FANRPAN Annual High Level Regional Food Security Dialogue 2012

03 – 07 September 2012 . Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. FANRPAN in collaboration with the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF), the FANRPAN Tanzania Node Hosting Institution convened the FANRPAN Annual High Level Regional Food Security Policy Dialogue in   2012 at the White Sands Resort and Conference Centre. The theme for the policy dialogue is "From Policy to Practice: Advocating for the Active Engagement of Youth in Agriculture Value Chains."

The policy dialogue, with an attendance of over 200 participants provided an opportunity for FANR stakeholders such as, governments; policy research institutions; universities; farmers organisations; private sector and civil society to review the current status of youth engagement in agriculture value chains; share lessons and experiences; identify challenges and opportunities and come up with tangible resolutions. The policy dialogue also showcase dbest practices from Africa and beyond in line with FANRPAN’s five thematic thrusts:

• Food Systems
• Agriculture Productivity and Markets
• Natural Resources and Environment
• Social Protection and Livelihoods
• Institutional Strengthening

On Day 2 and there were 4 learning events which were held in parallel:

• SADC Seed Policy Harmonization
• Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP)
• Research for Impact for Climate Smart Agriculture
• PAEPARD one-on-one meetings

Day 2 Slide-Show:

Posted by Nawsheen Hosenally (PAEPARD-Mauritius/Breadfruit consortium)

Workshops on linking farmers to markets

Accra workshop participants

9 July 2012. Johannesburg. 11 July 2012 Nairobi. 13 July 2012, Accra. A4I, ODI and FANRPAN hosted three regional African workshops as part of their 'Leaping and Learning: Taking Agricultural Successes to Scale' project.

In partnership with the Food Agriculture Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network [FANRPAN], the one-day workshops compared experiences of linking farmers to markets. Provisional results of a comparative analysis of cases of linking small farmers to markets were presented, drawing on the wealth of practical experience seen in the field.

Nairobi workshop participants

The aim was to compare these to the insights of participants, most of whom worked actively in the region on linking small farmers to markets.

How best can small-scale family farms in Africa be linked to markets, get access to inputs, finance and know-how to stimulate agricultural growth and reduce poverty? How can this be done both effectively and equitably? How can successes be scaled up and replicated?

Johannesburg workshop participants

form the focus of ‘Leaping and Learning: Strategies for Taking Agricultural Successes to Scale’ being carried out by the Agriculture for Impact team based at Imperial College London working together with the Overseas Development Institute. 


Check out the blog at www.ag4impact.wordpress.com/ for further details on all three workshops.

Criteria missing from climate investments

DECEMBER 28, 2011. POSTMEDIA NEWS. The International Development Research Centre, that is distributing millions of dollars of the climate funding, said that research is the first step toward identifying credible projects and ensuring federal dollars are spent well.

``This is really kind of a critical priority because in my view, there's a whole lot of noise around (adaptation issues), but not that many effective projects,'' said Mark Redwood, a program leader on climate change and water at IDRC.

IDRC chose seven research projects in Africa, working with local stakeholders that deliver development projects on the ground to find the most effective investment options.

``One thing that they observed and which I also noted is that there are many, many adaptation projects that would not pass basic criteria for a development bank or a private investor,'' said Redwood, who specializes in urban and environmental planning. ``The benefits are difficult to identify, sometimes with climate change adaptation. The field is still sorting itself out a little bit, so basically there's a disconnect . . . between those projects and the number of projects that a development bank could fund.''

Fast-start funding, a key commitment by developed countries in recent international climate change negotiations, was supposed to build a foundation for a global green climate fund, worth about $100 billion per year by 2020, to help developing countries cope with escalating impacts of global warming on their economies and way of life. But lacking any tools to measure the value of dollars spent, the proposed fund is different from the Clean Development Mechanism and other provisions under the Kyoto Protocol that allow private companies or countries to invest in projects that measure and track the level of emissions reductions.

``There's no standardized reporting format (to evaluate the value of fast start funding announcements by countries) and either you believe it or you don't,'' said David Waskow, climate change program director of Oxfam America. ``We don't have those measurements and so we have countries putting out their own numbers and their own formats . . . without any clarity.''

Background:
On November 25, 2011, Canada's Environment Minister, the Honourable Peter Kent, announced funding for seven winning projects from across Africa. Also in attendance at the Ottawa announcement were two of the AARC recipients: Saïd Hounkponou from Benin's Initiatives pour un Développement Intégré Durable and via video from South Africa, Lindiwe Majele Sibanda from the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Network.


AARC supports seven centres of excellence across Africa to enable each to conduct research and strengthen organizational capacity in the field of climate change adaptation. Its goal: to improve the ability of African research centres to deliver scientific advice to decision-makers that will inform national adaptation strategies and investment decisions.

The initiative is a three-year, CA$10 million project managed by IDRC’s Climate Change and Water program and funded through the Government of Canada’s $400 million Fast-start Climate Financing, announced in 2010 as part of Canada’s commitment under the Copenhagen Accord. It builds on the accomplishments of the Climate Change Adaptation in Africa program, a six-year initiative (2006-2012) jointly funded by IDRC and the UK’s Department for International Development.

AARC Research Projects
The AARC initiative supports seven projects across Africa in:

• Benin, to build resilience in rural communities threatened by food insecurity and rural poverty due to climate change  (led by the NGO Initiatives pour un Développement Intégré Durable);
  
• Burkina Faso, to reduce the risk of food insecurity to farmers in the Sahel, a region that has experienced a decline in rainfall and a high degree of variability to the start of rainy seasons (led by the Institut International d’Ingénierie de l’Eau et de l’Environnement);
  
• Ghana, to inform adaptation strategies that protect the health, livelihoods, and food security of people living in the urban, coastal township of Ga Mashie in Accra (led by the Regional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana);
  
• Egypt, to establish an adaptation research centre for the Nile Delta, an area that is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change (led by the University of Alexandria);
  
• Kenya, to investigate climatic risk, vulnerability, and appropriate adaptation strategies in the food crops and livestock production sectors in arid and semi-arid lands (led by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute);
  
• Horn of Africa, to measure the impacts of climate change on agriculture and water resources and recommend feasible adaptation options in Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, and Tanzania (led by the Sokoine University of Agriculture);
  
• Southern Africa, to conduct assessments of household vulnerability and encourage research-based food security policies by linking researchers and policymakers in South Africa, Malawi, Lesotho, and Swaziland (led by the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network).

Global Conference on Climate Smart Agriculture

Alain Ange of FARA

24-26 October. Ede, The Netherlands. “Scientists and technology have a critical role to play if we are to achieve food security in the context of climate change,” said Sir John Beddington, Chair of the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change at the opening of the Global Science Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture in Ede, The Netherlands. He urged the participating agricultural experts from governments, international agencies, and universities to think about smart ways for farmers to produce enough food while managing and adapting to climate change.

The talk included a foretaste of the soon to be launched recommendations from the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change. The Commission, made up of thirteen experts from around the world, has been collecting evidence to synthesizing the evidence to develop practical actions to support sustainable agriculture in the context of climate change. The summary will be aimed for policy makers and launched in time to be fed into the discussions in Durban.

COP 17 - a unique opportunity to put agriculture on the climate change agenda

Sir John urged scientists to contribute to the global challenge of moving the world into a ‘safe operating space’ in which agriculture can meet global food needs while reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. He highlighted how the scientific evidence base can contribute to policy action. Beddington also proclaimed COP17 in Durban in December as a unique opportunity to put agriculture on the climate change agenda.

Sir John said that the agricultural potential in Africa is substantial and existing technologies can be used to create the necessary transformations. Farmers need to produce more food without further encroaching on sensitive ecosystems in order to contribute to a food system that is sustainable and climate safe. Climate-smart agriculture, he said, has to both appeal to and benefit the rural farmer while not undermining livelihoods. Sir John will deliver the Commission's full recommendations at Agriculture and Rural Development Day on 3 December, in Durban.

Lindiwe Sibanda, CEO of FANRPAN attended
the Global Science Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture in
Wageningen 24-26 October. Photo: C. Schubert (CCAFS)

Lindiwe Sibanda, CEO of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), and member of the International Science Panel of the CGIAR climate program (CCAFS), said that Africa, a vulnerable continent to climate change, needs to improve its productivity in a climate smart manner. And this is where climate-smart agriculture becomes imperative, since CSA puts people and food first. Sibanda underlined that women are driving agriculture in Africa, which is why “we need to follow women – in everything”.

State of the World 2011 launched in South Africa

On 21st of April 2011 State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet was launched in Pretoria, South Africa, at an event that was hosted in partnership with the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN). 


Dr Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, FANRPAN Chief Executive Officer, and Danielle Nierenberg, Nourishing the Planet co-Project Director, joined local agricultural experts—including Sithembile Ndema, State of the World 2011 contributing author and FANRPAN Program Manager—to discuss agricultural innovations that are working to alleviate hunger in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa. The event marks the first ever launch of State of the World in South Africa, and was covered by many local news outlets, including News24, The New Age and the Mail & Guardian, one of South Africa’s oldest and top news sites.

Using the value chain approach for innovative partnerships in cassava

2nd September 2010. Windhoek Namibia. Interview PART 2 with Pheneas Ntawuruhunga at the fourth day of the FANRPAN regional meeting. He is the coordinator of SARRNET  (Start date: 2007 September, Planned end date: 2010 August) following his presentation of the SARRNET platform on Improving Rural Livelihoods in Southern Africa through Root and Tuber Crops. He explains how to link post harvest research to the new market potential of cassava

Linking post harvest research to the new market potential of cassava

2nd September 2010. Windhoek Namibia. Interview with Pheneas Ntawuruhunga at the fourth day of the FANRPAN regional meeting. He is the coordinator of SARRNET  (Start date: 2007 September
Planned end date: 2010 August) following his presentation of the SARRNET platform on Improving Rural Livelihoods in Southern Africa through Root and Tuber Crops. He explains how to link post harvest research to the new market potential of cassava

SARRNET is a SADC Network, implemented by IITA in collaboration with CIP and NARS.
From 1994 it focused on cassava and s/potato, covering 12 of the 14 SADC countries. Phase I

• From 1999 it concentrated in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa and Zambia; funds on competitive grants basis; shift from production to demand-led R4D, with bias on private sector participation, income generation and food security. Phase II
• Since 2004, Cyinyanja Triangle and Angola led by different consortiums
• From 2005 ; activities were expanded to include yam, cocoyam and Irish potato.

The goal of SARRNET is to facilitate synergistic regional complementarities to research, production and marketing to improve food production and increase rural incomes by generating technologies that will address common constraints in Southern Africa region through research for development (R4D) of root and tuber crops: (a) Cassava, yam and cocoyam - IITA, (b) Sweet potato, Irish potato - CIP.

Post harvest technologies developed in collaboration with C-to-C engineering Services, Malawi are: Heavy-duty graters, chippers, Presses, Solar driers and Cassava peeler. Application: 3t/hour, for commercial purpose, eliminate contamination, for medium processors

Innovations:

• Cassava silage: Potential to economically utilize the bulk of cassava foliage after harvest which currently is put to waste.
• High Quality Cassava Flour: Promoting use of cassava flour in the region for baking to reduce on cost of wheat flour

On going regional activities:

• Assessment of processed cassava products for fungal and mycotoxin contamination
• Development and testing of processing technologies-peeler machine
• Evaluation and selection of cassava varieties for high beta carotene content
• Screening cassava varieties for cold/frost tolerance
• Investigations into agronomic practices for sustained competitiveness

Information exchange, backstopping/coordination

• Over 100 scientific papers by SARRNET scientists in various publications: ROOTS News, African Crop Science Journal, Proceedings (including ISTRC-AB), etc
• Workshops, meetings, etc.
• Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) meetings
• Funds leveraging– 3 projects for Malawi, 1 for Angola, one for Zambia

PAEPARD @ the FANRPAN meeting

31st August 2010. The PAEPARD project was presented during the second day of the FANRPAN Annual High Level Regional Food Security Policy Dialogue 2010.

Objective: To build joint African-European multi-stakeholder partnerships in agricultural research for development.
Expected results:
Durable and equitable African – European Partnerships
The European ARD agenda better reflects African needs and priorities;
Greater and more equitable participation of African research stakeholders in ARD projects
Increased capacity of all African – European ARD stakeholders

Innovation funds aim to support innovators and their links to public institutions, private entrepreneurs, and other actors (such as groups of rural producers). They are tools that create platforms for innovative activity by providing incentives for collaboration.

“Partnerships are vital in the current era of development to align different institutions to achieve synergy”.

The growing rhetoric’s among the agricultural research and development partners to become more accountable to the beneficiary and other stakeholders has necessitated the need for partnerships.

 “Getting a network of actors isn't an easy process; it takes time”.

Different organizations with different interests and motives have to be brought around the table to contribute and benefit. It needs great facilitation skills and negotiating skills which are not very often core competences of researchers. Partner organizations need much support and mentoring.

”Linkages don't happen automatically: they need a facilitating or broker organization to create them”. 
Partners frequently discount the need for brokers and third party actors, but often they are needed, not only to manage collaboration but to reduce competition between sectors. Brokers and third-party actors can limit the failures that occur when different interests and conflicting agendas frustrate initiatives designed to foster partnership

2010 FANRPAN Regional Food Security Policy Dialogue

FANRPAN Annual High Level Regional Food Security Policy Dialogue 2010

Theme: Livestock & Fisheries Policies for Food Security and Trade in a Changing Climate
30 August - 3 September 2010
Windhoek, Namibia

30th August - 4 September 2010. Namibia is playing host to the annual Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) Regional Food Security Policy Dialogue, where over 200 policymakers, farmers, agricultural product dealers, scientists and non-governmental organisations from across Africa and the world have gathered to address African priorities on climate change and its impacts on food security, agricultural development and natural resource management.


A recent report by consulting firm McKinsey and Company estimated that Africa produced only 10 percent of the world's crops despite representing a quarter of land under cultivation. In another report, they noted that 60 percent of the world's uncultivated arable land lies in Africa with the potential for African yields to grow in value more than three-fold by the year 2030, from $280 billion today to $880 billion.

African agricultural research programmes are beginning to blossom, as illustrated ina new map of 300 such programmes launched at last month's Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa science week in Burkina Faso.

Increasing the collaboration between public and private sector organisations can also help build infrastructure, secure better access to natural resources, improve the distribution of agricultural inputs and services, and share best practices. The Farming First coalition is a successful example of farmers, scientists, engineers, industry and agricultural development organisations coming together to push for improved agricultural policies which benefit farmers while safeguarding natural resources over the long term.

For instance, FANRPAN is currently working in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation to improve food security throughout sub-Saharan Africa by promoting the understanding of climate change science and its integration into policy development and research agendas. 

FANRPAN is also working with the International Food Policy Research Institute to help inform agricultural policymakers on the most effective policies for helping Africa's rural poor adapt to global climate change.

This project, called 'Strategies for Adapting to Climate Change in Rural sub-Saharan Africa: Targeting the Most Vulnerable', recognises the interrelated impact of climate change on household poverty, hunger and food security and takes into account different climate change scenarios to project the impact on crop and livestock production systems, also considering constraints to adaptation, including household well-being and related costs.


Background


Lindiwe Majele Sibanda is the CEO of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network(FANRPAN) and is a spokesperson for the Farming First coalition. FANRPAN conducts research and advocacy across 14 sub-Saharan countries. 

Africa Alliance of sub-regional Farmer Organizations (AAFO)

8 – 9 October, 2009. Accra, Ghana. Promoting Inclusiveness of Farmers Organizations in
African Agricultural Research Agenda: a FARA –PAFFO (Pan African Farmers Forum) Collaborative Initiative.

In order to further consolidate the achievement recorded by FOs, FARA convened a 2-day multi-stakeholder consultation that aimed to catalyze the participation of FOs in African ARD. During the meeting, stakeholders identified some of the stumbling blocks to FOs’ participation in ARD. These include weak human and institutional capacity, poor governance, poor linkage and access to research outputs and outcomes, and poor market access and infrastructure.
List of participants (excluding FARA):

1. Dr. Stephen Muchiri, Chief Executive Officer, East African Farmers Federation EAFF, Nairobi
2. Mr. Ewole Gustave, Chargé de Programme, PROPAC, Cameroon
3. Mr. Alangeh Romanus Che, Executive Bureau Member, PROPAC, Cameroon
4. Dr. Ndiogou FALL, President, Réseau des Organisations Paysannes et des Producteurs Agricoles de l’Afrique de l Ouest, ROPPA, Senegal
5. Dr. Mohamadou MAGHA, Coordinator , Réseau des Organisations Paysannes et des Producteurs Agricoles de l Afrique de l Ouest, ROPPA, Burkina-Faso
6. Mr. Motsepe Ramotse Donald Matlala, Vice President, SACAU, South Africa
7. Mr. Benito Odala Eliasi, Capacity Development Advisor, SACAU, South Africa
8. Mr.Mahaman Bader M.Dioula, Regional Coordinator for Africa, IFAP, France
9. Mr. Jacques Bonou, Vice President, IFAP, Benin
10. Dr. Sidi SANYANG , Manager of the Capacity Strengthening and Knowledge Management Programs, CORAF/WECARD, Senegal
11. Mr. Moses Oremo, Programme Assistant, ASARECA, Uganda
12. Mrs. Lydia Sasu, National Women’s Leader , F.O.N.G, Ghana
13. Mr. Max Olupot , Coordinator ASS/ Program Assistant, AFAAS, Uganda
14. Dr. Clesensio Tizikara, ICART project coordinator, SADC-FANR/ICART, Botswana

'Farming First' in Mozambique: Lessons for African Agriculture and Food Security

Two experts on African agricultural development visited farms in Mozambique ahead of the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh.

In this video, Dr. Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, CEO of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), and Dr. Julie Howard, Executive Director of the Partnership to End Hunger and Poverty in Africa, listen to farmers and translate their concerns to the rest of the world.

Policymakers must target development aid in such a way that it captures agriculture's true contribution to the economy. Aid should also aim to build long-term, sustainable growth and improved rural livelihoods.



Related:
The Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa will organise a special symposium at the World Food Prize to mark the launch of the Partnership's flagship publication on US assistance to African agriculture. "Supporting Africa's Strategy for Reducing Rural Poverty" is the second report in our series, updating the Partnership's 2005 report, "Investing in Africa's Future: U.S. Agricultural Development Assistance for Sub-Saharan Africa."

FANRPAN High Level Regional Policy Dialogue

31 August to 4 September. The 2009 FANRPAN High Level Regional Policy Dialogue was held in Maputo Mozambique. The theme for the 2009 annual dialogue was “True Contribution of Agriculture to Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction in Southern African countries.”

The Food Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) is spearheading the coordination of the implementation of CAADP within Southern Africa at the national and regional level.

Dr David Kamchacha, the FANRPAN CAADP programme manager, said that the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)contacted the network to help with speeding up the process of agricultural reforms.

"They wanted FANRPAN to bring together governments, civil society, farmers themselves and researchers at a national level to work together. "With this facilitation, some countries are already budgeting above the 10 percent benchmark set in Maputo. Since its launch in 2003, there are only four countries that have reached full implementation stage, and we are talking about 19 countries that signed up to CAADP. But it has been a challenge for FANRPAN to bring all the stakeholders in to work together in implementing agricultural reforms".

Reference:

IPS 3 September CAADP: The African Solution for Net Export

FANRPAN press release + view all the presentations

First announcement: 5thAfrican Agricultural Science Week and FARA General Assembly

19 –24 July 2010, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The Government of Burkina Faso has graciously offered to host the fifth General Assembly of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa(FARA). The General Assembly (GA)will draw together representatives of FARA's constituents.

FARA constituents are African and non-African institutions involved in African agricultural research and development (ARD) such as the Sub-Regional Organizations (SROs) (ASARECA, CORAF/WECARD, SADC/FANR and NASRO), farmers' and pastoralists' organisations, the agricultural research institutions, universities, NGOs and private enterprises, non-African advanced research institutions (ARIs), the International Agricultural Research Centers (IARCs), international NGOs, policy makers, private sector and Africa's development partners.

Objectives:

• To provide platform for FARA constituents to interact and network
• To review progress and lessons learnt since the 4th General Assembly and set the African regional agenda for agricultural research for development (ARD) over the next 3years.
• To hold a Burkina Faso Agricultural Science day as a highlight of Agricultural Science week, where the host country will show how agricultural innovations are contributing in alleviating poverty, promoting food security and protecting the environment.
• To hold a FARA business meeting to endorse strategic decisions on governance and direction of FARA

Reference:

5thAfrican Agricultural Science Week and FARA General Assembly

FANPRAN helps design COMESA’s CAADP regional compact

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has signed a contract with the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) for the design of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) regional compact.

FANRPAN CEO, Dr. Lindiwe Sibanda was at the COMESA Secretariat in Lusaka, Zambia and signed for FANRPAN.

This development is an important milestone in the CAADP agenda in the COMESA region and for Africa. The regional compact is significant as it will capture priority agricultural investments at regional level, providing a vehicle for the CAADP framework to encompass all key areas and meaningfully contribute to regional integration.

The objectives of the regional compact are to, among other things, finalise the COMESA CAADP regional concept papers for all key pillars and cross-cutting pillars, design and facilitate implementation of programmes focusing on youth and women in the COMESA region.

The regional compact will also take an inventory of key stakeholders in the region that COMESA should work with in successfully implementing the CAADP including taking an inventory of existing regional projects and programmes which, the COMESA- CAADP team should take into consideration.
FANRPAN will work in consultation with other regional stakeholders including the East African Seed Committee (EASCOM), the Forum for Youth in Agriculture (FOYA) and the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (ASARECA).

Reference: COMESA’s CAADP regional compact underway 09/02/2009

FANRPAN convenes climate change meeting for senior policy makers

23 June 2008. The Food Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) have hosted a meeting which has brought together policy makers and scientists to network in developing adaptation strategies to ensure regional food security in the light of adverse weather changes. More than 40 delegates from 12 countries are attending the meeting with the theme, "Strategies for Adapting to Climate Change in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa: Targeting the Most Vulnerable".

FANRPAN Director for Research, Dr. Douglas Merrey, said his organization is well placed to act as a broker between scientists, doing research on climate change and adaptation to climate change, and policy makers to make critical decisions, some of which have irreversible effects if they are uninformed.

"Our main focus is on the policy implications of climate change, that is to say, what policy support will be needed to enable Southern African food systems to adapt to climate change in terms of rainfall and temperature," said Dr. Merrey.

FANRPAN's interest in climate change policy extends beyond specific projects in the region to researchers and representatives of civil society who need to know what is required of policy.

Reference:

FANRPAN press release