Global Food Security Initiative Africa Regional Forum March 2013 Dakar, Senegal FINAL REPORT

Transcription

1 Global Food Security Initiative Africa Regional Forum March 2013 Dakar, Senegal FINAL REPORT

2 4 RAPPORT FINAL On March 11-12, the Global Food Security Initiative (GFSI) held its first Africa Regional Forum in Dakar, Senegal. Coming on the heels of the India Regional Forum, which took place in Mumbai, India in February, the GFSI Africa aimed at identifying needs and specific opportunities for agricultural development on the African continent. The GFSI Africa brought together nearly 50 African and Brazilian leading figures, representing the private and public sectors, farmer cooperatives, research centers, and international organizations. This carefully-selected group engaged in action-oriented discussions, identifying critical investment and innovation priorities to benefit African smallholder farmers as well as concrete opportunities to deliver against these priorities. By means of introduction, TechnoServe a global NGO that provides business solutions to poverty shared a landscape analysis on opportunities and unmet needs in smallholder agriculture across Sub-Saharan Africa. This analysis was complemented by a discussion of success stories from Brazil, particularly around the cooperative movement and government-driven support to family farming, and how such experiences may be relevant to African smallholders. Participant discussions were then structured around 3 main themes: Inside the farmgate, focusing on input use, crop selection, soil management, and agricultural production techniques; Linking farmers to inputs, markets and each other, which covered physical distribution networks, collaborative organization structures, farmers organizations as service providers, the role of distributors, and financing solutions; The role of agribusiness and the market, discussing how agribusiness companies function as both market creators and market orchestrators. This report summarizes the content and output of the panel discussions and labwork sessions highly interactive, problem-solving focused conversations in groups of participants organized during the GFSI Africa Forum. It is structured around the themes and possible initiatives and actions that emerged from the contributions of the speakers and the debates among participants.

3 5 Mr. Ibnabdeljalil, EVP of Sales, Marketing and Materials Procurement, the OCP Group, giving the opening speech

4 6 RAPPORT FINAL Encourage technology development by the private sector and adoption by smallholders Key priorities Te chnology fertilizers, improved seed varieties, water management techniques, etc. was the main driver behind Brazil s 129% increase in yields between 1990 and Investing in innovative products targeting the poorest smallholders, GFSI participants agreed, was one of the most effective ways to support sustainable agricultural development in Africa. Organizations like Kickstart, which produces and markets innovations aimed at the base-of-the-pyramid, are showing the way. The Nairobi-based company has sold over 250,000 of its human pressure irrigation pumps, increasing the yield of East African farmers by up to 500%. Taking examples from the fertilizer industry, companies like Notore and OCP manufacture products designed specifically for African soils and positioned at a lower price point (e.g., Teractiv). However, the GFSI also outlined that, due to their lack of disposable income, farmers are often reluctant to make capital investments in new technologies or purchases of improved inputs. It is therefore critical to demonstrate the benefits of such technologies and inputs, as well as to lower the barriers to entry, for example by providing advantageous financing solutions. Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) also have a role to play in the diffusion and the adoption of these technologies, in the absence of clear incentives for the private sector to make the appropriate investments in access. Finally, local innovation and know-how is often overlooked and poorly diffused at a regional level (within an agroclimatic zone), although it may have a substantial benefic impact due to its low cost and ease of adoption. Local/ regional experience sharing must therefore be leveraged to drive change.

5 7 Opportunities for support Develop a study on approaches to increase access to new technologies and inputs, assessing their effectiveness and outlining best practices Encourage the buy-back of patents and proprietary technologies (e.g., seeds) to make them available to smallholder farmers Invest in local companies producing simple technologies designed for smallholders (e.g., focus on animal-based technologies instead of tractors) Develop locally adaptive marketing models. For instance, manufacture and distribute smaller fertilizer packs (5-10 Kg) with simple, clearly-labeled instructions translated into the local language (or even schematics, as many farmers are illiterate) Rely on a broad range of innovative technology delivery models, such as itinerant cashand-carry ( caravan traveling from village to village to distribute fertilizers) and fertilizerfor-crop schemes Consider the possibility of creating an alliance of input providers, for instance to develop a producer credit scheme and other mechanisms to liaise with smallholders

6 8 RAPPORT FINAL Develop information platforms accessible to smallholderss Key priorities Investing in the diffusion of information to smallholders, GFSI participants noted, is another priority for Africa s agriculture. ICT solutions, in particular, are essential for connecting smallholder farmers with demand and supply data, both at the farm and market levels. Created as a private company owned by a partnership of key stakeholders, the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) played a pioneering role in this endeavor. The Exchange, whose mission is to connect all buyers and sellers in an efficient, reliable, and transparent market by harnessing innovation and technology, has linked over 2.4 million smallholder farmers (represented by cooperatives) to global commodity markets. Beyond trade platforms and marketplaces, participants outlined the necessity to provide smallholders access to essential agricultural know-how, based on both global best practices and local specificities.

7 9 Opportunities for support Develop national or regional market intelligence platforms, tailored to and easily accessible by smallholder farmers in Africa. As a first step, identify existing successful local models (e.g., M-Farm in Ghana), then devise best ways to replicate and/or scale-them up throughout the continent Facilitate access of African researchers to key information resources from other developing countries (e.g., EMPRABA s massive agricultural research database in Brazil) Launch a mapping of simple and efficient agro-techniques, easily accessible to farmers via modern ICT (Wikipedia-type resource)

8 10 RAPPORT FINAL Enabling the creation and ongoing success of smallholder farmer organizations Key priorities Throughout the Forum, participants united around the necessity of fostering the development of smallholder organizations in their various forms (farmer cooperatives, associations, clusters ). Such organizations are mechanisms of wealth creation, providing farmers with an opportunity to bulk input (thereby giving them greater market power) and store output (moving them away from a price-taker position). Participants insisted on the critical role played by governments in creating enabling environments for smallholder farmer organizations. Specifically, they emphasized the need for public policies designed to make agriculture more appealing to youth, encourage the aggregation of farmers, and reinforce the management skillset and capabilities of cooperative leaders. Brazil provides a particularly compelling example: over the last few decades, the country s government has put in place legislation to strengthen the cooperative movement, providing know-how and seed capital where and when needed, and setting up bridges with the agro industrial sectors with cooperatives acting as competitive, economicallyviable service providers. GFSI participants also insisted on the role played by the private sector in supporting smallholders, which is discussed in the next section.

9 11 Opportunities for support Set up financial incentives to encourage aggregation (e.g., tax breaks on cooperatives) Design talent identification schemes, targeting high-potential individuals within farming communities Set up specific training programs for cooperative leaders, including sharing of national and global best practices. These programs should be funded through scholarships and address topics such as crop diversification, appropriate input use (water, seeds, fertilizers) and marketing/sales of agricultural products Panel on Sharing experiences from Brazil

10 12 RAPPORT FINAL Creating win-win partnerships across the value chain Key priorities Participants stated that smallholder farmers need to be integrated within the broader agricultural value chain, even at the smallest levels. Like large companies, smallholders should be business-minded and entrepreneurial. GFSI participants also agreed that, with traditional aid programs showing their limits in delivering sustainable results, the private sector was rapidly becoming the centerpiece of effective development. As a result, for-profit companies, which engage smallholder farmers as commercial partners instead of beneficiaries, need to develop lasting winwin strategies and support the entire value chain. Companies like OLAM have proven effective at setting up and implementing productive partnerships with smallholders. Through its livelihood charter, the Singapore-based, African-born multinational company supports farmers via financing (capital advances for production), training (agriculture best practices but also safety standards, etc.), input provision, market access (guaranteed crop purchase) and more. This holistic approach enables long-term relationships that benefit both this leading agribusiness company and its thousands of suppliers. GFSI participants also discussed the importance of supporting the missing middle, small businesses and service providers whose financing needs range from $5,000 to $50,000. A key part of all agricultural value chains, these mid-scale entrepreneurs (e.g., owners of small transformation units, agro-dealers ) are targeted by neither microfinance organizations nor largescale investors. The GFSI also clarified that only those middlemen who are shown to add value for instance, by bridging the last mile and getting the product to farmers can play a constructive role within the value chain and ultimately contribute to the empowerment of smallholders.

11 13 Opportunities for support Invest in institutions that connect smallholder farmers with buyers (storage, transport ) Develop credit schemes between smallholders and input distributors Provide seed capital to small entrepreneurs in rural communities Establish clear and consistent quality standards and support smallholder farmers in understanding and meeting them Invest in initiatives around traceability to deliver smallholder farmer premiums (e.g., fair trade) Working with commercial banks, develop innovative solutions to finance the missing middle Disseminate PPP best practices in bridging public and private sector perspectives (e.g., workshops, training ) Participants exchanging ideas during the labwork sessions