Agra has underscored the need for a renewed alliance across governments, farmers and businesses to turn two decades of progress into farmer prosperity.
The calls follow Agra’s ‘Impact, learning and foresight report’ released yesterday during the ongoing Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali, Rwanda.
The report says despite the 20-year assessment establishing that farmer incomes have doubled and cereal yields rose by about 40 percent in Africa, it warns that Africa’s current trajectory will not deliver the Kampala Declaration targets for 2035 without a broader alliance across governments, business and research.
Speaking during the release of the report, Agra board chairperson Hailemariam Dessalegn empasised on the need to strengthen food systems in Africa to help farmers grow.
“Progress becomes transformation only when productivity is restored, value is retained and capability is sustained. The question for the next decade is not only what Africa can produce, but whether the systems around farmers allow them to prosper,” he said.
Agreeing with Dessalegn, Agra president Alice Ruhweza called for renewed collaborations among actors anchored on farmer prosperity, science, local knowledge and agriculture as an investable asset.
She said: “Twenty years of evidence show that Africa’s agri-food sector can move when the conditions are right. The task now is to turn that progress into income, resilience, dignity and opportunity for farmers.
“That will require a renewed alliance that brings governments, farmers, businesses, finance, researchers and development partners around a shared agenda for farmer prosperity.”
