Rwanda’s Prime Minister Dr. Ngirente and President of AGRA, Dr Kalibata
Kigali: Following a competitive bidding process, the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) Partners Group unanimously agreed and announced today that the Republic of Rwanda will host the AGRF 2020 and serve as the long-term home country of the Forum going forward.
“Rwanda’s hosting of AGRF 2018 featured the largest attendance on record and the leadership of H.E. President Paul Kagame, both in presiding over that historic gathering and in his broader commitment to the transformational power of agriculture, has set a model for all to follow,” said H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn, Former Prime Minister of Ethiopia, who just this month was announced as the board chair for AGRA (the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa) and as chair of the AGRF Partners Group. “The AGRF Partners look forward to working closely with the Republic of Rwanda in this new approach, particularly under the committed leadership of H.E. President Paul Kagame.”
The AGRF is now well established as the premiere platform for leaders from across Africa and around the world to advance concrete plans and share knowledge to tap the enormous potential of agriculture to drive equitable and sustainable growth across the continent. It has taken place in eight different countries over the last decade, ensuring that awareness, models, lessons, and the political will required to drive an inclusive agricultural transformation in Africa grow steadily across the continent. At the end of its first decade, the AGRF will now adjust its approach and adopt a “home and away” model where the Forum will alternate between hosting the event in Rwanda in even years and different host countries across the continent in alternate years.
The move will add the Republic of Rwanda to the AGRF Partners Group to help shape and drive the AGRF’s long-term vision, deepen relationships with service providers to streamline organizational logistics, and unlock partnerships with several new institutions looking to grow with the forum.
“We are honored to be the home country for AGRF and are committed to working closely and collaboratively with our many partners across Africa and around the world to ensure the continued growth and influence of AGRF as the voice of Africa’s smallholder farmers and agriculture businesses,” said Hon. Minister Geraldine Mukeshimana, Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Rwanda.
The AGRF Partners noted that Rwanda’s partnership as the home country of AGRF will also increase accountability and commitment of the continent’s leaders to use the Forum as a focal point for delivering on the goals laid out by African Heads of State and Government in the African Union’s Malabo Declaration, United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Africa Agenda 2063. The AGRF Secretariat was mandated to operationalize this new relationship immediately and ensure the arrangements are in place by the end of the year in order for Rwanda to host AGRF 2020.
About the AGRF
AGRF is a partnership of institutions that care about Africa’s agriculture transformation. The AGRF Partners Group is made up of a coalition of 21 leading actors in African agriculture all focused on putting farmers at the center of the continent’s growing economies. Partners currently include the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank, the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP), the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Corteva, the Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Grow Africa, the International Development Research Center (IDRC) of Canada, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Mastercard Foundation, NEPAD Agency, OCP Group, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU), Syngenta, the UK Department for International Development (DFID), UPL, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and Yara International ASA.