In Kigali’s moderate heat, over 1,000 delegates attending the African Conference of Agricultural Technologies (ACAT) agreed, among other things, that farmers need to be at the centre of decision-making on crucial agricultural technologies if Africa is to be truly food secure.
ACAT 2025, which kicked off on Monday, June 9 at the Kigali Convention Centre under the theme ‘NextGen Ag-Tech Solutions for Africa’s Farmers’ also discussed the potential of Africa’s youth in agriculture, incorporation of traditional knowledge, and the movement of ideas from the discussion table to action on the ground.
Rwanda’s Prime Minister Dr Edouard Ngirente, who officially opened the conference, said that in the age of technology, Africa was primed for a scintillating future – if it got a few things right.
“Hard work is not sufficient; technology and innovation are the essential pillars of sustainable development,” he said.
Former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan appealed for increased collaboration among stakeholders, insisting on the need for farmer centrality in development and deployment of technologies in agriculture.
“Our farmers should be incentivized to take up technology. We should encourage collaborations; unlocking intra-African trade to harmonize trade, and reducing of tariffs will be important,” he said.
Dr Mark Cybahiro Bagabe, the Minister for Agriculture and Animal Resources reiterated the need for engagement of farmers “as equal partners, and not just as mere recipients of technology”, insisting that that would “lead to meaningful results reaching them”.
Prof Aggrey Ambali, the Chair of the Board of Trustees of AATF, drove the discussion on moving boardroom conversations to the field, saying that it was time tangible results were seen from all meetings of experts happening across the continent.
“This conference provides a high-level platform through which we can take advantage of the connection between technologies and the rising numbers of youth, who are interesting in harnessing the technology for economic benefit,” he said.
Dr Daniel Kyalo, a Senior Manager at AATF, noted that African farmers need to be empowered, including through being taught on the importance of use of new technologies as soon as they are availed.
“Africa is home to 33 million smallholder farmers. All these farmers want is a full field, to be wealthier and healthier, and to play a critical role in rural transformation. Training farmers on good agronomic practices, farm mechanization, agribusiness management, financial management, and digital tools will help them reach their potential,” he said.
Discussions on boosting farm productivity, creating market linkages, and post-harvest management were had in earnest in exciting plenaries that ran throughout the day. Appeals were made to funders to aggressively support agriculture, and commitments were given by various players with an aim to bolster economic productivity in Africa amid rapid population increase and the inevitable climate change.
HE Jonathan called Africa’s future “bright and full of promise”, although he warned about the impossibility of that without focused investment.
“Transformation needs dedicated funding, private investment too. Financial institutions need to come up with ways to make lending easy. More needs to go into agriculture.”
Agroprocessing in Africa, delegates heard, has been challenging as it is labor intensive and burdens women- and sometimes involves child labor, uses old and inefficient equipment that reduces marketability and food safety, leads to environmental pollution due to non-clean energy, and is responsible for post-harvest losses.
In some places, the ratio of extension provider to farmers is 1:5000. Across Africa, there is limited rural-based value addition, with over 60% rural products exported as raw materials. There is also low access to farm mechanization, with an average of 30 tractors per 1,000 ha. The return to farm investments are low, as they are below 20%, delegates heard. And thus, a reversal of this is necessary.
By Peter Theuri