About AGRFThe AGRF is the world's premier forum for African agriculture, bringing together stakeholders in the agricultural landscape to take practical actions and share lessons that will move African agriculture forward.
Africa is rising, with signs of prosperity and progress in the lives of millions of individuals and entire economies. But for all of the signs of progress, Africa still needs to move from food shortage to surplus, drive beneficial continental trade, and create millions of jobs and opportunities, particularly for women and youth. This is even more important in the face of climate change and growing populations across the continent. Business and progress as usual is not enough for Africa's aspirations. We must do more and do it more successfully.
“AGRF is the most diverse and multi-dimensional event on African agricultural transformation, and it has used this status to successfully inform, influence, and catalyse collective action.”
Independent Assessment by Dalberg, 2018 Partners
The AGRF Partners Group is made up of 26 leading actors in African agriculture all focused on putting farmers at the center of the continent's growing economies. Members include: African Development Bank (AfDB), African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP), African Union Commission (AUC), Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Bayer AG, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), CGIAR System Organization, Corteva Agriscience, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Government of Rwanda, Grow Africa (AUDA-NEPAD), IKEA Foundation, International Development Research Center (IDRC), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Mastercard Foundation, OCP Group, Rockefeller Foundation, Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU), Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), Syngenta Foundation, UPL Limited, US Agency for International Development (USAID), Yara International ASA.
The AGRF Secretariat is hosted by AGRA on behalf of partners; itself an African-led institution that works in 11 countries across the continent. The Government of Rwanda serves as a long-term host of the forum, championing its agenda throughout the year and hosting the annual Summit in all even years, i.e. 2020, 2022 and 2024. The Chair of the AGRA Board, also serves as Chair of the AGRF Partners Group.
Strategic Vision and ObjectivesThe AGRF serves as the world's premier forum for advancing Africa's agricultural agenda to achieve the vision and goals laid out in the AU Malabo Declaration, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Africa's Agenda 2063.
Under AGRF's current strategy, the Forum is particularly focused on driving progress of the Malabo Declaration by 2025 as the priority set of commitments African Heads of State and Government have made to strengthen agricultural development at the center of the continent's overall development and progress. AGRF tracks progress on the continental agricultural agenda in alignment with the African Union's leadership by reviewing data of the Biennial Review of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). The Biennial Review with its indicators and data provide detail on how countries, regions, and sub-sectors of Africa's agricultural system are improving over time and the areas that need more focus and improvement. AGRF thereby shapes its programmatic focus and platforms to best respond and continue to drive progress across the continent.
Within the context of Africa's overall agricultural agenda, the AGRF derives its impact in terms of concrete results in each of the following six objectives:
Thematic PlatformsAGRF advances its mission and work throughout the year to achieve targeted outcomes largely by working through a set of thematic platforms. These thematic platforms and working groups are composed of several member organizations who set a long-term strategy and annual work plan that includes but also extends beyond the annual AGRF event to achieve specific outcomes.
Ten thematic platforms and thematic working groups have been prioritized for the AGRF to deliver under its current strategy against its priority goals.
Increasing public & private investments in agriculture, building stronger pipelines of deals & preparing SMEs for investment.
Improving intra-Africa trade & better functioning of national & regional markets.
Expanding local agro-industry & value chain development and improving policy & investment particularly for irrigation, mechanization, processing & value addition.
Improving food & nutrition security.
Increasing capacity of farming households and agricultural systems to better prepare for & adapt to shocks & stresses.
Promoting effective and inclusive policy design and implementation whilst strengthening capacity for evidence based planning, implementation and review.
Expanding local agro-industry & value chain development inclusive of youth and improving & scaling youth programs.
Expanding local agro industry & value chain development inclusive of women.
Increasing capacity to generate, analyse, and use data, information, knowledge, tools & innovations.
Creating stronger & sustainable agricultural input systems & increased agriculture production & productivity.
Increasing public & private investments in agriculture, building stronger pipelines of deal & preparing SMEs for investment
Improving intra-Africa trade & better functioning of national & regional markets
Expanding local agro-industry & value chain develop-ment and improving policy & investment particularly for irrigation, mechanization, processing & value addition
Improving food & nutrition security. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Increasing capacity of farming households and agricultural systems to better prepare for & adapt to shocks & stresses
Promoting effective and in-clusive policy design and implementation whilst strengthening capacity for evidenced based on planning, implementation and review.
Expanding local agro-industry & value chain develop-ment inclusive of youth and improving & scaling youth programs
Expanding local agro industry & value chain development inclusive of women
Increasing capacity to generate, analyse, and use data, information, knowledge, tools & innovations
Creating stronger & sustain-able agricultural input sys-tems & increased agriculture production & productivity.
AGRF HighlightsWe are producing probably 300 to 400 times as much food as we did
Theme: Feed the Cities, Grow the Continent – Leveraging Urban Food Markets to Achieve Sustainable Food Systems in Africa
FAO and AGRA bring partners together to share knowledge in fight against the global pandemic 23 April 2020, Accra – With over 60 percent of the
AGRF Summit Frequency, Location & ThemeSince the first AGRF was held in Ghana in 2010 under the leadership of H.E. President Mills, the Forum has annually brought together Heads of State, Ministers, business leaders, development partner leadership, thought leaders, farmer organization representatives, youth entrepreneurs, and other critical stakeholders to focus on the actions and policies needed to move the continental agenda forward. The Forum was hosted by Heads of State in Tanzania in 2012, Mozambique in 2013, Ethiopia in 2014, Zambia in 2015, Kenya in 2016, Cote d’Ivoire in 2017, Rwanda in 2018, and Ghana in 2019. The Forum and its momentum have grown considerably over these years.
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