Agricultural Transformation Centres In Africa Practical Guidance To Promote Inclusive Agro Industrial Development

Over the next ten years, the African rural space will be the theatre of profound changes as the activities envisaged for agricultural transformation are drastically scaled up. Increased food demand and changing consumption habits driven by demographic factors, such as population growth and urbanization, are already leading to a rapid increase of net food imports, opening a huge opportunity for the agribusiness sector of many African countries. Against this backdrop and in line with its mission to spur sustainable economic development and social progress, the African Development Bank (AfDB) in 2016 launched Feed Africa, a strategy that is intended to contribute substantially to the transformation of African agriculture by 2025, and to reverse Africa's dependence on imported foods. As part of this strategy, AfDB is promoting the concept of staple crops processing zones (SCPZs), which are agrobased spatial development initiatives, designed to concentrate agro-processing activities within areas of high agricultural potential to boost productivity and integrate the production, processing and marketing of selected commodities. As essential components, SCPZs include an agro-processing hub, a number of agricultural transformation centres (ATCs) and agricultural production areas. The ATCs are designed to link smallholder farmers to the agro-processing hub and are strategically located in high production areas, with the aim of serving as aggregation points to accumulate products from the community to supply the hub for further value addition, or to send them to centres of great demand for distribution and retail to consumers. This study has attempted to assess the feasibility and applicability of the ATC concept to selected regions in Zambia, Côte d'Ivoire and the United Republic of Tanzania. Findings from the field have demonstrated the potential of ATCs to address community needs and constraints for a range of selected value chains, and have helped to identify different ATC models that could work in each specific context.

Due to such factors as poor economic conditions, climate change, and conflict, food security remains an issue around the world and especially in developing nations. Rapid changes in technology over the last decade has brought a renewed focus on how information and communication technologies (ICTs) and application systems are deployed to improve rural competitiveness. Unfortunately, agricultural stakeholders in developing countries, particularly in Africa, have not been able to reap comparable benefits from adopting agricultural information systems as compared to their counterparts in the developed economies. Understanding the challenges that hinder the effective adoption of agricultural information systems and identifying opportunities or innovations is imperative to improve the agricultural sectors and overcome the problems in these developing economies. Opportunities and Strategic Use of Agribusiness Information Systems is an essential reference book that examines the key challenges that hinder the effective adoption of agricultural information systems. Moreover, it identifies and evaluates opportunities for the strategic deployment of ICTs and information systems to drive agricultural development for the benefit of agricultural sector stakeholders in emerging countries. While highlighting such topics as agricultural entrepreneurship, food value chain, and innovation systems, it is intended to provide sound and relevant frameworks and tools that will aid agricultural industry practitioners, smallholder farmers, and managers of agricultural extension systems looking to make more effective and responsible decisions when selecting, planning, deploying, and managing agribusiness information systems. It is additionally targeted for agricultural funding organizations, government policymakers, academicians, researchers, and students concerned with exploiting the potential of a variety of ICTs and information systems in the quest to achieve food security and poverty reduction in emerging economies.

Unleashing the potential for inclusive agricultural growth and transformation in Africa requires coordinated and strategic public and private investment in the agriculture sector. [Author] Against a background of limited government resources and expertise, public–private partnerships are increasingly being promoted as a mechanism to pool resources, reduce risk, improve productivity and drive growth in the agriculture and food sectors. [Author] In line with this trend, many African countries have recently expressed an interest in further understanding the potential for public–private partnerships for agribusiness development (agri-PPPs) to deliver on these transformative goals. [Author] This publication aims to provide guidance to African policymakers and potential private sector investors on the core principles of designing and implementing agri-PPPs that will promote the transformation of Africa’s agriculture sector in an inclusive and sustainable way. [Author] This area of work is of particular interest to the African Union Commission (AUC) which has highlighted agri-PPPs as a key tool in the delivery of the results under the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) and the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth for Shared Prosperity and Livelihoods. [Author]

This book provides exclusive information on how agribusinesses could act as the springboard for inclusive economic growth critical for socioeconomic transformation of Africa. It is a must read for academics, practitioners, policymakers, students, and all those interested in the application of practical models capable of tackling the endemic poverty situation in Africa using agribusiness as the launchpad. The book emphasizes the urgent need for robust and inward-looking enabling policy frameworks to help remove existing constraints on agro-industrialization and encourage investments. Thus, the book sets the agenda for the right combination of agricultural, industrial, and trade policies critical in promoting sustainable agricultural commodity value chains and food systems for inclusive growth and poverty reduction. Written in a simple, plain, and accessible language devoid of technical jargons, the book makes an interesting read for even the non-expert and is a valuable reference material for academic and practical training of students and practitioners.

The current report—Mechanized: Transforming Africa’s Agriculture Value Chains—summarizes the findings of a systematic analysis of what countries at the forefront of progress in mechanization have done right. It analyzes which policy decisions were taken and which interventions were implemented to substantially increase the uptake of mechanization. The report takes a broad perspective on mechanization, including technologies along the entire value chain and how they relate to agricultural development and job creation. The report shows what can be done to sustainably mechanize agriculture to increase production and enhance value addition across value chain segments. The set of policies and practices that are identified, if brought to scale, could have significant impact on agricultural transformation in Africa. The report provides a roadmap for African governments to take concerted action to deliver on the growth and transformation targets set out by the Malabo Declaration and the Sustainable Development Goals.

"This book explores the ways in which political settlements can contribute to positive changes in Africa's agricultural and manufacturing sectors. Contemporary Africa has seen many governments, donors, and commercial private enterprises supporting innovative agricultural and agro-processing schemes with the purpose of diversifying economies. However, many of the schemes collapse or at best fail to generate the needed jobs. Focusing on case studies in Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia, this book takes an interdisciplinary approach that combines econometric modelling research, life histories, policy approaches methods, and political economy theory to reframe the field with new questions. The contributors offer alternative explanations for the failure of employment creation schemes in Africa and show how political settlements can bring together stakeholders to settle on win-win approaches to productive employment schemes and inclusive development. Providing new insights on the political economy of agrarian and labour relations in Africa, this book will be of interest to policy actors and development practitioners wishing to support inclusive growth in Africa, as well as to scholars of African politics and economics, public policy and development"--

Agro-industries are an important source of employment and income generation worldwide, occupying a dominant position in the manufacturing sector of the economy and representing a significant demand driver for agricultural products. As part of its mandate to provide food security for the world s growing population, FAO promotes the development of agro-industries through its technical programs, including activities in the areas of policy advice, capacity building, advocacy, awareness raising and investment promotion. This book represents a contribution of FAO to broaden the understanding of approaches and mechanisms to foster the emergence and sustainability of agro-industries that are competitive and inclusive. With emphasis on experiences from the developing world, the book presents and discusses innovative policies and institutions that are supportive of agro-industries development."

This book, consisting of 17 chapters, focuses on clarifying the challenges, issues, and priorities of Agricultural Education and Training (AET) in sub-Saharan Africa, and provides suggestions for practical solutions that can help guide organisations interested in furthering AET for agricultural development on the continent. It discusses the African context within which a transformed AET system needs to be located; analyses African and international experiences that are relevant to identified AET needs and challenges; dissects AET models that may hold important lessons; and addresses the main critical issues that will impact upon AET in sub-Saharan Africa. The concluding chapter synthesises the ideas, experiences, and evidence from the preceding chapters in order to highlight critical issues for success as well as possible solutions. The book is uniquely positioned to add to a call to action on AET, to pull together state-of-the-art knowledge from within and outside sub-Saharan Africa, and to advance “out of the box” thinking about the principles, values and character of AET for development, with an emphasis on the models that can help to cultivate leaders and change-makers at all levels of the agricultural sector.