Agriculture

Strengthen Regional Trade To Guarantee Food Production, AGRF Urges Africa

Published

5 years ago

August 31, 2020

President of African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) Agnes Kalibata has revealed that Africa needs to strengthen regional trade to achieve sustainable and resilient food systems.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Monday, she also observed that bolstering regional trade would boost a system that will meet the health, environmental, social, and economic aspirations of people living in rural and urban areas.

Kalibata, also an envoy to the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit, said that it had become imperative for the continent not to relent in its effort to transform food systems for the benefit of everyone.

According to the statement, we need food systems that are equitable, sustainable, resilient, and capable of meeting the global challenges of malnutrition, poverty, and climate change as well as be responsive to emerging and unforeseen challenges such as those posed by the COVID-19 pandemic,’’ she said.

She also announced that the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) programme, funded by the African Development Bank for the purpose of boosting productivity and make Africa self-sufficient in key commodities, would convene a high-level session on “Agricultural Technologies for Feeding the Cities” at the 10th annual summit of AGRF in Kigali.

“The session will hold on September 8 where TAAT is expected to use its values to drive the actions required to overcome the major challenges affecting African agriculture in food production and others development issues.

She noted that the summit with the theme “Feed the Cities, Grow the Continent: Leveraging Urban Food Markets to Achieve Sustainable Food Systems in Africa’’, would be co-hosted by Rwanda and the AGRF partners group.

The statement said further that the session would bring to fore, the strategic linkage between research and delivery as well as TAAT’s success stories in feeding African cities through its wheat revolution, intensification of cassava production and commercialization, and building the capacity of African farmers through technology outreach.

She said that it would address innovative options for accelerating African agricultural transformation in a post-COVID-19 pandemic era through the deployment of proven agricultural technologies and partnerships capable of bringing food security to African cities and rural communities.

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Agriculture

IWMI: Promoting affordable irrigation technologies for smallholder farmers

Published

1 week ago

October 21, 2025

The Gleamer

Mariam Sanni

Smallholder farmers are challenged with erratic rainfall leading to drought spells, crop water stress and eventually reduced growth and yield penalties

Water insecurity is the major risk to smallholder farmers and a major driver for low investments in agricultural innovations

Even when water resources are sustainably available, smallholder farmers are unable to invest in irrigation equipment due to high upfront costs.

Smallholder farmers have limited access to loans and credit facilities even though irrigation usually is a profitable investment.

Promoting affordable irrigation for smallholders involves increasing access to low-cost technologies like drip and sprinkler kits and solar pumps, and supporting them with financial tools like subsidies and credit.

Also the Farmer-Led Irrigation Development (FLID) has helped farmers to independently invest in, manage and maintain irrigation equipment, adapting technologies to local needs without relying on large-scale projects, reduces farmers’ reliance on erratic rainfall and leads to increased farm investments (good seed, fertilizers, etc.)

Farmers move from 1 rain-fed crop, to multiple harvests per year, boosting yields, income, and food security

Nigeria and other countries have high potential for solar-based irrigation, irrespective of the type of water resources.

As part of efforts to boost local capacity to produce and maintain simple, low-cost irrigation, International Water Management Institute, IWMI through multi- stakeholder dialogues, policy support is partnering with stakeholders created an enabling environment for inclusive and sustainable irrigation development .

The Researcher , Agricultural Water Solution, IWMI Dr Adebayo Oke during his presentation at the International Conference on Climate Change and Just Energy Transition 2025, highlighted that the institute has foster SMEs’ inclusive scaling of bundled irrigation solutions through inclusive business model development and strategic partnerships

The Conference which was theme: Sustainable Clinate Resilience and Just Energy Transition in Africa: A Collaborative Pathway through Policy, Capacity Building, Research and Inclusion was held in Abuja.

He added that its has deployed an impact accelerator program to develop new bundled solutions and SME collaborations that address multiple value chains

According him, IWMI has attracted sustainable finance investments in SMEs to fast-track the adoption of bundled water solutions by smallholder farmers.

Speaking on experience in Nigeria: scaling solar irrigation solutions –Solar scaling pathway studies (Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi) has stratifying the smallholder farmers using the Discrete Choice Experiment.

He mentioned bundling of irrigation technology and financial services to determine scaling pathway/different financing models.

Dr Oke added they also developed a credit facility to enable the scaling of SPI.

Furthermore, he stated IWMI-West & Central Africa Priorities for 2024-2030 as building resilient agric food system against climate change , leveraging water for resilience in fragile and conflict affected settings, enabling circular water and food economy innovations, supporting water infrastructure and allocation decisions among others .

The Country Director , Ghana and Regional Representatives for West and Central Africa, Professor Kehinde Ogunjobi in an interview with newsmen at the event highlighted the importance of evidence-based data for farmers, aquaculture, and environmental ministries.

He said that there is need to raise awareness and emphasized the importance of government support for research and developmental projects on climate change and its impact on agriculture, livelihood, and other sectors.

Professor Ogunjobi has implored government to build capacity of people working in the field of climate change and capacitate farmers to turn evidence-based data into reality.

He encouraged the government to do more to support research and address the impact of climate change, which is more evident in the West African region compared to developed countries.

He urged stakeholders to collaborate with the government and institutions like IWMI Ghana to improve the impact of climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts and improve the livelihood of people in the region.

He noted the political shift in the US, with the previous administration no longer supporting climate change initiatives, emphasizing the need for Africa to look inward.

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