President Kagame received Hailemariam Desalegn, Former Prime Minister of Ethiopia and board chair of the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and Dr Agnes M. Kalibata, President of AGRA, ahead of the annual Africa Food Systems (AFS) Forum scheduled for 2-6 September in Kigali.
This years’ Forum is being held under the theme of “Innovate, Accelerate and Scale: Delivering food systems transformation in a digital and climate era”, and brings together stakeholders in African agriculture to take practical action in moving African food systems forward.
AGRA, formerly known as the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa is an African-led African-based organization that seeks to catalyse Agriculture Transformation in Africa. AGRA is focused on putting smallholder farmers at the centre of the continent’s growing economy by transforming agriculture from a solitary struggle to survive into farming as a business that thrives. As the sector that employs the majority of Africa’s people, nearly all of them small-scale farmers, AGRA recognizes that developing smallholder agriculture into a productive, efficient, and sustainable system is essential to ensuring food security, lifting millions out of poverty, and driving equitable growth across the continent.
AGRA is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, from where a team of African scientists, economists and business leaders supports its country operations and African governments. It was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.
The institution also has offices in 11 African countries, under the management of country leads, who oversee the deployment of the organisation’s national strategy. (Fin)