1. Building onthe New Momentumin African AgricultureAGRA in 2008

2. Kofi A. Annan, Chairman and Former Secretary General to the United NationsMonty Jones, Board Member and Executive Secretary of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA)Strive Masiyiwa, Board Member and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Econet Wireless International, Johannesburg, South AfricaSylvia M Mathews, Board Member and President of Global Development, Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationMoise C Mensah, Board Member and High Commissioner for Consultative Governance, BeninMamphela Ramphele, Board Member and Executive Chairperson, Circle Capital Ventures, Cape Town, South AfricaRajiv J Shah, Board Member and Director for Agricultural Development, Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationNadya K. Shmavonian, Board Member and Vice President, Foundation Initiatives, Rockefeller FoundationRudy Rabbinge, Board Member and Professor, Wageningen University, The NetherlandsMohamed Ibrahim, Board Member and Founder of CeltelAGRA Board of Directors (2008) 3. Building on the New Momentumin African AgricultureAGRA in 2008 4. Copyright 2009 by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). All rights reserved. The publisher encourages fair use of this material provided proper citation is made.ISBN: 978-92-990054-1-5Correct Citation: Building on the New Momentum in African Agriculture. AGRA in 2008. Nairobi, Kenya: Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). 2009Writing/Editing: Tiff HarrisChief Editor: Dr Akinwumi AdesinaDesign, Layout and Proofreading: Green Ink, UK (www.greenink.co.uk)Printing: Pragati Offset Pvt Ltd, IndiaPhotographs:Cover Frederic Courbet; p. iv Stevie Mann; p. v Jeff Haskins; p. vii Jeff Haskins; p. viii Jake Lyell;p. ix Eric McGaw; p. x AGRA; p. xii Stevie Mann; p. 2 Tom Odula; p. 5 Tom Odula; p. 6 Stevie Mann;p. 8 Jake Lyell; p. 9 Raphael Njoroge; p. 10 Stevie Mann; p. 12 Tareke Berhe; p. 13 Stevie Mann;p. 14 Stevie Mann; p. 16 Tom Odula; p. 17 Joan Abila-Oballa; p. 18 Tom Odula; p. 19 AGRA;p. 20 Stella Kihara; p. 21 Stevie Mann; p. 22 Stevie Mann; p. 24 Tom Odula; back cover Stella Kihara[We] will promote agricultural research and development, and the training of a new generation of developing country scientists and experts focusing on the dissemination of improved, locally adapted and sustainable farming technologies, in particular viathe Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and through partnerships such as the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).G8 Leaders Statement on Global Food Security, July 2008 5. Building on the New Momentum in African Agriculture iii Message from the Board Chair vMessage from the President ixAGRA Highlights for 2008 1Program for Africas Seed Systems 1Soil Health Program 1Market Access Program 1Oversight Functions 1Policy and Partnerships 2Strategic Planning 3Major Events During the Year 3AGRA in Perspective 7Vision, Mission, Goals, Objectives, Core Beliefs 7AGRA Programs and Initiatives 9Current Staffing 11Working with Partners 11Funding an African Green Revolution 12Building on the New Momentum in African Agriculture 15Trends in Agricultural Growth 15Stagnant Crop Yields 15Surging Food Prices 16From Crisis to Opportunity 17What Governments Should Do 222008 Financials 25Grants Approval Process 29Grants Approved in 2008 30Contents 6. Building on the New Momentum in African Agriculture v In 2008, global production of major cereal cropsset a world record of about 2.15 billion tons.The harvest was large enough not just to meetworld demand for food and feed but also to rebuilddangerously depleted global grain reserves.And yet Africa still struggles to feed itspeople. In fact, hunger on the continent has neverbeen more rampant, with nearly 220 millionAfricans lacking enough food to eat each day. Foodprices across Africa rose more than 60 percent in2008 and, while the global recession contributed toa pull back in commodity prices later in the year,they will undoubtedly rise again as an economicrecovery takes hold.It is a sad fact that Africa has facedwidespread hunger for decades. Yet surging fuelprices in 2008, higher demand for food due torising incomes, the diversion of food crops tobiofuel production, and extended droughts in someregions combined to create the crisis we now face.But there is another, more fundamentalcause: the long-term neglect of African agriculture,both nationally and internationally. In part becauseof the success of the Green Revolution in Asia,the portion of OECD Official DevelopmentAssistance for agriculture has declined from16 percent in 1980 to less than 3 percent in 2008.The financial taps for sustaining agriculturalresearch and development have been running dry.At the same time, African governmentsneglected agricultural development, often inan effort to comply with misguided policiesof bilateral donors and multilateral financialinstitutions, such as the structural adjustmentprograms. This affected every aspect of foodproduction in Africa from agricultural researchand development, to the construction of roadsconnecting rural areas to markets, to the provisionof basic services to farmers.The cost of this neglect has been high.African food production per person has actuallyMessage from the Board Chairfallen by 12 percent since 1980, and Africa is theonly region in the world where per capita foodproduction is still in decline.Africa Must Feed HerselfClearly, global abundance is not enough to ensurethat Africa eats. To feed the continents 900million people, Africa must achieve its own foodsecurity. To do that requires nothing less than acomplete transformation of the agricultural sector.As Asia did in the 1960s and 70s, Africa needsa Green Revolution of its own. But our GreenRevolution must be grounded firmly in present-dayAfrican realities, while drawing lessons fromthe positive and negative experiences of the past.It must recognize smallholder farmers as the keyto increasing production, promote change acrossthe entire agricultural system, and put equity andprotecting the environment at its heart. Indeed, weneed a uniquely African Green Revolution.AGRA Chairman, Kofi A. Annan, discusses new opportunities formaize improvement in West Africa with Professor Eric Danquah,Director, West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement at the Universityof Ghana. 7. vi AGRA in 2008More so than Asia, Africa has a greatdiversity of crops and crop varieties, which wemust conserve. This diversity is a result of the greatvariety of landscapes, soils, climates and cultures.Africa needs dozens, if not hundreds, of improvedvarieties of our indigenous staple foods cropsbetter able to cope with climate change, and toendure recurrent drought and attacks by insectpests and diseases.Also unlike Asia, farming in Africa islargely done under rain-fed conditions. Less than5 percent of our farmland is irrigated, compared tosome 40 percent in South Asia. We need to scaleup wise water resource management through avariety of innovations and reduce the continentsdependence on increasingly erratic rainfall.We must also revitalize Africas soils.Continuous farming, without replenishingnutrients taken up with each crop, has left our soilsthe poorest in the world. We need to encourageintegrated soil management practices and theincreased use of fertilizers, which in Africa arescarce and expensive, and we need to ensure thatour farmers understand how to deal with soilhealth problems in efficient and environmentallysound ways.AGRAs Evolving StrategyAGRA is working with its partners to bringabout a uniquely African Green Revolutionthat will unleash the continents agriculturalpotential. Towards that end, we are evolving astrategy designed to deliver both near-term andlonger-term results. This strategy, which wasreviewed by the Board at the end of 2008 and willcome fully on line in 2009, rests on the idea thatAGRAs resources and its efforts with partnersshould initially focus on where they will havethe highest payoff in Africas high-potentialbreadbasket areas.These are land areas of significant sizewith relatively good soil, reliable rainfall, abasic infrastructure already in place, and activesmallholder farmers. They are also located incountries with a commitment to agriculturaldevelopment. By focusing our investments inthese areas, and by taking a comprehensive value-chainapproach, we can reverse decades of risinghunger and achieve a demonstration effect thatwill spur the scaling up of such investments inother countries. Without such concentration,our resources will eventually be spread too thinlyand fail to bring about the rapid change that isdesperately needed.As in the rest of the continent, developingAfricas breadbaskets depends on improving theproductivity, profitability and sustainability ofsmallholder farmers. This army of small producers the majority of them women grows mostof Africas food. And they do so with limitedgovernment support, minimal resources, poorquality seeds and a lack of fertilizer to improve thequality of their soil. They also now have to copewith the emerging impacts of climate change.A Global ReawakeningToday, in part because of the global food crisis,the world has reawakened to the importance ofagriculture. African governments are reassertingtheir commitment to agriculture. In 2003, theAfrican Unions New Partnership for AfricasDevelopment (NEPAD) produced a ComprehensiveAfrica Agriculture Development Program,which aims to achieve a 6 percent annual increasein agricultural productivity. The African Headsof State and Governments endorsed the Programand governments have committed themselvesto investing at least 10 percent of their annualbudgets in agriculture. AGRA strongly supportsthe CAADP agenda and will work closely withNEPAD to ensure that Africas Green Revolutionhelps to achieve the targets that have been set.Multilateral funding is increasing from theAfrican Development Bank, the International 8. Building on the New Momentum in African Agriculture vii Fund for Agricultural Development, and theWorld Bank. In particular, the World Bank isreappraising its policies, and its World DevelopmentReport 2008 was dedicated to the state of worldagriculture and how to move it forward. Yet inmany cases, bilateral assistance from developedcountries still lags behind. In July 2008, the G8committed over USD 10 billion to near-term foodaid and longer-term agricultural development, andwe are hopeful that, despite the global economicdownturn, these pledges will become reality. For intruth, government-led farm support is happeningin every region of the world except in Africa.We must reverse the policies of abandonment.We must help Africas smallholder farmersattain what has eluded them for so long fullyproductive and profitable farms, adequate food,and a healthy living environment. Feeding themajority of the poor and vulnerable populations inAfrica, while preserving the natural resource baseand the environment, is one of the most pressingdevelopment challenges of the century.Resilient and flexible partnerships suchas those being developed by AGRA are key tosuccess. Indeed, all of our work is carried outthrough partnerships: with African governments,universities, scientists, NGOs, civil society,farmers organizations, development partners,private companies, and innovators across the foodvalue chain. Together we have begun to makedemonstrable progress, and we invite all interestedorganizations, large or small, public or private,to join us in this endeavor to improve Africanlivelihoods and food security.Kofi A. Annan, ChairmanAs Asia did in the 1960s and 70s, Africa needs a Green Revolution of its own. But ourGreen Revolution must be grounded firmly in present-day African realitiesIt mustrecognize smallholder farmers as the key to increasing production, promote change acrossthe entire agricultural system, and put equity and protecting the environment at its heart.Kofi A. Annan, ChairmanMOU signing between AGRA, WFP, FAO and IFAD at the FAO High-level Conference on World FoodSecurity. In 2008, AGRA established a formal partnership with UN Rome-based agencies working onagriculture. From left to right: Kofi A. Annan, AGRA Chairman; Josette Seeran, Executive Director of the WorldFood Program; Jacques Diouf, Director General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization; and KanayoNwanze, Vice President, International Fund for Agricultural Development. 9. Building on the New Momentum in African Agriculture ix Message from the PresidentSince AGRAs inception in mid-2006, everyoneinvolved with the organization has felt a senseof urgency about the need to transform Africanagriculture, and to do so in ways that meet notonly the immediate needs for reducing povertyand increasing food security, but also the needs offuture generations. The food crisis that had beenbuilding for several years became fully manifest in2008, and its impact was severely aggravated byan unprecedented and largely unforeseen globaleconomic recession. These painful realities stronglyreinforce both our belief in AGRAs mission, andour sense of urgency about achieving it.Todays crises underscore the fact that Africacan no longer rely on food imports or food aidto survive. We must grow the food that feeds ourpeople. Today more than ever, we need a uniquelyAfrican Green Revolution, one that fundamentallyimproves the productivity, sustainability andprofitability of Africas smallholder farmers.Africas agricultural production falls far shortof its potential. Cereal yields are one-quarter theworld average. For decades African agriculturehas been neglected, and the cost of this neglect isnow being borne by her people. Nearly 220 millionpeople are hungry. National grain reserves in mostAfrican countries are too low for comfort. And weare beginning to see the negative effects of climatechange in the form of prolonged droughts in someareas and deadly floods in others, both of which areleading to increasing vulnerability.Hundreds of millions of smallholder farmersare responsible for feeding Africa. Yet they doso without access to high quality seed, fertilizer,and financing. They do so without access toreliable water supplies, markets or agriculturalextension services. They do so working soils thatare depleted of nutrients and organic matter. Andthey do so within global trade regimes that workagainst African farmers and narrow their marketopportunities.We must work to ensure that Africas smallholderfarmers, most of whom are women, areable to access the inputs, financing and marketopportunities needed to boost production so thatin the months and years to come, they can put foodon the tables of their families and communities.At the same time, we must develop innovativeprograms and work with governmentson policy reforms that will not only ensure foodsecurity, but also lay the basis for development andprosperity for Africa. Unless we do these things and do them soon we face a serious worseningof Africas food situation.Dr. Namanga Ngongi, AGRA, and Dr. Maria Isabel Andradeof International Potato Center in Mozambique sampling a varietyof sweet potato. The purpose of the research is to increase theconsumption of beta-carotene-rich sweet potato varieties by peoplein drought prone areas of Zambezia, Gaza and Maputo. 10. x AGRA in 2008Signs of ChangeAs noted in the Chairmans Message, however,there are encouraging signs of a turnabout in theneglect that African agriculture has endured forso long. Our challenge our opportunity is towork with our partners to nurture and build onthat shifting momentum. The African UnionsComprehensive Africa Agriculture DevelopmentProgram (CAADP) has, for example, set abold goal of 6 percent annual growth ratesin agriculture, and has developed a strategicframework for helping individual countries toachieve it. AGRA strongly endorses the CAADPagenda and we will increasingly align our programsand investments to support CAADP at thenational level. This we will do by investing inpartnerships with African governments, the privatesector, civil society, farmers and womens groups,national and international research organizations,and bilateral and multilateral donors.The call for a sustainable, uniquely AfricanGreen Revolution is resonating across thecontinent. African governments from Ghana toMozambique are implementing plans for rapidagricultural development, and global leaders arenow putting sustainable agricultural growth forAfrican smallholder farmers at the top of thedevelopment agenda.Progress within AGRAIn its second full year of operations, AGRA hasmade notable progress on a number of fronts. Ourefforts to support African agricultural researchcontinued apace, especially the breeding of higher-yieldingand well-adapted crop varieties. Eighteennew varieties were released during the year, and24 new breeding programs were also initiated.Eleven additional commercial seedcompanies received support from AGRA, bringingthe total to 19, and we began to broaden ourseed production investments to include farmersWorking to Achieve NEPAD/CAADP GoalsThe New Partnership for Africas Development (NEPAD) isa program of the African Union designed to meet the AUsdevelopment objectives. Agriculture is a top priority forNEPAD and in 2003 it established the Comprehensive AfricaAgriculture Development Program (CAADP).Under the NEPAD/CAADP initiative, African governmentshave agreed to increase public investment in agriculture toat least 10 percent of their national budgets in an effort toincrease agricultural growth by 6 percent per year by 2015.AGRA fully endorses the goals of the NEPAD/CAADPframework, and is joining with its partners to strengthensupport for the established CAADP national-level targets.AGRA will work to buttress the collaborative relationshipsneeded among national and international developmentorganizations, as well as among private sector and civilsociety entities, and will work creatively with all involved intransforming Africas agriculture. The partnership with NEPAD-CAADPwill be further strengthened in 2009. 11. Building on the New Momentum in African Agriculture xi associations, 4 of which received funding in 2008.Together with the 5 public sector seed productionorganizations that have received support, a totalof 3,103 metric tons of locally adapted improvedseed was produced during the year. Work onagro-dealerships was also accelerated, and inmany countries smallholder farmers benefitedfrom increased physical access to improved seeds,fertilizers and other inputs, thanks to a higherdensity of agro-dealers. Our work on innovativefinancing gained strength and visibility during theyear, and many previously excluded smallholderfarmers and small-scale agribusinesses were able togain access to much needed credit.During the year two new programs SoilHealth and Market Access became operational.Dr. Bashir Jama joined AGRA in mid-2008 asthe Director of the Soil Health Program. ThePrograms business plan received provisionalapproval, allowing the soils team to move forwardwith its needs assessment work and investmentplanning. Once the needs assessment work iscompleted, the Program will quickly expand itsinvestment portfolio. Ms. Anne Mbaabu wasappointed Director of the Market Access Programand came on board in the last quarter of the year.The Markets Program received a joint learninggrant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundationand The Rockefeller Foundation, enabling activitiesthat will facilitate the preparation of its strategy andbusiness plan in 2009. And, in November 2008, theBoard approved a 5-year Policy Strategy for AGRAthat focuses on supporting the development andimplementation of evidence-based enabling policiesfor Africas Green Revolution.To further sharpen our work at the nationallevel, we held a series of consultations with keypartners and stakeholders throughout the year. Ourstaff also contributed to this highly participatoryprocess, which was designed to produce an overall,integrative AGRA strategy. I feel very encouragedthat this consultative process will enable us tobetter address Africas complex, multi-dimensionalagricultural development problems. The Boardprovided an enormous amount of guidance andsupport in the shaping of our strategy, for whichwe are extremely grateful. I want to take thisopportunity to thank our Board of Trustees, andof course our principal financial backers and ourmany partners, for their continuing confidence in,and support for, our efforts.In early 2009, our new strategy will becomefully operational, and we will continuously buildbroader and more effective partnerships that willassure success. And succeed we must. Improvingthe wellbeing of literally hundreds of millions ofpoor and food insecure people whether they livein Africas vast rural areas or in her rapidly growingcities depends to a large extent on achievingour shared vision of a uniquely African GreenRevolution.Namanga Ngongi, PresidentThere are encouraging signs of a turnabout inthe neglect that African agriculturehas endured for so long. Our challenge our opportunity is to work withour partners to nurture and buildon that shifting momentum.Namanga Ngongi, Director 12. Building on the New Momentum in African Agriculture 1 AGRA Highlights for 2008AGRA made considerable progress in anumber of areas during 2008. Highlights areprovided here both programmatically and as a brieflist of major events for the year.Program for Africas Seed Systems (PASS)In 2008, the program supported 47 MSc and 42PhD Fellows hosted by nine African universities.About 20 percent of the PhD students are women,as are nearly 30 percent of the MSc students.PASS made 24 crop improvement grants duringthe year, and 18 new varieties were released foruse by farmers. The Program sponsored 2,506on-farm trials and 780 farmer field days todemonstrate the benefits of using improved seedsand better agronomic practices. Grants weremade during the year to 11 additional small- andmedium-sized seed companies, 4 seed-producingfarmers associations/cooperatives, and 2 publicseed production organizations. This broughtthe total number of seed production grantees,private and public, to 28 by the end of the year:19 private companies, 4 associations, and 5 publicseed producers. The support provided to theseorganizations has resulted in an increase in theproduction of improved seed from 2,656 mt in2006 to 5,759 mt in 2008. Training support foragro-dealers continued throughout the year, andin 2008 alone AGRA-supported agro-dealers soldUS$ 45 million worth of improved seeds, fertilizersand other inputs to farmers.Soil Health Program (SHP)AGRAs new Soil Health Program (SHP) got offto a good start in 2008. The Programs Directorwas recruited by mid-year, and once that vital postwas filled, SHP focused on establishing relationswith key individuals and agencies involved withsoil health issues in a number of countries, con-ductingneeds assessments as part of the preparationof its business plan, and helping to establishthe African Soil Information System, which wasofficially launched in January 2009. The AGRABoard gave provisional approval of the SHP busi-nessplan, paving the way for a rapid expansion ofSHP activities and investments in 2009.Market Access Program (MAP)AGRAs new Market Access Program (MAP)also got off to a strong start in 2008. Its Directorand a Senior Program Officer were recruited, andcomprehensive needs assessments were undertakenin 21 countries to identify potential investmentopportunities. A draft strategic framework wasdeveloped that gives initial priority to reducingtransaction costs and creating enabling policyenvironments that support market development.A preliminary business plan was developed andwill be further refined in 2009 in advance of Boardapproval. Some US$ 9 million in existing grantswere transferred from The Rockefeller FoundationMarket Program as continuing grants under MAP,and a US$ 15 million grant was received from theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation for bridgingfunding as MAP develops its business plan.Oversight FunctionsAGRA established two critical oversightfunctions in 2008 its Internal Audit Unit and itsMonitoring and Evaluation Unit.Internal Audit As the extent and complexity ofAGRAs operations increases, it is vitally importantthat the organization consistently employs best 13. 2 AGRA in 2008practices in all key operational areas, and thatmanagement and the Board have an independentoffice engaged in monitoring and assessing coreprocedures and calling attention to potentialproblem areas. For this reason, an independentinternal auditors office was set up in 2008 toevaluate and advise management on proceduralissues, and report to the Board on any significantdeviations from generally accepted operationalnorms and practices.Monitoring and Evaluation Unit (M&E) Similarly, AGRA is acutely aware of theimportance of effective monitoring and evaluation,and in late 2008 brought on board a Directorto guide the expansion and consolidation ofits various M&E efforts. The new M&E Unitdeveloped its operational framework, throughwhich it will establish benchmarks against whichto measure progress, conduct rigorous monitoringand evaluation of programmatic results, assess whatis working and what is not, and share informationabout best practices with AGRA decision makers.The Unit also developed plans for training AGRAstaff, both as to the importance and benefits ofM&E and how to more effectively participate inthe process.Policy and Partnerships (P&P)In 2008, AGRA initiated an extensive consultativeprocess to inform the design of its policy program.This included a major policy conference thatbrought together senior African policy makers,and leaders from the private sector, civil society,farmers organizations, African regional institutions(such as NEPAD and the United NationsEconomic Commission for Africa), ConsultativeGroup on International Agricultural Research(CGIAR) centers, and regional policy networks.This consultative process played a vital role inshaping the AGRA Policy Strategy that waspresented to and approved by the Board in lateFaso Kaba Seeding the Malian CountrysideMs. Coulibaly already had good business skills and experiencebuilding farmer organizations when she createdFaso Kaba, aprivate seed company in Mali that is supported by AGRA. Hergoal was to help fill the large unmet demand among farmersfor good varieties of localcrops like sorghum, maize, cowpea,rice and vegetables.To produce and market its seed, Faso Kaba uses farmersascontract seed growers, and sells the seed through companyshops and some 40 village-based seed merchants. Thecompany works closely with Malis national agriculturalresearch institute, its seed certification laboratory, the extensionservice, local seed and fertilizer merchants, and severalfarmers organizations.Eighteen months after receiving its first bit of assistance fromAGRA, Faso Kaba had already produced and sold more than300 metric tons of certified seeds. For the first time ever, poorfarmers in Mali can purchase high qualityseed of local foodcrops through a responsive, independentseed company.AGRAs support for Malis fledgling private seed sectoris partof its comprehensive approach to catalyzingchange. In Mali,this includes: supporting the nationalagricultural researchorganization, lInstitut dEconomie Rurale (IER), to developimproved varieties of Guinea-race sorghum hybrids, riceadapted to variousecosystems, drought- and disease-tolerantmaize, disease-resistant millet hybrids, and Striga-resistantcowpea. It is working to improve farmers and farm businessaccess to affordable credit, and is supporting a network of 820agro-dealers to reach 995,000 farm families.AGRA is alsopartnering with the Millennium Challenge Account-Mali to buildmarket infrastructure,post-harvest systems and value-addedprocessing. 14. Building on the New Momentum in African Agriculture 3 2008. In addition, several key partnerships wereestablished during the year, and two innovativefinancing initiatives were established one withthe Financial Sector Deepening Trust and theNational Microfinance Bank or Tanzania, andanother involving the International Fund forAgricultural Development (IFAD) and EquityBank of Kenya both of which aim to increase theavailability of much needed credit to smallholderfarmers.Strategic PlanningThroughout the year, AGRAs growing cadreof partners and its staff engaged in a highlyparticipatory planning process designed to producea new comprehensive organizational strategy. Theoriginal business plan for the Alliance served to getit off the ground and guide initial programmaticactivities. But after two years in operation, itwas clear that AGRA could be more effectivein addressing Africas complicated agriculturaldevelopment problems if it takes a more integratedapproach in making its investment decisions.Moreover, it became clear that resources andpartnership activities should be focused primarilyon selected breadbasket areas in a fewer numberof priority countries at least initially wherethey can have the greatest impact and providean important demonstration effect to encouragescaling up in other countries. The Board madeimportant contributions to the planning process,which will facilitate its finalization in early 2009.Major Events During the YearProgrammatic HighlightsIn January, AGRA launched its 5-year,US$ 180 million Soil Health Program, whichplans to work with some 4.1 million farmersto regenerate and restore the fertility of morethan 6 million hectares of degraded farmlandthrough the use of balanced, integrated soilmanagement practices.The AGRA Market Access Program wasofficially launched in June with US$ 24 millionin funding from The Rockefeller Foundationand the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. TheProgram aims to, among other things, reducemarketing transaction costs for smallholdersand encourage policy changes in support ofmarket development.AGRA formally established its Monitoringand Evaluation Unit in October 2008, and bythe end of the year the new Unit had hired keystaff and established its operational frameworkfor initiating its work in 2009.The end result of an extensive consultativeprocess with numerous stakeholders, AGRAsnew 5-year Policy Strategy was presented toand approved by the Board in November 2008.This strategy will guide the development ofevidence-based policies in support of AfricasGreen Revolution.New PartnershipsA Memorandum of Understanding wassigned in June between AGRA, the Foodand Agriculture Organization of the UnitedNations (FAO), IFAD and the World FoodProgramme (WFP) at the FAO High-levelConference on World Food Security. Thepartnership aims to significantly boost staplefood production in Africas breadbasketregions, link local production to local foodneeds, and work across Africas major agro-ecologicalzones to create new opportunities forsmallholder farmers.AGRA and the United States MillenniumChallenge Corporation launched aWe support the call for a uniquely African GreenRevolution to help boost agriculturalproductivity, food production and national foodsecurity. We support all efforts to achieve asustainable Green Revolution.Declaration on African Agriculture in the 21st Century,African Ministers,Windhoek, Namibia,February 2009 15. 4 AGRA in 2008collaborative initiative in June to help Africancountries reduce poverty and hunger throughinnovative and sustainable technologies thatimprove the productivity and incomes ofsmallholder farmers and poor rural households.In January, AGRA joined with the TanzanianFinancial Sector Deepening Trust (FSDT) andthe National Microfinance Bank (NMB) ofTanzania to release US$ 10 million for use bysmall-scale agro-dealers in the country. AGRAand FSDT provided a US$ 2.1 million loanguarantee to leverage US$ 5 million from NMB.A major new partnership involving AGRA,Equity Bank Ltd, IFAD and Kenyas Ministryof Agriculture was launched in May, creating aUS$ 50 million loan facility to provide access toaffordable financing for 2.5 million farmers and15,000 value chain members such as rural inputdealers, fertilizer and seed wholesalers andimporters, grain traders and food processors.Japan, NEPAD and AGRA launched theCoalition for African Rice Development(CARD) in May, which aims to double Africasrice production in 10 years and drasticallyreduce expensive rice imports.AGRA joined with the Africa EnterpriseChallenge Fund (AECF) in June to launcha special partnership initiative to promoteincreased private sector involvement intransforming Africas agriculture. AECF is aUS$ 50100 million private sector fund, whosegoal is to accelerate pro-poor growth in Africa.Major ConferencesAGRA also convened a June meeting inNairobi of more than 90 senior policy makersand leaders from the private sector, academia,civil society and farmers organizations toidentify priority policies and institutionsneeded to achieve a uniquely African GreenRevolution. Representatives from 15 Africancountries, as well as from Europe, Asia and theUnited States attended. They addressed policiesin four critical areas: seed and fertilizer markets;finance and risk management; product markets,strategic grain reserves and regional trade; andland tenure and other social issues.In June, the Alliance convened a meetingof top agricultural regulatory agencies fromacross Africa to explore ways to revitalizecritical seed production systems and ensurethat smallholders have access to high qualityimproved seed.An inaugural meeting of the AGRA-sponsoredAfrican Rice Breeders Network was heldin April in Kampala, Uganda, bringingtogether eminent rice breeders, researchersand seed companies from more than tenAfrican countries to share results of recentrice productivity research, much of which wasfunded by AGRA. Plans were also announcedto support the development and release ofnew rice varieties in Kenya, Malawi, Mali,Mozambique, Nigeria and Uganda.Representative GrantsAGRA invests all along the agricultural valuechain, and is increasingly broadening its grants toinclude not only crop breeding programs, agro-dealersand seed companies, but also a growingnumber of farmers associations. Investmentsin building the next generation of agriculturalscientists and policy analysts are also bearing fruit.Representative examples follow here. For a full listof 2008 AGRA grants, see pp 3032.US$ 2.8 million in grants were made in 2008to support educational activities. During theyear, eight AGRA-sponsored PhD studentsbegan their studies aimed at developing new,innovative ways to improve the major staplecrops grown across the region, and the secondgroup of agricultural PhD students sponsoredby AGRA graduated from the University ofKwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.US$ 4.4 million in relatively small but highlytargeted grants were made during the yearto support a number of crop improvementactivities in a dozen African countries. 16. Building on the New Momentum in African Agriculture 5 US$ 17 million in grants were provided in2008 to strengthen a large number of agro-dealersand the networks in which they operate.For example, together with the InternationalFertilizer Development Center (IFDC),AGRA launched an ambitious US$ 3.5 millionnational agro-dealer support project in Nigeriato bulk credit and provide support to 1,400rural agro-dealers. A US$ 2.5 million projectwas launched in Mali to support 820 ruralagro-dealers who will serve the needs of nearlyone million Malian farmers. And AGRA againjoined with IFDC to launch a US$ 2.5 millionGhana Agro-Dealer Development project tosupport over 2,000 agro-dealers.US$ 3 million in small grants were madein support of strengthening selected seedcompanies and farmers associations engagedin seed production. In Uganda, for example,the Busia Women Producers Association wasprovided a grant to produce and disseminateimproved groundnut seed and cassava cuttingsto smallholder farmers in the Busia District.And in Nigeria, JIRKUR Seed ProducersCooperative Society Ltd received support toproduce and disseminate improved maize, rice,cowpea and soybean seed for smallholders insouthern Borno State.Grants were also made to better link bananasmallholder farmers in eastern and centralKenya to markets, and to support thedevelopment of the first integrated African SoilInformation System.Dr. Bino Teme, Director General of the Institut dEconomie Rurale, Mali, examines an experimental sorghumhybrid variety. 17. Building on the New Momentum in African Agriculture 7 AGRA in PerspectiveAGRA is a young organization. It was formallyestablished in the fall of 2006, and sincethen has grown rapidly and pursued its missionwith considerable vigor. While it is still too earlyto clearly identify the impact of its presence onthe African agricultural development landscape,it has made progress in a number of areas (seehighlights, pp 15). AGRA understands fully thatthe challenge of transforming African agriculture isimmense well beyond the capabilities of any oneorganization. Effective, value-adding partnershipsare the only way to bring about needed changes.AGRA is thus constantly seeking to partnerwith other agents of change. Indeed, AGRAsdistinguishing feature is reflected in its name. It is,in the true sense of the word, an Alliance, made upof likeminded institutions and individuals whoseshared purpose is to increase the productivity ofsmallholder agriculture in Africa, and in so doingincrease the incomes and food security of millions.Vision, Mission, Goals, Objectives,Core BeliefsAGRAs Vision A food secure and prosperousAfrica through rapid smallholder agriculturalgrowth and transformation.The AGRA Mission To trigger a uniquelyAfricanGreen Revolution that will transformAfricanagriculture into a highly productive, efficient,competitive and sustainable system that assures foodsecurity and lifts millions out of poverty.Goals of the Alliance AGRAs mission translatesinto three overarching goals:1. Reduce food insecurity by 50 percent in atleast 20 countries by 2020;2. Double the incomes of 20 million smallholderfamilies by 2020; and3. Put at least 15 countries on a pathway towardsachieving and sustaining a Green Revolution.AGRAs Strategic Objectives To achieve itsgoals, AGRA has identified six strategic objectivesthat will guide activities and investments:1. Develop technologies to rapidly increaseagricultural productivity in environmentallyfriendly ways;2. Increase incomes, improve food security andreduce poverty among smallholder farmers inAfrica in an economically and environmentallysustainable manner;3. Develop an evidence-based policy environmentand incentive system for improvingfarmers access to new technologies, knowledgeand other resources needed to transformsmallholder farming with special attentiongiven to women farmers;4. Provide a platform for bilateral andmultilateral donors, national governments,research entities, farmers organizationsand others to forge effective alliances foraddressing agricultural productivity;5. Inspire action by demonstrating what ispossible; and6. Identify and fill critical financing and humanresource gaps by mobilizing national andinternational resources in support of anAfrican Green Revolution.Core Beliefs The work of the Alliance is guidedby key core beliefs about an African GreenRevolution and AGRAs role in helping to make ithappen:1. In order to have the greatest immediate effecton reducing poverty, Africas agriculturaltransformation should start with improvingstaple food crop productivity and focuson the role of women in farming systems.Women make up about 70 percent of all 18. 8 AGRA in 2008African farmers, and their needs have all toooften been overlooked or marginalized inagricultural development agendas.2. Transforming African agriculture depends onmany things working across the entire system.Hence a comprehensive systems approachmust be taken in order to effect change at keypoints all along the agricultural value chain.3. Africas Green Revolution must take rootat the national level. Success depends ongovernments acting boldly and decisively,and taking ownership of the changeprocess. The private sector must also playa significant role in driving innovation andentrepreneurship, and in expanding marketsand income opportunities for farmers.Effective publicprivate partnerships arecritical to transforming African agriculture.4. Africas Green Revolution will happen onlyif governments, donors, and the private sectorjoin forces to provide the strong governanceand leadership, comprehensive strategicthinking and planning, entrepreneurial energyand the determination needed to drive thechange process.Convincing demonstrations of success ina few key breadbasket areas will help catalyze acontinent-wide Green Revolution. The role of theAlliance is to drive innovation, to fund demon-stration,and to engage with partners to scale upsuccesses across staple food-producing breadbasketareas and countries. Major contributions arebeingmade to African agriculture by many otherorganizations, and AGRA will collaborate withthem whenever possible in order to add value totheir efforts.AGRAs vision, mission, goals and objectivesrest on the principles embraced when the Alliancefirst came into being that African agriculturalproblems require African solutions, and that theThanks to AGRAs work, aided by government policy support, 700,000 farmers in theSouthern Highlands of Tanzania have produced five million tons of maize. This has been amajor contribution to food security in Tanzania.Hon. Steven Wasira, Minister of Agriculture, TanzaniaKenyas President, H. E. Mwai Kibaki launches the AGRA/IFAD/Government of Kenya/Equity Bank InnovativeFinancing Kilimo Biashara program. From left: IFAD Vice-President, Kanayo Nwanze (partially shown); next tohim Prime Minister of Kenya, Hon. Raila Odinga; and in the foreground AGRA Vice President, Dr Akin Adesinaand President of Kenya, H. E. Mwai Kibaki. 19. Building on the New Momentum in African Agriculture 9 Green Revolution so badly needed must, in theend, be driven by home grown technologies, by thewidespread adoption of evidence-based enablingpolicies, and by Africa investing in its own future.With the generous support of The RockefellerFoundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,and the UKs Department for InternationalDevelopment (DFID), AGRA was established in2006 as an African-based and African-led institu-tionwhose purpose is nothing less than changingthe course of African history by creating a moreprosperous and food secure future for the hundredsof millions now mired in hunger and poverty.AGRAs Programs and InitiativesTo do this, AGRA is implementing a series ofcarefully selected programs that are workingtogether to offer practical solutions to theproblems facing Africas farmers, especiallysmallholders. As of the end of 2008, AGRA hadthree interrelated programs in place dealing withseeds, soils and markets, all supported by variouspolicy initiatives and its monitoring and evaluationunit. Its technical specialists are working hand-in-handwith knowledgeable individuals and agenciesthat are active at the national level, ensuring thatthey have the resources needed to achieve impact.AGRA is building on the lessons learned throughmany attempts some successful, some not thathave been made to improve the productivity ofAfricas smallholders. And the Alliance is investingin the work of Africas most promising scientistsand agricultural entrepreneurs, and helping tocreate many more by supporting practical trainingand education.PASS The Program for Africas Seed Systems(PASS) was the first AGRA initiative and wasformally launched in 2007. The purpose of PASSis to promote the development of seed systemsthat deliver improved crop varieties to smallholderfarmers in an efficient, equitable and sustainableInnovative Financing to Spur Agricultural GrowthAGRA is working to unlock millions of dollars of credit forsmallholder farmers and small agricultural businesses previouslyconsidered too risky for loans, giving them unprecedentedopportunities to grow. It works like this: AGRA and otherpartners assemble loan guarantee funds that are used toleverage much larger loans from commercial banks. The loanguarantee funds protect the banks against a proportion ofpotential loan defaults. In pilot programs, default rates havebeen less than 2 percent. Two programs were launched in2008, with others planned for 2009 and beyond.In Tanzania, AGRA and the Financial Sector Deepening Trust(FSDT) provided US$1 million and US$ 100,000, respectively,in 2008 for a loan guarantee fund to secure a $5 million line ofcredit from the National Microfinance Bank (NMB). These fundsare available to farmers, agro-dealers and other agriculturalbusinesses. NMB agreed to lend to agro-dealers at a rate of18 percent, compared to the typical rate of 46 percent chargedby microfinanceinstitutions. So far,loan applications ofnearly 2.9 billionTanzania Shillingshave been receivedfrom agro-dealers,and about 2 billionhas been approved(about US$ 1.5million). FSDT hasincreased its shareof the loan guarantee from US$ 100,000 to US$ 1 million, andthe bank has expanded the funds available under the programto US$ 10 million.In Kenya, AGRA and IFAD provided $2.5 million each as aloan guarantee to Kenyas largest financial institution, EquityBank. The guarantee fund leveraged US$ 50 million for farmersand the agricultural value chains that support them across thecountry. Interest rates on the small loans made by the programhave been dropped from the usual 18 percent to 12 percent,and the initiative is anticipated to reach about 2.5 millionfarmers and 15,000 agri-businesses. So far, 284 million Kenyashillings (about US$ 4 million) have been borrowed by some7,000 smallholder farmers. Commercial farmers have borrowed80 million shillings and about 8 million shillings in loans havebeen taken out by agro-dealers.Based on the success of these initial efforts, AGRA will expandits innovative financing initiative, and has set a goal ofleveraging US$ 4 billion for agriculture by 2012. 20. 10 AGRA in 2008manner. The Program focuses on supporting cropgenetic improvement and seed supply for Africa. Ittakes a value chain approach, starting with trainingnew scientists and ending with putting improvedseed on the shelves of village-level agro-dealers.The Program thus has four key components: The Education for Africa Crop Improvement(EACI) component, which supports trainingfor a new generation of crop breeders andagricultural scientists;The Fund for the Improvement and Adoptionof African Crops (FIAAC), which supportsbreeding work to improve African cropvarieties and their adoption by smallholderfarmers;The Seed Production for Africa (SEPA)component, which aims to strengthen privateand public seed production and distributionchannels; andThe Agro-Dealer Development Program(ADP), which provides training and credit toestablish and support the growth of small-scaleagro-dealers.Soil Health While obviously important, thevalue of good seed is much diminished withoutfertile soils, and Africas soils are among the mostdepleted in the world. For this reason, majorinvestments were made by The RockefellerFoundation (US$ 50 million) and the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation (US$ 130 million) tocreate, under AGRAs leadership, a comprehensiveSoil Health Program (SHP). By the end of theyear, the Program had developed a business plan,engaged in a number of country-specific needsassessments, and approved funding for the firstintegrated African Soil Information Service,launched in January 2009, which will drawtogether highly fragmented data and informationabout African soils and, over time, provide preciseknowledge about soil conditions, trends and thebest ways to improve soil health.Market Access Working together, PASS andSHP can do much to increase the productivityand production of smallholder farmers. Butwithout better ways to market the anticipatedSoil technicians at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) evaluate the acidity and other properties ofsoil samples from western Kenya in order to develop appropriate soil treatment recommendations, such asliming, that will improve farm productivity and raise household incomes. 21. Building on the New Momentum in African Agriculture 11 Nairobi Office Accra Office TotalInternational Staff 20 4 24National Staff 21 5 26Total 41 9 50AGRA staffing profile (December 31, 2008)surplus production, smallholders may not be allthat much better off. They may indeed be worseoff. The history of African agriculture is rife withexamples of excessive staple food production that,because there are few options for adding value andeffectively marketing it, led to collapsing prices andhuge economic losses. Like farmers everywherein the world, Africas smallholder producers needto be responsive to market signals. They need toproduce the right products in the right amountsand with the right quality characteristics if they areto profit in the marketplace and move beyond meresubsistence agriculture. However, access to marketinformation, as well as to markets themselves, isa significant barrier to smallholder farmers. Forthis reason, in the fall of 2008 AGRA establisheda Market Access Program (MAP) that is nowworking with PASS and SHP to bring aboutan integrated and truly complementary set ofinvestments by the Alliance that will address keychallenges all along the agricultural value chain.Monitoring and Evaluation In 2008, AGRAput in place a robust monitoring and evaluationsystem that will ensure data and information areroutinely used to inform decisions and practice,for AGRA, its partners and its funders. Baselinestudies are underway, and the M&E team isworking closely with all program staff to setperformance targets, identify milestones, andestablish expected outcomes and impacts fromAlliance investments. The M&E system is AGRAsmain lever for assuring accountability, as well as forcapturing and sharing lessons learned in support ofcontinuous improvement.Policies In addition to these programs andactivities, the AGRA Board approved a 5-yearPolicy Strategy late in the year, and a Policy ActionPlan is being prepared for Board review in 2009.Supportive policies are critical to drive agriculturaltechnology adoption, market development, andincome growth for farmers. However, decadesof neglect and misguided decision making hasled to policies that are, at best, not especiallysupportive of smallholder agriculture, and at worstclearly biased against it. AGRA and its partnersare working together with governments to assessexisting policies, identify elements that need to bechanged, and develop options for national policymakers to consider.Current StaffingAGRA has grown quickly since its inception.By the end of 2008, the total number of staff(international and national) had grown to 50professionals representing a range of disciplines,backgrounds and nationalities. AGRAs staffingprofile as of December 31, 2008, is shown in thetable below.Working with PartnersAGRA is an African-led partnership whosepurpose is to help millions of smallholder farmfamilies lift themselves out of poverty and hunger.Its programs are increasingly integrated. Theywork in tandem, and with the Alliances manypartners, to develop practical solutions to boostfarm productivity and incomes while safeguardingthe environment. AGRA is now a reasonablywell-established organization, and is increasinglygaining recognition across Africa and in theinternational development community.The African continent must play a role with our support and implement a GreenRevolution to reduce its dependency on the international market.Hon. Louis Michel, European Union Commissioner for Development 22. 12 AGRA in 2008Achieving the shared vision of transformingAfricas agriculture will require tremendous progressin many related areas. Some of those are within theAGRA domain of action and some lie further afield.Hence the vital need for an open and participatoryapproach to development, and for partners whoshare in that transformative vision. As of the endof 2008, AGRA was working with a number of keypartners, including but not limited to the following:The African Unions New Partnership forAfricas Development (NEPAD), as wellas its Comprehensive Africa AgricultureDevelopment Program (CAADP);The national governments in AGRAs targetcountries;The African Development Bank (AfDB);The Food and Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations (FAO);The International Fund for AgriculturalDevelopment (IFAD);The World Food Program (WFP);The United States Millennium ChallengeCorporation (MCC);The Japan International Cooperation Agency(JICA);The Coalition for African Rice Development(CARD);The African Enterprise Challenge Fund(AECF); andPrivate African financial institutions (theNational Microfinance Bank of Tanzania andEquity Bank of Kenya).The Alliance is always seeking opportunitiesto work with others who share its vision largeor small public or private. Achieving a GreenRevolution in Africa is a daunting challenge, onethat will require the efforts of many people andorganizations.Funding an African Green RevolutionCatalyzing Africas Green Revolution will requiresubstantial funding. The International Food PolicyDoubling Africas Rice HarvestToday, less than half of rice consumed in sub-Saharan Africais supplied locally, resulting in the expenditure of a large andincreasing amount of scarce foreign exchange.In 2008, in hopes of doubling Africas rice harvest within thenext decade, the Japan International Cooperation Agency(JICA), NEPAD and AGRA joined forces to launch the Coalitionfor African Rice Development (CARD). CARD aims to drasticallyreduce Africas reliance on expensive rice imports throughthe development and distribution of new, resilient and higheryielding rice varieties for the Africas smallholder farmers.CARD is aconsultativegroup ofmajor donors,rice researchorganizationsand a numberof otherdevelopmententities, whichtogether are working with 21 African countries to strengthentheir ability to produce this valuable commodity. Current CARDSteering Committee members include AGRA, FAO, the Forum forAgricultural Research in Africa (FARA), IFAD, the InternationalRice Research Institute (IRRI), JICA, the Japan InternationalResearch Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), NEPAD andthe Africa Rice Center (WARDA).The new initiative is building on successful programs in countrieslike Uganda and Nigeria, where governments have cut riceimports in half over a few short years through investments inhigh-yielding New Rice for Africa (NERICA) rice varieties thatrequire little or no irrigation and are capable of growing inupland and lowland environments. CARD will invest in trainingAfrican rice breeders, seed production and multiplication,integrated soil fertility management, and new post-harvesttechnologies to improve rice processing.In 2008, CARD focused on supporting the efforts of 12countries to develop more effective National Rice DevelopmentStrategies. With the support of the CARD Secretariat, which ishosted by AGRA, all 12 countries produced the first versions oftheir strategies, which are now being refined in anticipation offunding. 23. Building on the New Momentum in African Agriculture 13 Research Institute (IFPRI) estimates that successwill require between US$ 32 billion and US$ 39billion each year (not counting investments ininfrastructure). To effectively play its part, AGRAwill itself need to raise significant resources.Our approach to resource mobilization restson an assessment that such levels of funding appearwithin reach, based on a combination of Africangovernment funding, Overseas DevelopmentAssistance (ODA), Foreign Direct Investment(FDI), philanthropic contributions from within andoutside Africa, and Africas domestic private sector.Furthermore, the US$ 2.4 billion of ODA flowinginto agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is set toincrease substantially.To date, the majority of funding for AGRAscore programs has come from the Bill & MelindaGates Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation,and DFID. Significant additional support from theNetherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, IFADand the World Banks Consultative Group to Assistthe Poor has been provided to the AECF. Goingforward, the Alliance will seek to further diversify itsfunding base and increase its level of public support.AGRA will focus on building funding partnershipswith traditional bilateral donor organizations. In2008, the basis for significant financing from othersources was established, including private sector andphilanthropic institutions. In addition, AGRA willcontinue its groundbreaking work to leverage theprivate sector to invest in African agriculture, withan emphasis on the smallholder farmer.In addition to fundraising for its own work,AGRA will advocate for African Green Revolutionfunds as a whole, working broadly through severalchannels, including advocating for increased Africangovernment funding to agriculture in line with theMaputo Declaration, advocating for more globalinvestment in African agriculture, and working withcommercial banks to stimulate local financing.Investing in an African Green Revolution willserve not just food security but progress acrossthe Millennium Development goals, includingenvironmental sustainability.Hon. Ban Ki-Moon,United Nations Secretary-General,May 2009AGRA supports AGMARK, an organization which provides financing and training to farmers and agro-dealersin western Kenya. It helps them add value to staple foods, for example by milling maize grain to commercialstandards and packaging the flour for sale in local markets. 24. Building on the New Momentum in African Agriculture 15 Building on the New Momentumin African AgricultureIn 2008, the World Bank dedicated its WorldDevelopment Report 1 to Agriculture, a significantacknowledgment of agricultures central role infighting poverty in poor countries. The last timeagriculture had been featured was in 1982, and atthat time the main question was whether the worldwas going to be able to feed its rapidly growingpopulation. A quarter of a century later, it is clearthat globally at least advances in agriculturalproductivity have kept ahead of the demand forfood. Rising per capita production and two decadesof declining commodity prices attest to this fact.Trends in Agricultural GrowthOn average, developing countries achieved fasteragricultural growth than industrialized nations(2.6 percent and 0.9 percent per year, respectively),and they accounted for a remarkable 79 percent ofoverall agricultural growth between 1980 and 2004.The Bank points to rapidly increasing cereal yieldsand the adoption of more supportive governmentpolices in many developing countries as the maindrivers of this growth process.Unfortunately, agricultural growth acrossregions and countries has been very uneven. Asiaaccounted for two-thirds of the growth achievedsince 1980, due primarily to intensification (theuse of higher yielding varieties, fertilizers andirrigation). Agricultural growth in sub-SaharanAfrica is also impressive, but was achieved mainlyby bringing more land into cultivation. Still,growth in the region averaged almost 3 percent peryear over the past 25 years, which is in fact close tothe average for all developing countries. But Africahas a much larger agricultural population, andwhen growth is measured in that context, Africa1 World Development Report 2008: Agriculture forDevelopment. World Bank. 2007.doesnt fare nearly so well. Growth per capita ofagricultural population in sub-Saharan Africa hasaveraged only 0.9 percent per year less than halfof any other region and well below Asia.By 2008, only six African countries hadachieved a growth rate per capita of agriculturalpopulation of 2 percent or more. Another sevenhad growth rates below 1 percent, and the resthad negative per capita growth. According to theWorld Bank, Africas average growth in agriculturalGDP per capita of agricultural population wasclose to zero in the 1970s, and fell into negativeterritory during the 1980s and early 1990s. Butthe Bank also notes there has been a resurgence ingrowth over the past decade, strongly suggestinga brighter future for sub-Saharan Africanagriculture.Stagnant Crop YieldsDespite an apparent revival of African agriculturein recent years, yields of food staples remain gener-allypoor. The Green Revolution breakthroughs incereal yields that propelled agricultural and overalleconomic growth in Asia have yet to take hold inmost African countries. There are many reasons forthis, including the continents very diverse agro-ecologies;its highly degraded soils; its relianceon rainfed agriculture; the limited use of modernvarieties and fertilizers; the largely undevelopedstate of Africas rural infrastructure; a lack of accessto markets; and a history of poor macroeconomicpolicies and low public investment in agriculture.The World Bank states that The challenge is howto achieve productivity gains in diverse rainfedsystems by coordinating investments in technologywith investments in institutions and infrastruc-tureto promote development of input and outputmarkets. In other words, the challenge is how toencourage a uniquely African Green Revolution. 25. 16 AGRA in 2008Surging Food PricesThe urgency of this challenge has been drivenhome by recent increases in food prices. In2008, prices for staple foods in Africa rose by astaggering 60 percent before being partially pushedback down towards the end of the year by theglobal economic crisis. The underlying causes ofthis surge were many, and comprised something ofa perfect storm in Africas agricultural sector.Fuel prices rose rapidly in 2007, withoil reaching close to US$ 150/barrel beforedropping back. This led to a spike in the priceof chemical fertilizers and a consequent drop inits use, especially in Africa where fertilizer use isalready less than one tenth of the global average.Transportation costs also rose as a result of higherfuel prices, making imported food less affordableto many Africans.The high price of oil has encouragedproduction of biofuel alternatives (ethanol andbiodiesel). Huge quantities of maize and otherstaple grains produced in developed countries food that is normally exported to food-deficitcountries was instead used to produce biofuels,contributing to higher grain prices and shortagesof grain for export.With the declining availability of grainimports, Africa has had to rely more heavily onfeeding her people with locally produced staplefoods. But some of Africas key food-producingregions have been subjected to extended droughtsof varying intensity what many experts considerto be an emerging effect of climate change. Yieldson rainfed farms have dropped precipitously, andthis has pushed food prices higher still. The Hornof Africa has been particularly hard hit, but otherregions have also suffered. WFP estimates that, inpart because of drought, some 20 million Africans most of them living in remote rural areas areon the verge of outright starvation, and millionsmore are seriously undernourished.Outdated policies that constrain advancesin smallholder agricultural productivity acrossAfrica have also conspired to raise the cost of foodproduced locally. Farmers face serious barriers toselling their produce in local and regional markets,and as a result they lack the incentives needed toChildren in a village in Bamako, Mali sharing a meal. Many African farm households purchase food tosupplement what they grow for themselves. As a result, surging food prices have had a negative effect on thediets of the poor across Africa. 26. Building on the New Momentum in African Agriculture 17 adopt more modern and more expensive pro-ductionpractices. Even if access to markets waseasier for these farmers, financial credit to supportthe modernization of their small farming enter-prisesis both expensive and hard to obtain. Theresult is that most smallholders continue to farmusing traditional, low-input/low-output practices.Finally, rising incomes over the lastdecade, especially among Africas growing urbanpopulations, have led to increased demand for meatand other animal products, as well as for moreprocessed foods, and this too has contributed tohigher food prices in Africas marketplaces.The global financial crisis that began in late2008 has reduced the pressure on food prices,but they still remain high, especially for thepoor who spend much of their income on food.Yet as a global recovery takes hold, food pricesare expected to start going up again. There areindications that the cost of energy will continueto trend upward. Policies in industrial countriesthat encourage biofuel production remain in placeand there are few signs that they will be changedin the foreseeable future. Moreover, the effectsof climate change will continue to plague manyAfrican farmers, and are predicted to get worse inthe coming years. And putting pro-smallholderagricultural policies in place that encouragemodernization and commercialization of Africanagriculture will take time.From Crisis to OpportunityAs noted in the Chairmans message (see pp vvii),there is now a global reawakening to the impor-tanceof agriculture for Africas development. Mostimportantly, as a result of the African Unions 2003meeting of Heads of State and Government, heldin Maputo, African governments have commit-tedto significantly increasing their investments inagriculture. The agreed target is at least 10 percentof national budgets, and while most countries stillfall well short of that goal, six have reached it andEncouraging Private Sector InnovationIn 2008, AGRA joined with the Africa Enterprise ChallengeFund (AECF) in a special partnership initiative to promoteincreased private sector involvement in transforming Africasagriculture. AECF is a US$ 50100 million private sector fundwhose goal is to accelerate pro-poor growth in Africa.After its official launch in June, private sector companiesquickly began submitting innovative business ideas for theFunds consideration. Within 5 months, AECF had receivedand assessed more than 400 full applications and approvedits first 13 projects for funding. While it is too early to see anyreal impact of these projects on the rural poor, together theycomprise a commitment of US$ 10.8 million from AECF, whichis expected to leverage an additional US$ 16 million fromthe private sector and benefit over 1.2 million rural poor in 9different countries over a period of 3 years.While AECF is open to proposals from all countries in Africa,it is concentrating its efforts in 13 countries Burkina Faso,Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique,Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda andZambia all countries in which AGRA currently hasinvestments..The initial financial backers of AECF include the World BanksConsultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), DFID, IFAD,and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA). 27. 18 AGRA in 2008others are making notable progress. Under theNEPAD/CAADP framework, the added invest-mentis aimed at generating an average annualgrowth in agriculture of 6 percent per year by 2015.In addition, the 2008 meeting of the G8 led to acommitment of US$ 10 billion to supporting activ-itiesrelated to agricultural development in Africa.This is on top of the G8s 2005 commitment todouble ODA for Africa to US$ 25 billion by 2010.Agriculture is clearly moving to the centreof Africas development agenda, a movementthat is being reinforced almost daily by news ofincreasing public and private sector investmentsin development projects that support agriculturalmodernization across the continent. AGRA isworking with its many partners to drive and buildon the new momentum in African agriculture.Better Seeds and Access to Needed Inputs AGRAs initial activities focused on meeting theneeds of smallholder farmers for higher-yieldingvarieties of key food staples that have geneticresistance to prevalent diseases and insect pests.By the end of 2008 AGRA had provided 73 smallgrants through its Program for African SeedSystems (PASS) in support of specific researchactivities aimed at breeding locally adapted, high-yieldingvarieties. As a result 47 new commercialvarieties of staple crops had been released by theend of the year. But developing and releasing newvarieties is just part of what needs to be done.To sustain agricultures new momentum requiresa new generation of African agricultural scientists.Towards that end, PASS has established Fellow-shipPrograms in plant breeding at nine Africanuniversities, which are now hosting 47 MSc and42 PhD Fellows. AGRAs goal is to train 250 plantbreeders in five years and as graduates return totheir home countries, the rigor and effectivenessof plant breeding across Africa will begin to riseAfrica is the worlds final frontier of agriculture, a rare place with roomto dramatically increase production and meet rising demand.Roger Thurow and Scott KilmanImproved maize seed ready for packing at the Tanseed production facility in Morogoro, Tanzania. Tanseed,an AGRA grantee, provides high quality maize, sesame, and sunflower seed, as well as training in properagricultural techniques, to small-scale farmers in over a dozen surrounding districts. 28. Building on the New Momentum in African Agriculture 19 dramatically. Importantly, some 20 percent of thePhD students are women, as are nearly 30 percentof the MSc students. These female scientists willbring added insights to plant breeding regardingthe specific concerns of women farmers, such astraits related to harvesting and cooking.Moving forward along the supply chain,PASS is investing in promising small- andmedium-sized seed companies in order to bolsterAfricas long-neglected seed industry. As a resultof these investments, the production of improvedseed has more than doubled in the last two years,to 5,759 mt in 2008. The Program is also helpingto rapidly scale up the number of rural agro-dealerswhose job it is to get the improved commercialseed and other vital inputs into the hands of farm-ers.By the end of 2008, AGRA had trained andsupported nearly 4000 existing or new agro-dealersin Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania andUganda, and invested in several agro-dealer as-sociationsand networks. In 2008 alone, these agro-dealerssupplied US$ 45 million worth of improvedseeds, fertilizers and other inputs to farmers.Restoring Soil Health Poor soil fertility isone of the major reasons why yields are lowon smallholder farms across Africa. About 75percent of Africas farmlands are degraded, andrestoring soil fertility is a necessary first step intransforming smallholder farming. These landslack soil nutrients and organic matter, and theyhave a limited capacity to hold water and are proneto massive erosion. Their poor productivity alsoexacerbates deforestation as farmers clear forests inhopes of increasing their yields on richer soils.In early 2008, AGRA launched a US$180million Soil Health Program (SHP) with theambitious goal of regenerating 6.3 million hectaresof degraded farmland over 10 years throughbalanced, integrated soil fertility management.Over 4 million rural households (about 24 millionpeople) are projected to benefit from this effort.By mid-2008, the SHP director was in placeand several key activities were underway (see Box).New Initiatives of the Soil Health ProgramAGRAs Soil Health Program has moved quickly in its first yearto begin its grant-making work. In November 2008, a grant ofUS$ 18 million was awarded to the Tropical Soil Biology andFertility Institute of CIAT for the development and implementationof a new, integrated African Soil Information System (AfSIS).The funds are being provided by the Bill & Melinda GatesFoundation (US$ 15.1 million) and AGRA (US$ 2.9 million).AfSIS combines the latestsoil science and technology withremote satellite imagery and on-the-ground efforts to analyzethousands of soil samples from remote areas across thecontinent in order to provide solutions for poor farmers. TheSystem will provide precise knowledge of soil conditions, trendsand the best means toimprove soil fertility.Regional soils labsin Malawi, Mali andTanzania, and 60sentinel sites to be setup across sub-SaharanAfrica will be keypartners. AfSIS usestechniques such asdigital soil mapping,infrared spectrometry,remote sensing and integrated soil fertility management toimprove the way that soils are evaluated, mapped, monitoredand managed.The Program also made great strides in preparing forinvestments in scaling up fertilizer micro-dosing in West Africasmillet-, sorghum-, and maize-based cropping systems. Alsoknown as the Coca-Cola technique because a soda bottlecap is used to apply the fertilizer, micro-dosing is a provensuccess in Africa. It involves point placement of fertilizer at thebase of each plant, and because of its precision the techniqueuses relatively low quantities of fertilizer (