3rd PAFO Continental Briefing Advancing African agriculture through agribusiness development

28 - 29 November 2015. Durban, South Africa. Organised by the Panafrican Farmer’s Organisations

(PAFO) and the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA). The objectives of this briefing were to: (i) highlight the key opportunities in agribusiness development favourable to the farmer’s organisations; (ii) promote sustainable and inclusive PPPs in support of agribusiness development; and (iii) identify new opportunities in data and ICTs in support of agribusiness and agricultural development in the continent.

• Programme & Background Not
• Biodata of speakers 
• Reader: In depth research document from the Brussels Development Briefings on Agricultural Transformation in Africa, Value Chains Finance, and Data Revolution for Agriculture
• Resources on PPP
• Launch of the Food Security Portal for Africa South of the Sahara

This Briefing fed into the GFIA Conference which was held in Durban on 1-3 December 2015.

Programme:

Successes from farmer’s-led business: This session presented some of the cases of farmer’s led business which have been documented by the FOs since the last PAFO Briefing held in Nairobi in July 2014. In some cases, linkages have been made with the financial institutions. The session will also identify new opportunities to move forward this agenda.

• Context and achievements: Isolina Boto, Manager, CTA [Presentation]
  – East Africa (Oromia Coffee, Ethopia; Nucafe Coffee, Igara Tea, Kapchorwa District farmers association, Uganda; and Limuru dairy co-operative Kenya) EAFF
  – West Africa (Fédération des Professionnels Agricoles du Burkina (FEPA-B) on maize; La Fédération des unions des coopératives des producteurs du Niger (FUCOPRI) on rice) ROPPA – Central Africa (FNEC on livestock in Central Africa; ABBON on soya in Congo; Sooopmata in Cameroon for cassava) PROPAC

New opportunities for Agribusiness development: This panel discussed the drivers of agribusiness development in EU and regional markets favourable to farmers’ organisations and new market opportunities. It will bring perspectives from policy makers, private sector and finance.

• Agricultural trade, regional integration and new opportunities for agribusiness; Mmatlou Kalaba, International Trade Economist, Pretoria University [Presentation]; 
• Successes from the African private sector in the development of agribusiness; Daniel Gad, Managing Director, Omega Farms & Ethiopian Horticulture Co-operative
• Regional trade and agribusiness development: the experience in the COMESA region; George Magai, Director of Trade and Markets for ACTESA, COMESA [Presentation]
• The perspective of input suppliers; Erick Rajaonary, CEO, Guanomad [Presentation|Video|Guanomad]

New opportunities for Agribusiness development through improved financing: This panel discussed the drivers of agribusiness development in EU and regional markets favourable to farmers’ organisations and new market opportunities. It will bring perspectives from policy makers, private sector and finance.

• Opportunities in the EU Market for agrifood products and PPPs; Francis Fay, Head of Unit for ACP Policy, European Commission/DG Agriculture and Rural Development, ACP Countries and Development Issues [Presentation]
• Financing agribusiness: new trends and opportunities; Elias Masilela,Executive Chairman, DNA Economics; 
• Innovative funding for agribusiness SMEs; Francois Stepman, Platform for African – European Partnership in ARD [Presentation]

Data-driven farming, Big data and Precision Agriculture: This session looked at new opportunities offered by Big data and ICTs successful applications to farmers in various areas supporting agribusiness. The session also mapped specific gaps and needs which need to be addressed for farmer‘s organisations.

• Open data for agriculture: new opportunities for farmers ; Andre Laperrierre, Director, Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition(GODAN) [Presentation|GODAN]
• Precision agriculture: a reality for Smallholder farmers? ; Chris Addison, Senior Coordinator, Knowledge management [Presentation]
• Agriconnexions: A new ICT approach to supporting Farmers Organisation services ; Getaw Tadesse, Researcher, IFPRI [Presentation|Executive Summary]
• Agricultural Data and the Food Security Portal (FSP-SSA); Summer Allen, Research Coordinator, Markets, Trends and Institutions, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) [Presentation|FSP-SSA]

The way forward
Action plan to promote Agribusiness and PPPs favourable to farmers organisations. [Presentation]