Increasing Cowpea value chain sustainability in West Africa through product and process innovation

18 September 2018. Gent, Belgium. Tropentag

Video interview with Yann E. Madode - with his CIRAD partner of the ICOWPEA project (Increasing Cowpea value chain sustainability in West Africa through product and process innovation) (Yann is also related to the Benin/Soy consortium)

• Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), also called black eyed pea, is a legume seed which is extensively cultivated and consumed in sub-Saharan Africa. It has a very interesting nutritional potential since it is rich in vitamins, proteins and fibres. 
• In Benin, this legume seed is used in many traditional dishes that are appreciated by the consumers: abobo (stew), ata (fritters), moin-moin, adowè (puree), ataclè… 
• Nevertheless, cowpea has two major disadvantages: it contains important quantities of antinutritional factors that induce digestive disorders and it needs a long soaking-cooking time which causes important micronutrient losses (including vitamins). 
• Using a transdisciplinary approach, ICOWPEA project (2017-2019), aims at developing technological solutions through an innovation platform that facilitate the launch of cowpea-based innovative products having a high nutritional value and meeting local demand.

Objectives
Through its research activities, ICOWPEA project aims:

• Increasing cowpea consumption in Cotonou through the improvement of processing conditions and the development of cowpea-based products of high nutritional value.
• Co-building sustainable product-process innovation in close collaboration with local cowpea processors and small food businesses through participative research.
• Contributing to food security in urban context through the development of cowpea-based products having both high nutritional and organoleptic values.

ICOWPEA project presentation (in French) (888 Ko)

Partners
The different project partners and associated are already, for the most part, long-standing partners who collaborated on different projects.

• CIRAD

  
  

  French agricultural research and international cooperation organization working for the sustainable development. CIRAD ensures the general coordination of ICOWPEA.
• FSA-UAC

  
  

  Faculty of Agronomic Sciences of the University of Abomey-Calavi (FSA-UAC), Abomey-Calavi, Benin
• IRD

  
  

  Research Institute for Development (IRD)/ NutriPass Unit, Montpellier, France
• Montpellier SupAgro

  
  

  Montpellier SupAgro - Institute for Higher Education in Tropical and Sub-Tropical Agri-Food Sciences, Montpellier, France
• Small entreprises

  
  

  ALITECH Industries entreprise, Cotonou, Benin, and other small businesses

“Africanistan”: the triple challenge posed by Sub-Saharan Africa

20 September 2018. Washington, DC. Embassy of France. BOOK TALK: Serge Michailof: Africanistan, Development or Jihad. International development expert Serge Michailof presented his latest book Africanistan, Development of Jihad. Building on the example of Sahel, a huge region of about 100 million inhabitants where insecurity is spreading like a bushfire, Serge Michaïlof will discuss whether the same recipes that failed in Afghanistan are being rolled out in the Sahel. Are we headed to a “Sahelistan” first step to an Africanistan?

Serge Michailof has had an impressive and extensive career as an international development expert. From France’s aid agency to the World Bank to France’s strategic think tanks, he has been a leading strategic analyst over the last several decades of the challenges of development and their linkages to security issues.

About the book: Africanistan. Development or Jihad 

Serge Michailof
Published: Oxford Press 29 juni 2018

In Africa, progress can be seen across the board. But the important question is whether this progress is sustainable and comprehensive enough. The continent is a powder keg. The powder is demographics and unemployment the detonator. By 2050 the number of young people of working age in Africa is expected to be three times that of China’s. But will there be jobs for them?

What is troubling for the continent is even more dramatic for the Sahel, a huge region of about 100 million inhabitants where insecurity is spreading like a bushfire. Despite major differences in geography and culture, there are huge similarities between the Sahel and Afghanistan: a demographic impasse, stagnating agriculture, widespread rural misery, high unemployment, deep ethnic and religious fault lines, weak states, poor governance, a lack of law and order, regional instability, drug trafficking, and the spread of radical Islam. And unfortunately, the same recipes that failed in Afghanistan are being rolled out in the Sahel. Are we headed to a “Sahelistan” first step to an Africanistan? Serge Michailof helps us find the answer to this important question.

Related: 
26 January 2017. The European Investment Bank Institute.

“Africanistan”: the triple challenge posed by Sub-Saharan Africa

In 2050, Africa will be more populated than China but the young working age population will be three times larger, said Serge Michailof, from the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs, IRIS, and former Head of Operations at Agence Française de Développement, at an EIB Institute seminar.

The problem will be particularly acute in the Sahel (Niger, Mali..), an already politically unstable and economically underdeveloped region with very few employment opportunities for an expanding population (currently 70-million inhabitants and about 150 million in 10 years’ time).

Reforming and strengthening the security sector should be a priority for aid agencies but these activities are beyond their mandate and, for systemic reasons, they do a poor job in fragile, conflict-affected countries, he added.

“(…) As long as state institutions remain weak and non-existent in rural areas, as long as Official Development Assistance to the Sahel remains disorganized and without clear strategy (…) cancers, particularly those developed from Boko Haram (..) will circulate in the sub-region” (and their)” metastases would certainly develop in neighbouring countries that are still fragile, In such a case Europe would be confronted to new migrations of a magnitude likely to dwarf ongoing migrations from Syria”M. Michailof.

Click here for presentation




Related:

Food safety: a critical part of the food system in Africa

19 September 2018. Brussels. The latest Brussels Development Briefing no. 52 on “Food safety: a critical part of the food system in Africa ” was organised by the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), in collaboration with the European Commission (DG DEVCO & DG Health and Food Safety), the ACP Secretariat, CONCORD and the Global Food Safety Partnership.

To improve the quantity and quality of food safety capacity building in sub-Saharan Africa, the Global Food Safety Partnership (GFSP) commissioned a mapping and analysis of current institutions, initiatives and resources devoted to food safety capacity building in sub-Saharan Africa. 

• The report, “Food Safety in Africa: Past Endeavors and Future Directions” provides data, analysis, and recommendations that organisations working on food safety in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) can use to improve the impact of their efforts. 
• The report focuses on food safety capacity-building investments and activities of the international donor community and ways that both donors and African governments can better target and coordinate those investments, with greater synergy between the public and private sectors. 
  
• The central theme of this report is that donors, African governments, and the private sector can work together to maximise the impact of food safety capacity-building investments and improve food safety. Everyone agrees that such collaboration is needed. The difficulty is catalysing and sustaining a shift in current practices.
• The report provides findings and makes recommendations based on data from over 500 donor-funded projects and activities and input from nearly 200 experts and stakeholders. It provides advice to help donors and African governments better target and coordinate investments, with greater synergy between the public and private sectors.

Panel 1: Ensuring food safety along the entire food chainThis panel will share food safety concepts, approaches and trends across Africa. It will present the findings of the GFSP study, lessons learned from selected countries and the implications for the investments in the sector.

• Food Safety in Africa: Past Endeavors and Future Directions - Lystra N. Antoine, CEO, Global Food Safety Partnership [presentation]
• Importance and experience building capacity of informal markets in SSA - Kristina Roesel, Jointly appointed scientist, Freie Universität Berlin and ILRI [presentation]
• Market access for African countries agri-food products to the EU - Michael Scannell, Director for the Food Chain, DG Sante, European Commission 
• Building capacity of public and private actors on food safety: best practices - Morag Webb, Policy Adviser, PIP-COLEACP [presentation]

Panel 2: Drivers for success for improving food safety in Africa

This panel discussed investments in African food safety capacity to improve public health, food security, and economically beneficial market access for African food producers. It will feature public and private perspectives and best practices.

• Enabling the private sector to support food safety in domestic markets - Kelley Cormier, Division Chief, Bureau for Food Security, USAID [presentation]
• The role of Farmers in ensuring safe food in the value chain - Elizabeth Nsimadala, Entrepreneur & President of Eastern Africa Farmer’s Federation (EAFF) [presentation]
• What role food safety play in Africa regional trade? - Chris Muyunda, Chairman of the Governing Council of CAADP Non State Actors Coalition [presentation]

Resources:
Background Note
Programme
Reader
Biodata of the speakers
Additional Resources
Brussels Briefing 11: “ Meeting Food Safety Standards: Implications for ACP agricultural exports ”
Brussels Briefing 47: “ Regional Trade in Africa: Drivers, Trends and Opportunities ”
Brussels Briefing 48: “ Strengthening rural livelihoods in the face of rapid urbanisation in Africa ”
Brussels Briefing 50: “ Growing food in the cities: Successes and new opportunities ”

German Ministry for Food and Agriculture (BMEL) session at the Tropentag

18 September 2018. Gent, Belgium. Tropentag 2018. German Ministry for Food and Agriculture (BMEL) session at the Tropentag

Chair: Silvia Dietz, Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), Head of Division Research and Innovation, Germany

Panel discussion: 

• Does Diversified Agricultural Production Automatically Lead to Improved Nutrition? Research projects supported by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, BMEL Web-Version (html) 
• Keynote to the Panel Discussion: Does Diversified Agricultural Production Automatically Lead to Improved Nutrition? Web-Version (html)

Related: 

In June 2016 The German Ministry for Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and The Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) launch a call on: “Innovative approaches of food processing in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia to improve nutrition and to reduce food losses in quality and quantity” For this call the BLE organised an international expert workshop to identify the actual research needs and to evaluate the state of the art in this field. (14-15 April 2016. Bonn, Germany)

Following projects have been selected:

UPGRADE Plus Decentralised processing of rarely used plant and animal raw materials into innovative products with high added value to improve the nutritional situation in West Africa

Duration: 15.10.2017 to 31.12.202

Partners:

1. Universität Kassel, Ökologische Agrarwissenschaften, Fachgebiet Agrartechnik, Witzenhausen Germany (Coordinator) 
2. University of Development Studies (UDS), Department of  Irrigation and Mechanization Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Nyankpala Campus, Ghana 
3. Njala University (NU), Department of Biological Sciences, Freetown, Sierra Leone  
4. National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT), Ibadan, Nigeria  
5. Innotech Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH, Altdorf, Germany
6. Deutsches Institut für tropische und subtropische Landwirtschaft (DITSL), Witzenhausen, Germany 

Objective: Based on three case studies (Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone), the project aims to improve the nutrition of women, infants and young children and at the same time to create opportunities for income generation with a focus on women's self-help groups in West Africa.

FruVaSe Year-round availability of fruit and vegetables through resource-efficient processing and new marketing opportunities as instruments to promote rural development in sub-Saharan Africa

Duration: 01.05.2018 - 31.08.2021
Partners:

• Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (UGOE), Göttingen, Germany (Coordinator) 
• Nelson Mandela University (NM AIST), Nelson Mandela Institute of Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanszania
• Makerere University (MUG), School of Food Technology, Nutrition & Bio-Engineering, Kampala, Uganda 
• University of Nairobi (UoN), Department of Plant Science and Crop Protection, Nairobi, Kenya  
• University of Eldoret (UoE), Department of Seed, Crop and Horticultural Sciences, Eldoret, Kenya 
• Fachhochschule Erfurt (EUAS), Erfurt, Germany 

Objective: The project aims to counteract the lack of vitamins and minerals in human nutrition as well as the fruit and vegetable waste generated in the value chain in sub-Saharan Africa and to develop approaches to improve the otherwise often limited availability of fruit and vegetables due to seasonality and long distances between growing regions and consumption centres. In detail, the research project will (i) select the most nutritionally promising fruit and vegetable species, focusing on cashew apple, guava, jackfruit and green leafy vegetables; (ii) Develop and evaluate new and traditional technologies for processing and shelf life extension.

PROCINUT Processing edible insects for an improved nutritional situation

Duration: 01.05.2021 - 31.08.2021
Partners:

1. Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany (Coordinator), 
2. International Centre for Sustainable Development, University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein Sieg (IZNE), Sankt Augustin, Germany
3. Yezin Agricultural University (YAU), Myanmar
4. Spectrum - Sustainable Development Knowledge Network (Spectrum SDKN), Yangon, Myanmar
5. Mahidol University (MU), Phutthamonthon Nakhon Pathom Thailand
6. University of Antananarivo (UoA), Madagascar
7. Centre National de la Recherche Appliquée au Développement Rural (FOFIFA), Antananarivo, Madagascar 
8. Welthungerhilfe, Antananarivo, Madagascar 
9. International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), Nairobi, Kenya

Objective: The project aims to better exploit the nutritional potential of edible insects. It investigates different processing technologies of local insect species and expands small-scale commercial production and processing activities. The aim is to produce safe, nutritious end products that close seasonal gaps, increase household food security and improve the income situation of poor women in Madagascar and Myanmar.

WALF Pack Application of new packaging solutions to reduce food losses in West Africa by extending the shelf life of local perishable foods

Duration: 01.09.2017 - 30.09.2020
Partners:

• Universität Bonn, Landwirtschaftliche Fakultät, Institut für Ernährungs- und Lebensmittelwissenschaften, Lehrstuhl Lebensmittelverfahrenstechnik (UoB/IEL),Bonn, Germany (Coordinator) 
• University of Abomey-Calavi, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences (FSA/UAC),Abomey-Calavi, Benin 

Objective: The aim of the project is to extend the shelf life of perishable food products widely used in West Africa through new cost-effective packaging solutions. The studies will be carried out with the following products: "Waragashi", a traditional cheese made from cow's milk, reed rat meat (Thyronomys spp.) and African aubergine (Solanum macrocarpon), a leafy vegetable. The use of simple packaging solutions to prevent damage during transport and prolong the shelf life of food can lead to a significant reduction in waste in food production.

Vegi-Leg Implementation of innovative processing technologies for nutrient-rich plant foods for year-round food security: country comparison between East and South East Africa 

Duration: 01.09.2018 - 30.11.2021
Partners:

• Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Research (ZALF) Müncheberg, Germany (Coordinator) 
• Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Morogoro, Tanzania
• Small Industries Development Organization (SIDO), Lindi, Tanzania 
• Mozambique Institute of Agricultural Research (IIAM), Mozambique 
• Community Council Maganja da Costa (CMC), Mozambique  
• Nema Foundation (NEM), Cabo Delgado, Mozambique
• Universidade Lúrio (UNILÚRIO), Nampula, Mozambique
• University of Hohenheim (UHOH),  Hohenheim, Germany

Objective: To provide food security throughout the year to the rural population groups affected by anaemia and malnutrition in Tanzania (TC) and Mozambique (MC). The development of gentle processing technologies and the conservation of nutritious, micronutrient-rich plant foods (iron, vitamin A) and thus the food value chain and the long-term food situation in the respective regions are to be sustainably improved.

The integration of dietary indicators in the CAADP process

19 September 2018. Gent, Belgium. Tropentag 2018.

Interview with keynote speaker Dr. Namukolo Covic, coordinator A4NH in Ethiopia.
Namukolo Covic works for the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) as Senior Research Coordinator in the Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division and is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Current focus of her work is the CGIAR Research Programme on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH). She is the country coordinator for A4NH in Ethiopia where she also provides representation for the programme in its interactions with the African Union’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

Dr. Namukolo Covic answers following questions:

1. Why is it essential to integrate dietary indicators in the CAADP process? 
2. How difficult was it to get this in the CAADP? 
3. How does it change the rolling out of the Compacts?
4. How do you relate African diets, orphan crops, biodiversity and agribusiness for youth?
5. The next Tropentag will be in Kassel-Germany and ICARDA will receive more attention. What are the challenges for the arid zones in Africa related to the orphan crops ?

[transcript of the video interview forthcoming]

Tropentag 2018

16-19 September 2018. Gent, Belgium. Tropentag 2018 was organised by the University of Ghent, Belgium in close cooperation KU Leuven and Antwerp University (both Belgium).

• Tropentag is an annual interdisciplinary conference on research in tropical and subtropical agriculture, natural resource management and rural development (TROPENTAG) jointly organised by the universities of Berlin, Bonn, Göttingen, Hohenheim, Kassel-Witzenhausen, Hamburg, ZALF e.V., ETH Zurich (Switzerland), Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Czech Republic), BOKU Vienna (Austria) and the Council for Tropical and Subtropical Research (ATSAF e.V) in co-operation with the GIZ Advisory Service on Agricultural Research for Development (BEAF).
• The Tropentag is a development-oriented and interdisciplinary conference. It addresses issues of resource management, environment, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food, nutrition and related sciences in the context of rural development, sustainable resource use and poverty alleviation worldwide.
• The Tropentag 2018 conference theme was Global food security and food safety: The role of universities
  

Social media of Tropentag

• http://blog.tropentag.de
• https://www.facebook.com/tropentag
• https://twitter.com/tropentag 
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/tropentag/

Keynote speakers

• Alexander de Croo (see picture below the cowboy!), Minister of Development Cooperation, Digital Agenda, Telecom and Postal Services, Belgium
• Namukolo Covic, coordinator A4NH in Ethiopia
  Namukolo Covic works for the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) as Senior Research Coordinator in the Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division and is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Current focus of her work is the CGIAR Research Programme on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH). She is the country coordinator for A4NH in Ethiopia where she also provides representation for the programme in its interactions with the African Union’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).
• Ramon L. Espinel, Professor and Dean, Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, ESPOL-Guayaquil, Ecuador
  Ramon Espinel is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences in ESPOL University, associate Professor at the University of Florida, and Representative of the Republic of Ecuador to the Board of the International Monetary Fund. He has served as Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and

  

   Winners of the fiat panis Award 2018
  and Josef G Knoll European
  Science Award 2018

  Fisheries, and as President of FINAGRO (Banco del Agro).
• Bernhard Freyer, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
  Univ. Prof. Dr. Bernhard Freyer heads the Division of Organic Farming as well as the working group of Transdsciplinary Systems Research at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna
• Emile Frison, Member International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food), Orvieto, Italy
  Emile Frison is an expert on conservation and agricultural biodiversity who has headed global research-for-development organisation Bioversity International for ten years, after holding top positions at several global research institutes. He is currently the Chair of the International Scientific Committee on Sustainable
  
  Food Systems of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation. His areas of expertise include the conservation and use of agricultural biodiversity. He has a particular interest in sustainable food systems and the deployment of agricultural biodiversity to improve nutrition and the resilience and sustainability of agricultural systems.
• Stineke Oenema, coordinator of the UN SCN (Standing
  
  Committee on Nutrition), ItalyStineke Oenema is nutritionist (Wageningen University) and agricultural economist (London University). She worked several years for FAO and UNICEF in Ghana, Vietnam and Latin

  

  Great applause for Erick for compiling
  the Book of Abstracts "Bible"

  America. Group, she supported the development of the Global Nutrition Reports during its initial years. Before joining the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN) in 2016, she worked at Wageningen University, the Centre for Development Innovation. In her current function as Coordinator of the UNSCN, she contributes to maximising coherency of nutrition policy and advocacy; as well as to coherent and accountable delivery by the UN system.
• John McDermott, Director, CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), IFPRI-Washington, USA
  Previously he was Deputy Director General and Director of Research at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi from 2003-2011. John has lived and worked in Africa for 25 years. As a researcher, John’s research career has focused on public health, animal health and livestock research in developing countries, primarily Africa.
• Michael Ochieng Odhiambo, Director; People, Land and Rural Development (PLRD), Kenya
  Michael Ochieng Odhiambo is a lawyer who founded and served as first Executive Director of
  
  the Resource Conflict Institute (RECONCILE), a regional policy research and advocacy NGO based in Nakuru, Kenya. he has advised and supported UN agencies, donors, international and national non-governmental and community-based organisations on pastoralism and policy-related issues all over the Horn of Africa, with assignments in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. He has at various times conducted policy research and analysis, training and evaluations for the European Union, the African Union, FAO, the World Bank, UNDP, DFID, USAID, Oxfam, NPA, NRC, IWGIA and Cordaid.
• Anthony Whitbread is the Research Program Director for Innovation Systems for the Drylands
  
  (ISD), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), based in Hyderabad, India.
  Dr Whitbread leads a team of 30+ scientists across south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa in an innovation systems mode devising strategies to manage climatic risk, soil fertility and identifying market led development opportunities. This role was preceded by a 20 year research career in the crop-livestock systems of semi-arid Australia, SE Asia and Southern Africa
• Francois Stepman, Platform for African, European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development (PAEPARD), Belgium
  Since 2010, PAEPARD has been working to promote new innovation processes through partnerships Multi-actors and mediation work between research organizations, NGOs, peasant organizations And the private sector. This process allows new projects to emerge or bring added value To existing projects in different sectors.
  
  

Left to right: Ms. Odile Ano, 

Dr. Helene Mavar, Ms Eva Ba

Extracts of the programme

Pre-conference workshop: Workshop 5: Linking the ''diaspora'' with research and SMEs 

This Diaspora workshop was a follow-up on a Diaspora Agro Food Forum held in Brussels on 25 April 2018. The African Diaspora Agro Food Forum 2018

Pastoral systems

Chair: Ann Waters-Bayer, Agrecol Association, Germany
MICHAEL OCHIENG ODHIAMBO: Pastoralism in Eastern Africa: Policy and Institutional Challenges, Opportunities and Responses  Web-Version (html)
ERICK OMOLLO, OLIVER WASONGA, YAZAN ELHADI, WILLIAM MNENE: Is Fodder Production in the Drylands Profitable? Analysis of Fodder Value Chain in Southern Kenya
Web-Version (html)
MARIA VICTORIA LARRATEGUY, ANTONIA BRAUS, ANGELA R. SCHUG, KASSIM YOUSSF ABDALLA, ABDIKAREEN ESSA, MAURICEKIBOYE: One Health Approach: Key Function in Project Activities in Food Security and Safety in Somaliland Web-Version (html)
GUYO ROBA, MARGARETA LELEA, BRIGITTE KAUFMANN: Linking Pastoralists to Markets - Understanding the Role and Working Conditions of Local Traders in Northern Kenya Web-Version (html)
BENJAMIN WARTH, CARSTEN MAROHN, FOLKARD ASCH: Grassland Functions Improve a Mechanistic Crop Model to Assess Savannah Crop Encroachment and Overstocking Impacts Web-Version (html)

Land degradation and livelihoods for the Sahel

Chair: Anthony Whitbread, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Innovation Systems for the Drylands, India
ARRON ORR: Land Degradation Neutrality: Global Vision and Perspectives for Africa Web-Version (html)
PATRICE SAVADOGO, JULES BAYALA, SIBIRI JEAN OUéDRAOGO: Restoration Pathways for Degraded Land in West African Sahel and Dry Savannah: A Review Web-Version (html)
DOUGBEDJI FATONDJI, ALPHONSE SINGBO, RAMADJITA TABO, ANTHONY WHITBREAD: Empowering Women Farmers and Providing Nutritional Benefits to Households through Degraded Landscapes Regeneration in Niger Web-Version (html)
EMMANUEL OLATUNBOSUN BENJAMIN, OREOLUWA OLA, HANNES LANG, GERTRUD BUCHENRIEDER: Public-Private Cooperation in Extension Services - Impact on Agricultural Development in Sub-Saharan

Africa Web-Version (html)
TOBIAS FELDT, LEON BESSERT, EVA SCHLECHT: Rivalry for Urban Food Markets Between Farmers and Pastoralists in the Western Highlands of Cameroon Web-Version (html)

Panel representing #A4NHResearch flagships discuss
how partnerships can lead to impact, what we have learned
about how agriculture can improve nutrition,
and what we need to do to support
the SDGs at #Tropentag2018

A4NH - Leveraging agriculture for nutrition and health outcomes   

Chair: Namukolo Covic, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Poverty Health and Nutrition Div., Ethiopia
JOHN MCDERMOTT: Leveraging Agriculture for Nutrition and Health Outcomes Web-Version (html)
JOHN MCDERMOTT: Improving Nutrition through Agriculture – What Have We Learned and How Can We Support SDG Outcomes Web-Version (html)
NAMUKOLO COVIC, INGE D. BROUWER, JEFF LEROY, ERICK BOY, KRISTINA ROESEL, FRED UNGER, ERASTUS KANG'ETHE: Pathways and Theories of Change for Nutrition and Health Outcomes from Agriculture, Examples Across Food Systems, Biofortification, Food Safety and Integrated Programs and Policies Web-Version (html) 

Juncker's full 2018 State of the Union speech

12 September 2018. Annual State of the EU address by President Juncker at the European Parliament

To speak of the future, one must speak of Africa – Europe's twin continent.

• Africa is the future: By 2050, Africa's population will number 2.5 billion. One in four people on earth will be African.
• We need to invest more in our relationship with the nations of this great and noble continent. 
• And we have to stop seeing this relationship through the sole prism of development aid. Such an approach is beyond inadequate, humiliatingly so.
• Africa does not need charity, it needs true and fair partnerships. And Europe needs this partnership just as much.

In preparing my speech today, I spoke to my African friends, notably Paul Kagame, the Chairperson of the African Union. We agreed that donor-recipient relations are a thing of the past. We agreed that reciprocal commitments are the way forward.

We want to build a new partnership with Africa.

• Today, we are proposing a new Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs between Europe and Africa. This Alliance – as we envision it – would help create up to 10 million jobs in Africa in the next 5 years alone.
• We want to create a framework that brings more private investment to Africa. We are not starting from scratch: our External Investment Plan, launched two years ago, will mobilise over €44 billion in both the public and private investment. Alone the projects already in the pipeline will unlock €24 billion
• We want to focus our investment where it matters the most. By 2020, the EU will have supported 35,000 African students and researchers with our Erasmus programme. By 2027, this figure should reach 105,000.
• Trade between Africa and Europe is not insignificant. 36% of Africa's trade is with the European Union. This compares to 16% for China and 6% for the United States. But this is not enough.
• I believe we should develop the numerous European-African trade agreements into a continent-to-continent free trade agreement, as an economic partnership between equals.

Tropentag 2018: Linking African Diaspora Agro Food Entrepreneurs to Research and SMEs

16 September 2018. Gent, Belgium. Tropentag 2018 Workshop number 5.
African Diaspora entrepreneurship is an overlooked opportunity for a sustainable input in the development discourse and policy making too. For years the focus has been on the remittances from African Diasporas, as a constant source of economic empowerment and development in many African communities. Now a new generation of African Diaspora entrepreneurs, are taking advantage of their global interconnections for innovative projects in the agro food sector in Africa and Europe.

An engaged African Diaspora entrepreneur with links to research and SMEs is an asset in the development of Africa.

Prof.Zerihun Tadale

This Diaspora workshop is a follow-up on a Diaspora Agro Food Forum held in Brussels on 25 April 2018. The African Diaspora Agro Food Forum 2018 was an opportunity to link research to diaspora investments in agricultural value chains, particularly in food processing. The workshop is open to registered participants of Tropentag and members of the African Diaspora. Delicacies of the African cuisine will be served during the 3 days of the conference (and pre-conference day).

Social media of the event

• See the Programme
• See on FACEBOOK
• Registration on GOOGLE DOCS

Social media of Tropentag

• http://blog.tropentag.de
• https://www.facebook.com/tropentag
• https://twitter.com/tropentag 
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/tropentag/

Hans-Jorg Lutzeyer
European Commision
DG Research and Innovation
"We need more of such dialogues
between research,SMEs and the diaspora"

Part one 

• Keynote presentation by Prof. Zerihun Tadale. Group Leader, Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern Switzerland - Role of African scientific diaspora: Opportunities and Challenges
  "Crop researchers are like a fighting parliament""Food security could be achieved globally by implementing efficient techniques which boost productivity and enhance nutritional quality on both major and locally important crops. The success of food security also depends on the commitment and partnership of relevant stakeholders"
  "My view on future food security:
  – Optimistic: responsibilities of stakeholders fulfilled (value-chain approach)
  – Pessimistic: low productivity, inferior quality food, climate change, population increase, policy"

• Dr. Maureen Duru, Founder The Food Bridge vzw, African Diaspora Projects Initiative and author of Diaspora, Food and Identity; Nigerian migrants in Belgium - African diaspora entrepreneurship: building bridges for sustainable development 

Part Two

• Ms Eva Ba (see picture), Cofounder Seregal and Juleva - makers of Talina Bissap Hibiscus Drink - How a Belgian product initiative became an agriculture development project in Senegal.
  "#Tropentag2018 #paepard "The bureaucracy to get your produce in Europe from African origin is daunting.There should be a support for entrepreneurs on administrative requirements"
  
  
  
  
• Mrs Zilipa Nyirabyago, Solidev Rwanda and winner of SusTech4Africa 2018 competition
  
  
  
  
    
• Mr Pape Ousmane NDIAYE (see picture), CEO and Founder of Fruitech - Yeesal: an agri tech hub serving the rural world and young people
  
  
  
  
• Ms Odile Ano (see picture), CEO of 1001 Noyaux France , member of the PAEPARD/ColeACP consortium - 1001 Noyaux : From value creation to eco-responsible consumption
  
  
• Dr. Helene Mavar, Lecturer ULB Belgium and University of Kisangani, Congo. Founder Aksantimed - Africa: innovation and food processing for development / Afrique: l'innovation et la transformation alimentaire pour le développement
  
  
  
• Mr Philippe Convent, Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs Belgium - Socially engaged Entrepreneurs supporting sustainable development in the south
  
  
• Mr Lens Lepauw, Microstart Belgium - Get to know microStart and it's support for entrepreneurship towards African Diaspora
  
  

Part three: Recommendations

The recommendations of the present Tropentag pre-Conference Workshop will feed into one of the parallel sessions of The global Diaspora week: Session 3 : Diaspora innovations for agricultural productivity and sustainability (5 October 2018. European Parliament, Brussels).

Which support is most needed, to stimulate more Diaspora agro food initiatives?

• We need a one stop shop (ColeACP?) where the national legislation of European countries on requirements (barriers) to African food import are listed up (beyond phyto sanitary standards).
• Funding and meetings are too much organised according to "schools of thoughts" not allowing for cross contacts and discussion between agro-ecology, conservation agriculture, bio-technology, resource poor farming, etc. 
• The Annual State of the EU address by President Juncker at the European Parliament gives encouraging signals to increase and improve EC-AU dialogue,including on research

Related: 

• 19-21 September 2018. Uppsala, Sweden. Engaging Africa Diaspora in Knowledge Transfer through Networking
• 5 October 2018. The global Diaspora week: Session 3: Diaspora innovations for agricultural productivity and sustainability
• 11 October 2018. Vienna, Austria. The global Diaspora week:  Workshop "Diaspora and Innovation in Agriculture"