African Green Revolution Forum: AGRA President Namanga Ngongi Speaking Remarks at Opening Panel Session

Mr. Chair,

His Excellency, President Mills

Distinguished fellow panelists

Good morning and I too would like to welcome you all to the first African Green Revolution Forum to be held in Africa. And I would like to thank President Mills for the excellent Ghanaian hospitality that I know we will all experience over the next few days. But while we will be enjoying our surroundings and the good company of old colleagues and new contacts, we have a great deal of work to do.

We must seize this wonderful opportunity while we have so many great minds - national and industry leaders, global influencers and scientists together to identify how we can partner to further this noble cause of bringing about a green revolution in Africa. Because the green revolution has begun out there in the fields and villages all across the continent.

We are all too well aware of the many constraints Africa’s development faces but the biggest challenge is that we do not have the systems in place to deliver services to smallholder farmers. Services such as access to quality seeds, affordable fertilizer, a place to sell produce at the best price or a small loan. And these services must give the necessary support to the women farmers who produce the majority of Africa’s food.

We are starting to address these constraints and, where we have, we are seeing the results. But imagine if we were able to make those services available to every farmer in every country. We cannot think about the smallholder farmer anymore as one woman on one hectare of land but as hundreds of thousands of farmers on hundreds of thousands of hectares of land (or millions). Together they represent a considerable force. If we take advantage of their sheer numbers that force can power a continent.

And we cannot think of farming anymore as a subsistence way of life. African agriculture is developing as a dynamic, profitable sector, attractive to young people with ambition and drive. African companies are investing: producing quality seeds and fertilizers; developing food processing businesses, market information systems, and financial products to serve farmers and agricultural enterprises.

AGRA’s work, in the three years since its creation, has been based on individual grants. However, experience has shown that integrated programs in high potential areas yield the highest returns in terms of production, incomes and poverty reduction. So AGRA is now working with partners to implement a breadbasket development strategy. This strategy is being piloted in four countries: Ghana, Mali, Mozambique and Tanzania. Breadbasket development will drive agricultural transformation in Africa through the demonstration of effective partnerships between governments, development partners, farmer organizations and the private sector. This investment plan approach can be a key driver for the implementation of CAADP compacts and move us closer to our shared goal of a food secure Africa. If we work together and concentrate our resources behind a smart, targeted investment strategy, we can bring about real change faster.

All of our discussions will go to not if we do not leave with concrete engagements and commitments to support workable solutions to address the critical constraints in agriculture. Considerable investments and changes in policies have to be made for us to achieve a true revolution of agriculture here in Africa.

I look forward to our discussions over the next few days as we determine the actions needed to accelerate progress. And even more importantly, I look forward to getting on with the tasks ahead.

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About the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
AGRA is a dynamic partnership working across the African continent to help millions of small-scale farmers and their families lift themselves out of poverty and hunger. AGRA programmes develop practical solutions to significantly boost farm productivity and incomes for the poor while safeguarding the environment. AGRA advocates for policies that support its work across all key aspects of the African agricultural value chain ­from seeds, soil health and water to markets and agricultural education.

AGRA's Board of Directors is chaired by Kofi A Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations. Dr Namanga Ngongi, former Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme, is AGRA's president. With support from The Rockefeller Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK's Department for International Development and other donors, AGRA works across sub-Saharan Africa and maintains offices in Nairobi, Kenya, and Accra, Ghana.