LAC vs Africa: Tale of two paths in agrifood transformation by Remmy Nweke - WeekendSalvo@NaijaAgroNet

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REMMY NWEKE, in this WeekendSalvo@NaijaAgroNet, explores how Latin America, the Caribbean (LAC), and Africa are redefining agro-food transformation through innovation, resilience, and digital inclusion, as well as bridging continents toward a sustainable future.

As the global drive toward sustainable agrifood systems intensifies, two regions with rich agricultural histories; Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and Africa, stand at distinct crossroads. 

FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Initiative boosts digital transformation for resilient agrifood systems - NaijaAgroNet

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The Hand-in-Hand (HIH) Initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has taken a major step forward in advancing digital transformation for smarter and more resilient agrifood systems across the Pacific region, reports NaijaAgroNet.

From July 7 to 11, 2025, the FAO Pacific Subregional Office convened a regional geospatial training and capacity-building workshop in Fiji, bringing together representatives from Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

Nutrition: Key actions needed for African transformation - NaijaAgroNet

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Some key actions needed for the African continent, and globally, to transform agrifood systems and deliver better nutrition, have been outlined by the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu, reports NaijaAgronet.

Speaking at a high-level meeting of African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Mr. Dongyu explained that a series of key actions should be put in place to address Africa’s nutrition challenges.

GROHE drives digital transformation in sanitary sector - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

From Germany GROHE the year 2018 was all about strategic partnerships and the digitization of water, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Michael Rauterkus, CEO of GROHE AG, noted that at the 2019 ISH, for the first time GROHE would present itself as one of the leading global brands for complete bathroom solutions, kitchen systems and intelligent water management.

GROHE, a leading global brand for kitchen faucets solutions, NaijaAgroNet reports, has continued on its road to success in 2019, considering evolvement from a mere hardware manufacturer into a driving force of the digital transformation within the sanitary industry, offering its own Internet of Things (IoT) products. 

"The intelligent water control system GROHE Sense Guard has now arrived in the world of smart homes," he said.

As said by Rauterkus, all GROHE products, innovations and activities are based on claim to be actively involved in handling water with a view to the future,

“It's about finding answers to the most pressing issues of our time. At this year's ISH, our big topic will be about which solutions we as GROHE can contribute in all areas of water management,” he said.

Equally, NaijaAgroNet gathered that strategic alliances with insurance companies such as Provinzial Rheinland or Gothaer Allgemeine in Europe and Munich Re's subsidiary, the HSB Group, in the US have opened up new sales channels for GROHE in 2018. 

Additionally, NaijaAgroNet reports that GROHE Sense water sensor could now be connected to Magenta SmartHome from Deutsche Telekom and GROHE Sense Guard to Nest home appliances. 

"Thanks to the partnership with IoT expert relayr, it will be even more flexible and faster to connect the intelligent water security system to other IT ecosystems and platforms. Further strategic alliances will follow in 2019," he said.

Isaac Oyimah/Editor

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IRENA launches ‘A New World’ on energy transformation - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has released its latest report on the Global Commission on the Geopolitics of Energy Transformation, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Tagged ‘A New World’ IRENA says that the political and business leaders from around the world outlined the far-reaching geopolitical implications of an energy transformation driven by the rapid growth of renewable energy in the new report.

The chair of IRENA and the former President of Iceland, Mr. Olafur Grimsson, said they were to share the Commission’s report, ‘A New World’, which suggests the geopolitical and socio-economic consequences of a new energy age may be as profound as those which accompanied the shift from biomass to fossil fuels two centuries ago.

“Those shifts include changes in the relative position of states, the emergence of new energy leaders, more diverse energy actors, changed trade relationships and the emergence of new alliances,” he said.

The Global Commission on the Geopolitics of the Energy Transformation, NaijaAgroNet recalls was established as an independent initiative by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in January 2018.

Grimsson also commended support by the governments of Germany, Norway and the United Arab Emirates, even as the Commission is made up of experienced leaders from the worlds of energy, politics, trade, environment and development. 

Chuks Egbune/HO

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WAAP: Research, development critical for agricultural transformation

Commentary@NaijaAgroNet:

... Three observations from WAAPP initiative in Côte d'Ivoire.

Africa relies on rain fed agriculture to feed its people and millions of others around the world. Rain, however, isn’t always the most reliable partner in this endeavour. Realisation of agricultural transformation in Africa will need the continent to make some changes.

The World Bank, the International Water Management Institute and many others estimate rain fed agriculture coverage in sub Sahara Africa to be greater than 95%. This places a great deal of the continent’s food production at the mercy of temperamental rain and the effects of climate change.

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to meet a farmer in Abidjan’s Azaguiè area who has broken his reliance on rain to feed his family. Albert Kangah is the proprietor of the Plantation Dougba, a plantain plantation dedicated to producing off-season plantain.

During regular plantain season, farmers can realize prices of about 100CFA per unit but off season plantain prices rise to highs of 600CFA. By planting 3 months after other farmers have planted and investing in irrigation equipment, Albert exploits the price increase to generate higher than average income from his farm. Albert’s story provides us with an example of the possible positive impact of adopting irrigation on livelihoods and signals the possibilities irrigation provides us in improving food and nutrition security on the continent. This is what agricultural transformation is all about.

Albert Kangah is a beneficiary of the West Africa Agriculture Productivity Program supported by the World Bank and running in 13 West African countries. The West African Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP) was designed to respond to the challenges of improving agricultural productivity, an important part of any agriculture policy and central to the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP). It started in 2008 under the auspices of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), with financial support from the World Bank (WB) and coordinated at sub-regional level by CORAF/WECARD.

WAAPP aims to generate and accelerate the adoption of improved technologies in key priority areas of the agriculture sectors in participating countries. It also aims to provide producers with technologies to enhance and improve the competitiveness of their produce. The generation of technologies and innovations, including new crop varieties, is done through participating national centers of specialization hosted by the national agriculture research centers of the member states.

In Côte d’Ivoire, WAAPP’s national center of specialization focuses on plantain with farmers like Albert benefiting from the new better yielding, pest and drought resistant varieties that become available. Thanks to the inventory of plantain on his farm, he produces at least 12 tonnes a year. He says plantain changed his life. It’s not hard to see why.

WAAPP is also investing in value chain development for the priority commodities in participating countries. One example is the adoption of technology from Senegal through which at least 15% of the flour used in baking bread and pastries is corn or cassava flour. Through an improved manufacturing process, the amount of wheat consumed would reduce while improving the value of cassava and corn for producers through increased demand and new use cases. Establishing partnerships with the Union of Bakery Owners of Cote d’Ivoire has made it possible for the project to expand from the pilot 10 bakeries using the composite flour in Abidjan to more than 50 in Abidjan and two other towns up country.

I made three observations from this visit to WAAPP project sites:

1. We need to ensure agriculture is a profitable business for Africa’s farmers if it is to become a key driver for Africa’s industrialization. Its profitability will draw young people to the farms and help lower the average age of Africa’s farmers while propelling efforts to reduce hunger, end poverty and reduce inequality on the continent.
2. Investment in research and development cannot be left to happenstance. It must be deliberate and determined by the agricultural transformation strategy in place at the national and regional level. Data from the Agriculture Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) shows Cote d’Ivoire’s spending, in 2011 PPP US dollars, has reduced by 50% between 1981 and 2011. During the same time the population more than doubled but plantain production did not resulting in lower per capita plantain production in 2011 than 30 years earlier. R&D on better varieties and increased adoption of better technologies could have been useful in avoiding this. They are now imperative to reversing the trend.
3. Increased production without investment in value chains development won’t deliver the added value to small holder farmers at the point of origin. WAAPP’s effort to invest in new use cases for cassava and corn flour could result in better prices and incentivize production whilst improving the nutritional value of pastries in Ivorian society.

The work being done by WAAPP partners provides valuable lessons for other regions in the continent especially where value chains development, R&D and regional collaboration on food and nutrition security is concerned. These are some of the elements which are important for CAADP compacts if Africa’s quest for agricultural transformation is to be realised.

*Muchiri Nyaggah, Executive Director, Local Development Research Institute (LDRI)

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Pix: Ivoiren farmer, Mr. Albert Kangah speaking to visiting journalists recently.

Kenya committed to boost agricultural production

 NaijaAgroNet

 

The Kenya’sActing Cabinet Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Adan Mohamed has said that his country is committed to developing linkages between industrialization and the agricultural sector to power the sector's transformation, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Addressing the Grow Africa Investment Forum held in Cape Town, South Africa, recently, NaijaAgroNet gathered that Mohamed said that this will open up opportunities in the sector to accelerate Kenya's food security plans.

According to him, NaijaAgroNet learnt, "Kenya is placing an enabling agricultural policy to attract investors establish investments in the agricultural sector which includes infrastructure investments to improve market access and lower the cost of production."

Kenya's strong agricultural sector accounts for 24 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), supports numerous employment opportunities and trade but has historically experienced sustainability challenges.

The model farm of 10,000 acres that is part of the 1 million-acre(about 405,000-hectare) food irrigation programme, NaijaAgroNet gathered, is progressing well and once completed will offer a sustainable food security solution.

The Grow Africa Investment Forum, part of the World Economic Forum on Africa (WEF food Africa) brought delegates from different countries together to find solutions to Africa’s agricultural needs. Among those who attended this year's forum were; South Africa's President Jacob Zuma, Ghanaian Vice-President KwesiAmissah-Arthur, Cote d'Ivoire Budget Minister MamadouKoulibaly and Erastus Mwencha of the African Union, NaijaAgroNet gathered.

Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE

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'Mobile phones indispensable to smallholder farmers transformation'

NaijaAgroNet:

Director, Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, Mr. Michael Hailu has described Information and communication technology (ICT) tools as an indispensable to the transformation of small holder farmers reports NaijaAgroNet.

He made this known to NaijaAgroNet, at a recent conference on ICTs in agriculture in Kigali, Rwanda, which ended at the weekend.

Pan Africa News Agency (PANA) reports that the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) is a joint ACP-EU institution active in agricultural and rural development in ACP countries, with the mission to advance food and nutritional security, increase prosperity and encourage sound natural resource management in ACP countries.

Hailu was quoted as saying that on this continent, 65 per cent of the workforce is employed in agriculture and the sector generates 32 per cent of Gross domestic products - GDP. Smallholder farmers, mostly women, produce 80 per cent of Africa’s food,

African countries, he said, spend up to US$ 50 billion a year on food imports, stressing that with abundant land, water and cheap labour, there is no good reason why Africa should import so much food.

“Yet there’s good reason to be optimistic. After years of neglect, governments and the private sector are increasing investments in agriculture,' Hailu said.

To achieve its full potential, he posited that smallholder agriculture must be transformed from a subsistence activity to a profitable, sustainable business and ICTs play a vital role in this transformation.

"They provide timely advice and information. They help farmers increase productivity. They make markets more efficient. And they increase incomes," he said.

Emphasising that in 2000, there were just 16.5 million mobile subscriptions in Africa, 13 years later, there are over 650 million.

"Indeed, the number of people on the continent with access to mobile phones exceeds the number with access to clean water, electricity or a bank account” he said.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that ICT4Ag held under the theme 'The Digital Springboard for Inclusive Agriculture´ Conference, was hosted by CTA, the Rwandan Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) as well as the Ministry of Youth and ICTs (MYICT).

Isaac Oyimah with agency reports/GEE
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Pix: Director, Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, Mr. Michael Hailu