Making Sustainable Agriculture a future for youth in Africa

03rd July 2017
by secretary

Paepard

2 July 2017. Rome, Italy. This conference was hosted by the AU Commission, the European Commission and the Estonian Presidency of the EU at the FAO premises. The African Union – European Union Agriculture Ministerial Conference “Making agriculture a future for youth in Africa” aimed to build up political engagement ahead of the Africa-EU Summit in November 2017 on a common vision on how to generate sustainable, inclusive jobs for African youth in the agri-food sector and rural economy.

Parallel thematic sessions focused on:

Promoting Responsible Private Investment and Access to Markets in the Agri-Food Sector in Africa (67.12 KB, PDF)

The aim of this High Level Panel was to provide a short-list of possible concrete action-oriented proposals to be put forward and presented to the ministerial plenary. The High Level Panel focused on policy development in support of harnessing sustainable trade and responsible investments in Africa, and policy cooperation between the African Union and the European Union. It was also be an opportunity to build up political mobilisation and to advance discussions among key players for the EU’s External Investment Plan (EIP) in the area of agri-food business.

Mrs Agnes Kalibata, President AGRA
Mrs Mella Frewen, Director General FoodDrinkEurope
Dr Chiji Ojukwu, African Development Bank
Dr Martin Märkl, Bayer
Mr Jonathan Bee, Head of Regulatory and Scientific Affairs, Nestlé
Mr Daniel Gad, Omega Farms

Research and Innovation and the Role of Digitalisation in Agriculture (134.12 KB, PDF)

The keynote speakers discussed the current use of ICT in agriculture and its role and development as part of the research and innovation partnership on food nutrition and security and sustainable agriculture (FARA). The FAO presented its experiences with ICT in agriculture under the nearly 15 years’ running project of e-agriculture. The European Commission gave a general reflection on the research and innovation partnership, its current status and possible future developments.

Dr Yemi Akinbamijo, Executive Director of FARA
Dr Philippe Petithuguenin, Deputy Director for Research and Strategy at CIRAD
Mr Cezar Santos Alvarez, FAO, e-Agriculture
Mrs Maria Cristina Russo, Director for International Cooperation of the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, European Commission
Dr Dashiell Kenton, Deputy Director General, International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA)

Water Use and Management in Agriculture within a Climate-Resilient Environment (79.39 KB, PDF)
The session provided a vision on water use in agriculture in the EU and Africa, including a number of best practices and lessons learnt. It also involved presentations on the needs for innovation and implementation of sustainable management of water resources, focusing on the nexus of water, agriculture and food production. The brief vision presented should help to identify priorities of the EU-Africa cooperation on water and agriculture.

Mr Daniel Calleja, Director General of the Directorate-General for the Environment of the European Commission
Mr Capoulas Santos, Portugal Minister of Agriculture
Dr Timothy O. Williams, Director Africa of International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
Dr Abdul Karim Seid, Head of the Water Resources Programme, Nile Basin Initiative (NBI)
Mr Jose Eugenio Naranjo Chicharro, Sub-Director General of Spain Ministry of Agriculture
Mrs Chantal Marijnissen, Head of Unit, DG DEVCO, European Commission
Dr Jochen Froebrich, Senior Researcher at Wageningen Environmental Research, European Water Platform
Mr Jan-Willem Vosmeer, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, Global Affairs, Heineken

Climate-Smart Agriculture and Reducing Food Losses and Waste (66.95 KB, PDF)
The main objective was to provide an opportunity to share and learn from each other on good practices, technologies and indeed what is working and why in the efforts to building resilience to risks and scale up CSA in various agro-ecological systems and landscapes. The Session exposed some innovative and successful CSA practices, approaches and support policies which, with additional support, could be expanded and up-take accelerated, thereby getting a critical mass of communities and landscapes involved. The Session enlightened participants on envisaged measures for promoting investment, including the private sector, scaling up climate smart agriculture practices, reducing food loss and waste and mainstreaming CSA into national development planning process.