ENTEBBE: The ASARECA Board of Directors has appointed Dr. Enock Warinda as the Interim Executive Director of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA).
The appointment that became effective on 20thApril 2021 places Dr. Warinda at the helm of the 14 member country institutions, with a well cut out job for him, especially in providing leadership in the development of strategic initiatives for resourcing ASARECA to fulfill its Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) mandate. His appointment also comes at a time when institutions have to innovate to maintain productivity amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reacting to the appointment, Dr. Warinda said, “I am extremely humbled by the trust the Board of Directors has given me to steer the Association whose mandate is to ensure improvement of agriculture-based livelihoods in the sub-region. I pledge to live up to the expectations of our Board, the Development Partners and the stakeholders across the region.
The Board noted that Dr. Warinda will serve in the position until the process of selecting a new substantive Executive Director is completed. This comes after the out-going Executive Director, Prof. Jean Jacques Mbonigaba Muhinda announced that he would be leaving the institution to take up another assignment in Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).
In an exit brief to the ASARECA constituents and partners, Prof. Mobigaba said, “I can tell with confidence that I am leaving behind a strong and hardworking team that will deliver the ASARECA program expectations.” He further stated that, “I take this opportunity to thank all our partners for the wonderful collaboration we enjoyed together in making ASARECA better.”
(L-R) Dr. Warinda; Dr. Imelda Kasaija, ASARECA National Focal Person for Uganda; Prof. Mbonigaba; and H.E Rhoda Tumusiime, the Chairperson ASARECA High Level Advisory Panel (HLAP) during a ceremony to bid farewell to Prof. Mbonigaba and to welcome Dr. Warinda
Until his latest appointment, Dr. Warinda has been serving as Deputy Executive Director, ASARECA since his elevation to that position on 1stNovember 2019.
Dr. Warinda has a PhD in Agricultural Economics and Master of Arts in M&E (among other qualifications), and substantial experience in ASARECA, the Eastern and Central Africa sub-region as well as within the Continental AR4D sphere.
He has worked in the AR4D arena for the last 23 years. He served the Association from February 2010 to August 2015 before leaving ASARECA briefly to join the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) in South Africa as the Work Package Manager.
Thereafter, he joined the Continental AR4D apex body, Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) as Lead Specialist – Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning. He rejoined ASARECA in November 2017 to continue serving the Eastern and Central Africa sub-region as the Theme Leader—Monitoring, Evaluation and Knowledge Management in ASARECA.
The appointment comes at the time when ASARECA is aggressively making a case for unflinching commitments by the African Governments to finance regionally facilitated AR4D agenda to enhance food and nutrition security as well as to enhance the livelihood of smallholder farming households. ASARECA is also making a case to the Development Partners to complement Government efforts to address trans-boundary issues such as pests and diseases, trade policies, access to markets, and generation and transfer of priority regional and national technologies and innovations, among others.
After nearly 35 years of service to Africa’s research and development (R&D), Prof. Abdulai Jalloh has retired. Professor Jalloh’s career took him through the national agriculture research system of his native Sierra Leone to CORAF, where he served as the Manager of the Natural Resources Management Program (2009–2015) and as its Director of Research and Innovation (DRI) between 2018 and 2021. In-between (2016-2017), he coordinated a program funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (African Cassava Agronomy Initiative) at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Ibadan, Nigeria.
Recognition of his Contribution
Most of Professor Jalloh’s career in the past decade was dedicated to advancing the mission and vision of CORAF, Africa’s largest sub-regional research coordination instrument.
When he rejoined the organization in 2018, CORAF was about adopting its new strategic direction focused on enhancing food and nutrition security in West and Central Africa. When the current Operational Plan was adopted, it was estimated to cost over USD 60 million. With many more organizations competing for the same funding sources, raising this amount could be a daunting exercise. But Professor Jalloh provided vital support to the Executive Director of CORAF and the Executive Secretariat team to meet this challenge.
“I cannot express how grateful I am that I have had a chance to work with you for so many years. They have been among the most difficult and yet among the best years of my career,” said Dr. Abdou Tenkouano, Executive Director of CORAF, during the farewell ceremony in honor of Professor Jalloh.
Bittersweet Feeling
Departing an organization, one has served for more than ten years is hard. “I have mixed feelings,” said Professor Jalloh as he prepared to take his deserved retirement. On the one hand, he was delighted to return home to meet his family and continue supporting the development of his country, but also nostalgic about the excellent memories he had experienced with his many colleagues in CORAF.
“What I am most happy about is the progress we have been able to make in terms of achieving the targets that we assigned to us in the Operational Plan,” said Professor Jalloh during an exit interview on Agripreneur TV.
While Professor Jalloh intends to spend more time with the family and rest more, he said he would spend more time coaching and mentoring young students.
Despite positive and ongoing gains in economic development in many African countries, hunger is on the rise, impacting some 246 million people. The Covid-19 pandemic has shone a spotlight on the cracks in the continent’s food systems, already under strain from climate change, conflict and pests. Increased investments and expanded partnerships are urgently needed to promote Africa’s agricultural transformation through technology and innovation.
The online forum will bring together African heads of state, senior government officials, heads of multilateral development banks, development partners, regional organizations, research institutions, business leaders, private sector operators, investment agencies, academia, civil society organizations and experts from across Africa and beyond.
The event will:
Secure political commitments at the highest level of leadership to replicate success across the continent;
Showcase impactful stories to secure resources and replicate in priority commodities across the continent;
Demonstrate what is working in regional agricultural research for development, and what needs to be done to sustain investments;
Arrive at a shared vision for mobilizing investments to produce technology and innovation that transform African food systems.
The Feeding Africa high-level dialogue will conclude with a communiqué that will contribute to the pre-Food Systems Summit in Rome in July 2021, and the United Nations Food Systems Summit later in the year.
This year’s International Women’s Day is celebrated in such unprecedented times. As the continent and, more specifically, the agricultural community start to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic slowly, it presents an opportunity to build back better. However, to do that requires immediate, practical actions that choose to challenge the systemic issues that have prevented the full participation of women in Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D).
Women in Africa’s AR4D face multiple challenges, including systemic discrimination in accessing land, the burden of unpaid work, and lower wages compared to their male counterparts[1]. Women are also often excluded from leadership and decision-making positions at all levels. As such, on this year’s international women’s day, FARA urges the recognition of all women leaders in Africa’s AR4D and the women who play a significant role in the transformation of Africa’s food system.
Women produce 60-80 percent[2] of the world’s food; therefore, ensuring that women have opportunities to make food systems more sustainable increases the chances that such a transformation will succeed. Acknowledging women’s role, FARA continues to lobby regional, sub-regional, national, and global partners to increase investment in gender-smart approaches for advancing Science Technology and Innovations within Africa’s AR4D. FARA also advocates for increased gender equity at the policy and strategic level through the 2021 United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) “One Africa Voice dialogue” and CAADP Ex Pillar 4 program.
FARA is also advancing gender equity through AfDB’s Feed Africa’s strategy under the program: Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) Capacity Development and Outreach (CDTO) enabler compact. Notably, a holistic approach must be adopted to overcome challenges and improve women’s economic empowerment. While interventions would typically focus on impacts or outcomes, FARA advocates for practices that review the pathways between intervention and outcome. As such, these approaches have been applied in the TAAT CDTO framework.
Given that the 2016 Africa Human Development Report suggests that gender inequality costs Sub-Saharan Africa approximately 95 USD billion per year[3], investing in gender-smart approaches to agribusiness might lead to economic benefits. This is also observed by McKinsey Global Institute that 12-28 USD trillion[4] could be added to the global economy if women achieved parity with men in economic outcomes. Therefore, women leaders are an essential catalyst for change, as they serve to empower other women, raise awareness, and act as role models.
As FARA celebrates this year’s International Women’s Day, we recognize the vital contribution of women in Africa’s agricultural economy and look forward to carrying out joint action plans in increasing the participation of women in AR4D. This year’s International Women’s Day presents an opportunity to lobby partners towards challenging the systemic and institutional barriers that have prevented women from fully participating in Science, Technology and Innovations to enhance the continent’s food system.
[1] “Box 1: Progress towards Gender Equality in Wages, Where Do We Stand?,” Global Gender Gap Report 2020 (blog), accessed March 8, 2021, https://wef.ch/2rPU0C7.
[2] “What’s the Truth about the Role of Women in Agriculture Today?,” Water, Land and Ecosystems, February 28, 2018, https://wle.cgiar.org/thrive/big-questions/what-truth-about-role-women-agriculture-today.
[3] C. Leigh Anderson et al., “Economic Benefits of Empowering Women in Agriculture: Assumptions and Evidence,” The Journal of Development Studies 57, no. 2 (February 1, 2021): 193–208, https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2020.1769071.
A new annual event examines root and soil health’s importance for food security, livelihoods and climate resilience and marks the launch of a community for root and soil health action.
The first One Earth Root and Soil Health Forum took place on March 1. Over 800 people attended to discuss how to
unlock the potential of better soil and root health to help transform food systems. The Forum brought together
experts from farming, international organizations, NGOs, academia and the public and private sectors. Together they
called for collective action in science and technology targeting the early stages of plant growth.
The main emphasis this year was on Africa, which has around 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land.
However, parallel workshops focusing on Turkey, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa enabled tailored
discussions in regional languages. Plenary keynote speakers were Erik Fyrwald (Syngenta Group CEO and Chairman
of the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture) and Dr. Ismahane Elouafi (Chief Scientist at the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization).
Erik Fyrwald underlined that “everything starts with soil. It is the foundation of productive farming practices – with
healthy soil, you can have healthy plants, healthy people and a healthy planet. By acting on soil health through
regenerative agriculture practices, we are acting on climate change, biodiversity loss and food security, as well as
improving farmer livelihoods. The One Earth Soil and Root Health Forum helps an international community shift
towards achieving this – together.”
Dr Ismahane Elouafi noted that “healthy soils are the foundation for agriculture, as they provide 95% of our food.
Soils also provide fuel, fiberand medical products, and play a key role in the carbon cycle, storing and filtering water,
and improving resilience to floods and droughts.”
Speaking on the opening panel, Michael Misiko, Africa Agriculture Director of The Nature Conservancy, noted that
“climate change is inseparable from the life and health of our soils and the roots that must thrive within them.”
Underlining the importance of awareness raising action, Dr. Abdelfattah Dababat (Senior Scientist, Country
Representative for Turkey, CIMMYT) underlined that “growers basically do not recognize soil/root health to be a
problem.
Most of them are not aware of the root rot diseases and soil health issues in their fields, affecting their
yield. This is why the term “hidden enemy” applies perfectly. Root and soil health management is therefore, not
practiced and those yield losses are simply accepted.”
Speakers also underlined the link between soil and root health and the long-term economic productivity and the
welfare of societies. Other points raised included technologies measuring soil health and their role in enabling
informed decision-making by farmers and scientists. The importance of empowering smallholders and enabling
access to modern technologies was also underlined as was the importance of public-private sector collaboration in
achieving this.
Speakers in the opening panel were Dr. Michael Misiko (Africa Agriculture Director, TNC), Mandla Nkomo (Managing
Director for Southern Africa, Solidaridad), Prof Richard Sikora (Former Head Soil-Ecosystem Phytopathology,
University of Bonn) and Steve Maund (Head CP R&D Sustainability, Syngenta).
The panel was moderated by Redi Tlhabi (member of the UN Global Journalists Corps, author and award-winning broadcaster).
Speakers in the concluding panel were Dr. Abdelfattah A. Dababat (Senior Scientist, Country Representative for
Turkey, CIMMYT), Debisi Araba (Managing Director, African Green Revolution Forum), Yemi Akinbamijo (Executive
Director, Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa), Azariah Soi, (President, African Seed Trade Association) and Luc
Henry (Seedcare Head AME, Syngenta). The panel was moderated by Neva Sadikoglu-Novaky (Business Sustainability
Lead at Syngenta).
The different parallel sessions covered
i) solutions for soil borne diseases in protecting and enhancing root health, ii)supporting smallholder farmers to improve the health and fertility of their soils and the opportunities for public
and private sectors to engage, iii) no tillage technologies and seed treatment for soil and root health and iv) the state
of nematode soil pest pressures. The negative impact of conventional tillage systems include soil erosion and carbon
emissions. The importance therefore of no tillage technologies was analysed.
Health underfoot: why roots and soil are important Around 95% of the food we eat grows in the earth.
However, more than one-third of the world’s soils are degraded; without rapid action, this figure could rise to 90% by 2050. Soil erosion decreasesthe water, nutrients and root-space available to plants. Healthy roots enable better use of nutrients and water. They help produce more shoots and leaves from each seed, enabling farmers to produce more food and soil to capture more carbon. Healthy roots also help tackle soil erosion. Soil and root health help mitigate climate change. More carbon already resides in soil than in the atmosphere and all plant life combined. Studies show that there are 2,500 billion tons of carbon in soil, compared with 800 billion tons in the atmosphere and 560 billion tons in plant and animal life. Healthier soil can store even more. Healthy plants with good roots capture further carbon from the atmosphere.
The Forum was organized by Agventure, Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa
(ASARECA), African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA), Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), International Maize and
Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Rizobacter, Seed Co Limited, Syngenta Seedcare, the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable
Agriculture, Solidaridad and The Nature Conservancy (TNC).
Africa’s youth need investment, not ’empowerment’, to realise the continent’s potential and support food security, says the head of the African Development Bank
By Megan Rowling
BARCELONA, Jan 29 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The African Development Bank plans to deploy billions of dollars to help young people build a new digitally-driven model of agriculture that can feed the continent’s people and boost prosperity even as the planet heats up, its president said.
At a global summit this week, the bank and the Global Center on Adaptation announced an initiative to strengthen African efforts to become more resilient to extreme weather and rising seas, threats worsened by fast-accelerating climate change.
The African Development Bank plans to put half of its climate finance towards the initiative – $12.5 billion between now and 2025 – and raise an equal amount from donor governments, the private sector and international climate funds.
Akinwumi Adesina, a former Nigerian agriculture minister who leads the bank, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that Africa is struggling on two fronts – with the economic and health fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as climate shocks.
Drought, floods, creeping deserts and climate-fuelled locust attacks are forcing down crop yields and driving up hunger and migration on the continent, he said.
“It’s a double disaster,” the bow-tie-wearing official said in a video interview. “We’ve got to change this and give Africa what it needs to be able to adapt well to climate change.”
Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of the Netherlands-based Global Center on Adaptation, which has a regional office in Abidjan, said Africa was the continent most vulnerable to climate change, despite producing only 5% of global planet-heating emissions.
The new programme is an opportunity “to put adaptation on steroids”, by focusing on improved food production, climate-resilient infrastructure, youth entrepreneurship and better access to finance, he said in an online interview.
African countries are putting more of their financial resources towards adapting to climate change, he noted, even as their budgets are stretched by the pandemic.
“But there is still a massive gap. That gap needs to be filled, and it needs to be filled urgently,” he added.
David Kayi, a Hello Tractor engineer, explains how the Hello Tractor mobile phone application works to Pascal Kaumbutho of Agrichem Africa, at a hay farm in Umande village in Nanyuki, Kenya February 4, 2020. REUTERS/Njeri Mwangi
INVESTMENT NOT ‘EMPOWERMENT’
Two goals of the new Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program are increasing farmers’ access to digital services to help them cope with erratic weather and providing finance to young entrepreneurs to set up agricultural businesses, Adesina said.
The bank plans to use its capital to leverage $3 billion more to support about 10,000 new youth-led companies in areas such as food logistics, distribution and green technology, and to educate 1 million young people on adaptation, its chief said.
It will reduce the risks for commercial banks to lend to young people and provide youths with training and skills to become so-called “agripreneurs”.
Adesina, a winner of the World Food Prize, said the number of African youth – now about 250 million – would exceed 840 million by 2050, and they needed to be part of the solution to climate change, even though it was a problem they did not cause.
“What we do with them today will determine the future of Africa,” he said.
Creating more green jobs was a must to prevent many leaving the continent to seek a better life elsewhere, he added.
“I don’t buy (youth) ’empowerment’ language… what we need is youth investment,” he said.
The adaptation programme plans to mobilise $2 billion to expand climate-smart technology to improve agriculture and food security, including access to digital services, which are only available to about 13% of African farmers today, Adesina noted.
Climate advisory services will be provided to 300 million farmers by 2030 under the programme.
Expanding insurance coverage for crops and livestock, to protect farmers from climate disasters, will be key, as well as improving weather forecasts and financial services provided on smartphones and other digital devices, he said.
The bank is already getting drought- and heat-tolerant varieties of crops such as maize and wheat to farmers in east and southern Africa, boosting yields, and testing more ecological ways of farming, such as zero-tillage, in places like Ghana.
It has also pledged to raise $6.5 billion to drive forward Africa’s Great Green Wall project to plant and restore trees, grassland and vegetation on the Sahara’s southern edge to keep the desert at bay and help farmers stay on their land.
Adesina said the new programme aims to expand tried-and-tested ways of helping Africans adapt to climate change.
“We know what works – we are just all tired of small-scale stuff. We want to do big things,” he said.
African agriculture needs to become more competitive, efficient and dynamic to feed a growing population and turn farming into a thriving business instead of a “way of life”, he added.
The size of Africa’s food and agriculture market is expected to exceed $1 trillion by 2030, which would represent a tripling in two decades, offering far bigger business opportunities than investing in outdated forms of dirty energy, he noted.
“Anybody going to get rich in Africa is not going to get rich out of oil and gas – they are going to get rich out of agriculture,” he said.
(Reporting by Megan Rowling @meganrowling; editing by Laurie Goering. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news.trust.org/climate)
