[East Africa Business Week] Bob Koigi: Cushioning food systems from shocks

This week, thousands of delegates across the continent and beyond are gathered in Kigali, Rwanda for the African Green Revolution Forum, AGRF, an annual event bringing governments and partners together around food security and making safe, nutritious foods produced in a sustainable way available to all Africans.

At the event a report calling for urgent action to cushion Africa’s food systems from shocks was released.

 Dubbed, Accelerating African Food Systems Transformation”.  It emphasises the urgent need for inclusive, equitable, sustainable and resilient growth in the agricultural sector, while acknowledging intensification of major drivers of recent food insecurity trends in Africa. It recognises the need to accelerate action.

Still at AGRF, the heads of the African Green Revolution Alliance (AGRA) and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) signed a new five-year cooperation agreement. The cooperation agreement covers GAIN support to the AGRF and working with AGRA to strengthen linkages between smallholder farmers and African agri-food companies, emphasizing better access to finance and technical skills for SMEs involved in the agri-food sector.

At the same event, COMESA in partnership with several stakeholders, among them the Alliance for Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) have launched the digital Regional Food Balance Sheet (RFBS). The RFBS aims to accelerate the application of digital, remote sensing and advanced analytical technologies to provide forecasts for major food commodities in the East and Southern African region.

And the event saw the announcement of Eric Yirenkyi Danquah as the  winner of the 2022 Africa Food Prize.

The Africa Food Prize is the preeminent annual award that recognizes outstanding individuals or institutions that are leading the effort to change the reality of farming in Africa.

AGRA, the African alliance for inclusive agricultural transformation also announced the winners of the 2022 Women Agripreneur of the Year Award 2022 (WAYA).

A total of US85,000 in grant funding was awarded to the four winners announced during a live ceremony, in the categories: Young Female Agripreneur, Female Ag Tech Innovator, Outstanding Value Adding Enterprise, and Overall Grand Prize.

In the expansion front, Andersen Global has continued its African expansion with the addition of collaborating firm HIMA, an Ethiopian tax firm based in Addis Ababa.

Led by Managing Partner Nabiyu Feto and founded in 2015, HIMA works closely with clients to provide comprehensive tax solutions for their business needs in the emerging Ethiopian market.

German manufacturer STIHL has opened its second subsidiary on the African continent in Kenya as it also celebrated the 25th anniversary of its subsidiary in South Africa. STIHL is laying the foundations for further growth and clearly demonstrating its commitment to the important African market.

Elsewhere, KCB Bank Kenya and IFC have signed a partnership that will help catalyze the growth of climate finance in Kenya by increasing support for businesses addressing climate change.

IFC will extend a $150 million loan to KCB Bank Kenya to fund the growth of the bank's climate finance portfolio, with a specific focus on financing the development of energy efficiency projects, renewable energy, climate smart projects, and green buildings.

ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms (ARISE IIP), a developer and operator of world-class industrial ecosystems across Africa, in partnership with the Government of Rwanda, has announced the signing of a framework agreement for the development of an industrial zone in Bugesera District.

And East African Private Sector have urged Governments to for fast-tracked harmonization of East African Standards during the EABC-TMEA Regional Public Private Engagement on Standards held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Bob Koigi is the East African Region Editor at Africa Business Communities