African Leaders and developments partners to invest more than US $30 Billion in Agriculture

Sep 08, 2016

The collective pledge was made at the ongoing Africa Green Revolution Forum in Kenya.The commitments were made at the official opening of the sixth African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) that has attracted more than 1,500 influential figures from 40 countries for three days of brokering new agricultural initiatives.

The Agriculture sector has received a boast of $30bn to promote investments in the sector that will increase production and employment for small holder farmers for the next ten years.

 The collective pledge was made at the ongoing Africa Green Revolution Forum in Kenya.The commitments were made at the official opening of the sixth African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) that has attracted more than 1,500 influential figures from 40 countries for three days of brokering new agricultural initiatives.

This is the first wave of support for the new "Seize the Moment" campaign, backed by the African Union Commission, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), key NGOs, companies and donor countries.

While African agriculture has seen significant progress in the last ten years, the "Seize the Moment" campaign is an acknowledgment that much more is needed for African countries to achieve inclusive economic development to realize the international community's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), explained AGRA president, Dr.Agnes Kalibata.

Joined by Presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, they pledged to steer reforms in the sector to deliver on both the political and policy agenda. To take lead, President Kenyatta announced additional funding to the sector of $200bn targeting 15,000 youth into agriculture.

President Kagame called for initiatives such as signing contracts with stake holders implementing any agriculture project to help measure the impact. This he said creates room for proper accountability, and finding solutions to what has not worked.

He also advised that youth should be factored into development plans of agriculture so as to create jobs along the value chains in the sector depending on the interest of the sector.


Gayle Smith, added that the US government has already invested more than $6.6 billion in global food security and nutrition efforts through its Feed the Future initiative.  Smith noted that the initiative "signals the US government's enduring commitment to global food security and nutrition and is the largest development authorization the US Congress has made in a decade."

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