Hiedberg @ the AGRF Summit

This September, we had the opportunity to attend the Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali, Rwanda. The event was filled with dynamic speakers, government ministers, scientists, founders, academics, and development agencies focusing on Africa’s agriculture sector. Conversations included but were not limited to B2B tech platforms that support farmers’ business operations, the digitization of farms, innovation in seeds, and capital raising.

Kigali was a wonderful host city for such an important event. We cannot wait to return!

It was challenging to pick our key takeaways from this event. However, we have narrowed it down to the following three items:

Public and Private Sector Collaboration to Support Smallholder Farmers

Governments are working hand in hand with the private sector to ensure small-holder farmers receive the tools they need to succeed without going into debt. One initiative mentioned involved a fertilizer subsidy. The government partnered with fertilizer dealers and importers to sell fertilizer to smallholder farmers at a discounted price. However, the government covers the difference, thereby benefiting all three parties:

• The private sector maintains margins.
• The government can increase agricultural productivity.
• The smallholder farmer has access to affordable resources.

What makes this use case fascinating is its use of data to efficiently execute this initiative. Farmers who opt into this scheme are issued a unique identification number. This allows the government to track farm productivity and the usage/cost of the fertilizer. On the private sector side, fertilizer dealers serialize their products, allowing them to track inventory and consumption. With this data, all parties can track useful metrics and KPIs to ensure farmers are producing at a higher rate and utilizing good quality products.

Engaging Importers as Part of the Local Value Chain

The Sierra Leonean government is quite innovative in its approach to increasing its agricultural value chain. Instead of thinking of importers as competition to the local market, the government has brought them in as partners. Although rice is grown locally, Sierra Leone is a major rice importer. To reshape the population’s relationship with local rice production, the government created a strategic initiative with rice importers to include them in the local value chain. Importers now participate in the expensive parts of rice production such as processing rice grain and bagging them for local farmers.

The government’s partnership with these private sector entities encourages a two-way flow of goods and adds value to:

• the government by increasing rice production and imports.
• the local buyers because competition drives down prices and increases options.
• the importers because processing and bagging diversify their revenue streams.

Engaging the Youth in the Agricultural Sector

We appreciated the emphasis placed on inclusion. Africa has the world’s youngest population, and its governments are coming up with interesting ways to engage the youth in its strategy. Initiatives include:

• Training and workshops to support development and best practices in all aspects of the agriculture value chain.
• Grants for youth interested in farming or any other aspects of the agriculture value chain to alleviate the start-up cost burdens.
• For those interested in tech, there are innovation challenges focused on agtech to help create innovative, tech-driven solutions for the current challenges faced within the sector.

We thoroughly enjoyed seeing how data is being used to tackle heavy agricultural initiatives continent-wide. Hiedberg looks forward to joining the fight to increase African food production and exports. As one of Africa’s largest sectors in terms of industry and employment, access to data, proper analysis, and consequent insights will lead to a boon in productivity and overall GPD growth.