trade, and contributing to strengthening national policies, regional institutional arrangements, and market access.
On March 17, 2023, the heads of the six GFAR Regional Fora (AARINENA, APAARI, CACAARI, EFARD, FARA, and FORAGRO) signed a Declaration to establish a Global NARS Consortium (GNC) and entrusted it to GFAR.
The Regional Fora represent diverse stakeholders involved in agrifood systems transformation and agricultural research, specifically the National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) in their regions.
The Declaration calls for collective action to strengthen and revitalize NARS in the rapidly changing global context through the creation of a Global NARS Consortium (GNC) within GFAR. The GNC will seek to strengthen the global voice, enhance the influence, and improve the resource base and capacities of NARS as well as strengthen the collaboration and linkages among partners.
The Declaration was witnessed by high level representatives from the CGIAR and IFAD, and the representatives of the NARS of Australia, Iran and Vietnam.
The GFAR Regional Fora agreed to operationalize the GNC, in consultation with relevant national, regional and global institutions, networks and organizations, undertaking to facilitate the implementation of a roadmap by 2025, to mark the 30th year of GFAR’s existence.
The leadership of FARA and CCARDESA led by Ms Bongiwe Njobe, a FARA Board member, Dr Yemi Akinbamijo (FARA Executive Director), Prof. Cliff Dlamini (Executive Director of CCARDESA), in the company of Mr Simon Mukeze (CCARDESA Finance Manager), held a meeting with Honorable Jabulani Mabuza, Minister of Agriculture, Kingdom of Eswatini on the state of preparedness of the Eighth African Agribusiness and Science Week (AASW8) which has been planned to take place in Durban during the week of June 5, 2023.
The AASW is the foremost continental platform of all African stakeholders involved in agriculture and agribusiness research and innovation. The forum assembles over 1,500 stakeholders to take stock of progress on research and innovation, share information, network, create business alliances, and map out priorities for joint action. The 8th edition of the AASW will be held in Durban, South Africa, from June 5 to 8, 2023. It will focus on a topical issue on the Continent, including strengthening linkages between agribusiness and science and innovation to improve its productivity and competitiveness in the agro-industry.
The meeting secured the commitment of the Honourable Minister of Agriculture of Eswatini, the vivid engagement of the agriculture private sector practitioners, and the science community of Eswatini towards the Durban meeting. The Minister expressed his appreciation and optimism that the AASW will help strengthen and stimulate engagements of relevant stakeholders for accelerating the continent’s agricultural productivity, particularly for the Kingdom of Eswatini.
From left: Dr Yemi Akinbamijo, Hon Jabulani Mabuza, Ms Bongiwe Njobe, Mr Simon Mukeze & Prof. Cliff Dlamini
The meeting also created opportunities for greater collaboration between the stakeholders of the Kingdom of Eswatini and Agriculture Research for Development (ARD) institutions. Both parties expressed optimism that this collaboration would positively change the efforts to strengthen research, business, and policy linkages and achieve better outcomes for Africa’s agricultural sector.
The training on Communication and Knowledge Management targets third parties of the Strengthening Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Ecosystem for Inclusive Rural Transformation and Livelihoods in Eastern Africa (AIRTEA) Project. The project is funded by the Organization of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS) through ACP-Innovation Fund, which is financed by the European Union (EU) through the 11th European Development Fund (EDF).
The workshop, which runs up to March 10, 2023, is designed to strengthen the capacities of implementing partners in collective learning, knowledge exchange, and communication, as well as prepare Third Party project outputs in preparation for the Annual AIRTEA Project review. The products developed by third-party partners will be disseminated widely including during the Africa Agribusiness Science Week (AASW8) side event.
Addressing third-party stakeholders Mr. Benjamin Abugri, the Knowledge Management Cluster Lead, FARA, said that the training will equip project beneficiaries with the right tools and skills to advance agricultural communication and knowledge sharing and learning and will advance the fortunes of African farmer/agripreneur and provide visibility for the funder.
The project lead, Dr. Antwi Kwaku, in his welcome remarks emphasized the need for effective communication of project activities to achieve the intended impacts of the various third-party projects. “There is a need to communicate our achievements, not only to ourselves but to broader stakeholders by using appropriate communication and knowledge management guidelines and tools,” he noted.
ASARECA Technical Communications Officer, Mr. Ben Moses Ilakut said Communication and Knowledge management are critical in the delivery of Agricultural Research and extension outputs. “Knowledge management and communication are key to the realization of the project’s objectives. The communication and visibility plan of the project highlights how partners and stakeholders communicate internally amongst themselves and with external partners to achieve the projects objective,” he said.
The consortium members consider Knowledge management and communication as key to the realization of the project’s objectives. The communication and visibility plan of the project highlights how partners and stakeholders would communicate internally amongst themselves and externally among stakeholders in order to achieve the project’s objective of contributing to sustainable agrarian livelihoods and rural transformation by fostering an inclusive innovation environment.
The Board of Directors of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, during its 31st Ordinary session held March 1-3 at the Lancaster Hotel Accra, Ghana, performed one of the key statutory functions of the Board in conducting the successful appointment process of the next Executive Director of FARA.
The process was flagged off by the constitution of the Recruitment Advisory Committee (RAC) and endorsed by the Board of Directors at its 29th Ordinary Session with the competitive recruitment of a Search Firm that has meticulously facilitated the recruitment process. At the close of its 31st Session, the Board is happy to announce the appointment of Dr Aggrey AGUMYA as the next Executive Director of FARA pending ratification by the General Assembly in June 2023.
Dr Aggrey Agumya, Executive Director Designate, FARA
Aggrey Agumya, a Ugandan national, will become the third Executive Director and Head of Mission of FARA coming after Monty P Jones and Yemi Akinbamijo. An alumnus of the University of Melbourne, Aggrey holds a doctorate degree in Geo-Information Sciences. He comes to this exciting position at such a momentous period in the evolution of FARA. Dr Agumya has been a part of the FARA story for the last 17 years when he joined the Secretariat as a Programme Officer of the sub-Saharan Africa Challenge Programme (SSA-CP), a well-recognized continental Flagship programme of FARA. Thereafter, he served in key programme and leadership positions in FARA, including as Technical Advisor to the two Executive Directors. In 2020, Aggrey was appointed as the Director of Research and Innovation at the Secretariat, where he also serves as the de facto Deputy Executive Director. It is noteworthy that Dr Agumya has been closely associated with most of the significant achievements of FARA, wherein he has served at the Director level for half as long as he has been a staff of FARA. Aggrey comes ready with an intimate understanding of the context, configurations, corporate philosophy and partnerships of the agriculture research and innovation institutions in Africa.
On behalf of the FARA Board of Directors, I am honoured to present Dr Aggrey Agumya as the Executive Director-Designate as we await further details of the imminent leadership transition at the FARA Secretariat. We all wish Aggrey a fruitful tenure as he takes the institution to the next level.
It will be recalled that the incumbent Executive Director – Dr Yemi Akinbamijo, has meritoriously served a two-term tenure since July 2013, and his current tenure will lapse in July 2023.
