African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF)

3 - 6 September 2019. The African Green Revolution Forum 2019. AGRF has emerged as “the world’s premier platform for African agriculture” bringing together stakeholders in the agricultural landscape to take practical actions and share lessons that will move African agriculture forward. The theme of this year is: Grow Digital Leveraging digital transformation to drive sustainable food systems in Africa.

The African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) was established in 2010.

• 5 – 8 September 2018. AGRF - Kigali, Rwanda Lead. Measure. Grow: Enabling New Pathways to turn Smallholders into Sustainable Agribusinesses
• 4-8 September 2017. AGRF - Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire Accelerating Africa’s Path to Prosperity: Growing Inclusive Economies and Jobs through Agriculture
• 5 - 9 September 2016. AGRF -Nairobi, Kenya Seize The Moment: Securing Africa’s rise through agricultural transformation
• 29 September - 2 October 2015. AGRF - Lusaka, Zambia Walking the Talk on Youth and Women: Bringing Inclusive Agricultural Markets to Life
• 2-4 September 2014. AGRF - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Beyond the Tipping Point: A New Vision and Strategies for Inclusive and Sustainable Transformation
• 4 - 6 September 2013. AGRF - Maputo, Mozambique: Scaling up and financing inclusive agribusiness through transformative public-private partnerships
• 26 - 28 September 2012. AGRF - Arusha, Tanzania
• 2-4 September 2010. AGRF - Accra, Ghana

Extract of the programme:

Plenary – Leveraging Digitalization for Sustainable Food Systems

Key findings of The Digitalization of African Agriculture Report - 2018/2019, 

• Mr. Michael Hailu, President, CTA
• Mr. Michael Tsan, Partner, Dalberg
• Dr. Nick Austin, Director, Agricultural Development, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Ms. Elizabeth Nsimadala, President, Eastern Africa Farmers Federation
• Ms. Amrote Abdella, Regional Director, Microsoft 4Afrika
• Ms. Su Kahumbu, Founder, iCow
• Mr. Jerome Barbaron, AME Territory Head, Syngenta

Driving Private Sector investment for Africa’s Rapidly Growing Food Systems to

Achieve the SDGs

The panel will be discussing how a joint effort of critical stakeholders and eco-system approach can support crowding in inclusive investments in agriculture.

• Dr. Gilbert Houngbo, President, IFAD
• Mr. Kebour Ghenna, Executive Director, Pan African Chamber of Commerce
• Mr. Sean de Cleene, Head of Food System Initiative, WEF
• Mr. Matthew Brooke, Policy Officer, Rural Development, Food Security and Nutrition, European Commission
• Mr. Jerry Parkes, Managing Principal, Injaro Investments
• Mr. Edward Isingoma, Managing Partner, Pearl Capital Partners
• Ms. Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO, Acumen
• Mr. Willy Foote, CEO, Root Capital
• Ms. Leticia Osafo-Addo, CEO, Samba Food

Digital Innovations to Strengthen Resilience for Smallholders in African Food Systems

This session focuses on how digital platforms and innovations are promoting adaptation and resilience across food systems. It looks at evidence from applications of successful programs that are starting to have real impact and/or impact at scale.

• Dr. Martin Kropff, Director General, CIMMYT
• Ms. Jenny Aker, Professor of Development Economics, The Fletcher School and Department of Economics at Tufts University
• Mr. David Bergvinson, Chief Science Officer, aWhere
• Hon. Salifou Ouedraogo, Minister of Agriculture and Water
• Development, Burkina Faso
• Mr. Michel Lavollay, Founder, Public Private Partnership Europe
• Mrs. Rose Goslinga, CEO, Pula Advisors
• Mr. Dennis Rangi, Director General, Development, CABI
• Mr. Keith Cressman, Senior Agriculture Officer, FAO

2019 AFRICAN AGRICULTURE STATUS REPORT (AASR) – The Role of Private Sector in Ag

This year’s report will focus on the role of private sector in agriculture transformation.

Specifically, the report will highlight the trends and progress, as well as challenges

and constraints of private sector firms in the upstream and midstream/downstream

off-farm components of the agri-food system.

• AASR Findings – Dr. Tom Reardon, Professor of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, MSU
• Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank
• Mr. Mostafa Terrab, Chairman, OCP Group
• Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, Executive Chairman, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, and Former Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Policy Symposium – Increasing Adaptation and Resilience of African Food Systems

Technical discussions on all elements of the Global Commission on Adaptation final

recommendations: Sequence 1: Framing Remarks and Session Chairs:

• Dr. Andrew Steer, President and CEO, World Resources Institute
• Dr. Nick Austin, Director, Agricultural Development, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Mr. Santiago Alba-Corral, Interim Director, Agriculture and Environment, IDRC
• Ms. Sonja Vermeulen, Director, Programs, CGIAR System Organization
• Mr. Bruce Campbell, Director, CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security
• Dr. Denis Kyetere, Executive Director, AATF
• Dr. Dennis Garrity, Chair, Global EverGreening Alliance
• Dr. Mclay Kanyangarara, Climate Change Coordinator, COMESA

Scaling Models for Agricultural Transformation

This session at the AGRF will serve as an opportunity to officially release the Scaling Up Sourcebook, which collects the key lessons, best practices, outstanding

challenges and the way forward.

• Mrs. Jennifer Blanke, Vice-President, Agriculture, Human and Social Development, African Development Bank
• Mr. Gerald Shively, Associate Dean and Director of International Programs in Agriculture, Purdue University
• Mr. Larry Cooley, President Emeritus of Management Systems International, and Curator of Global Community of Practice on Scaling Up Development Outcomes
• H.E. Jakaya Kikwete, Former President of Tanzania
• Amb. Ertharin Cousin, Distinguished Fellow, Global Agriculture, Chicago Council on Global Affairs
• Dr. Julie Howard, Adviser (Non-resident), Center for Strategic and International Studies
• Dr. Simeon Ehui, Regional Director, Sustainable Development for Africa, World Bank
• Dr. Nteranya Sanginga, Director General, IITA
• Mr. Khalid Bomba, CEO, Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation
• Mr. Stefan Schmitz, Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany
• Hon. Moulaye Ahmed Boubacar, Minister of Agriculture, Mali

Advancing the Continental Agenda – Partners Commitments

• H.E. Ban Ki Moon, Co-Chair, Global Commission on Adaptation
• Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank
• Dr. Elwyn Grainger-Jones, Executive Director, CGIAR System Organization
• Mrs. Reeta Roy, President, Mastercard Foundation
• Mr. Qu Dongyu, Director General, FAO
• Dr. Gilbert Houngbo, President, IFAD

South-South – Policy and Innovations: Learning from China and Beyond

South-South Cooperation provides a large and growing opportunity for supporting the agenda of inclusive agricultural transformation on the African continent. For instance, over the past forty years.

• Ms. Xinqing Lu, Associate Partnerships Officer, China-Africa cooperation program, AGRA
• Keynote presentation on China’s experiences and learning - Prof. Jikun Huang, Economist, Founder and Director of the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy (CCAP), Peking University

Panel Discussion

• Dr. Peter Carberry, Director General, ICRISAT
• Dr. Wendy Singer, Executive Director, Start-Up Nation Central
• Prof. Joao Bosco, President, Africa Brazil Institute
• Mr. Geng Wang, Director of International Cooperation Division, Foreign Economic Cooperation Center, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, China
• Dr. Matthew Owolabi, Zonal Director -North West, Federal Department of Agriculture, FMARD, Abuja

Food and Land Use (FOLU) Coalition Roundtable 

In September 2019, the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU) will release a global synthesis report : Global Report on Transforming Food and Land Use Systems which sets out the economic case for the transformation of food and land use systems. 

• This report will describe the political and economic opportunity and mechanisms to deliver a transformation in how our food and land-use systems function, shifting them from a major contributor to climate change and inequality into a source of balanced economic growth, human health and a flourishing natural environment.
• High-level representatives will explore how actors from a range of sectors can collectively raise ambition and drive action in the key areas of opportunity highlighted in the FOLU report.
• The Global Report is primarily intended to pave the way for a movement in our global attitude to food and land by equipping readers with evidence and strategies to make the case for change in their work and across their networks

• Mr. Jeremy Oppenheim, Partner, SYSTEMIQ: Introduction to the Food and Land Use Coalition
• Dr. Juan Lucas Restrepo, Director General, Bioversity International
• Ms. Sandi Roberts, Director, Smallholder Development Unit, AgDevCo
• Mr. Arne Cartridge, Senior Adviser and Head of Global Initiatives, Yara International
• Ms. Nunu Ntshingila-Njeke, Regional Director for Africa, Facebook
• Ms. Petra Hans, Head of Portfolio Agricultural Livelihoods, IKEA Foundation
• Hon. Gov. Linah Mohohlo, Former Central Bank Governor, Botswana
• Mr. Ishmael Sunga, CEO, SACAU