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  • Heifer pushes for catalytic financing

    Heifer pushes for catalytic financing

    Heifer International, a non-profit organisation, leveraging technology and innovation, and working with key government and development partners to end hunger and poverty, will engage stakeholders at the Africa Food Systems Forum 2024, (AFS Forum 2024).

    The organization will be deepening the conversation with key stakeholders on how innovative financing can catalyse technology integration that enables smallholder farmers to improve productivity.

    The AFS Forum, Africa’s leading platform for dialogue and collaboration on food security, holds September 2 – 6 in Kigali, Rwanda.

    It brings together thousands of industry leaders, policymakers, innovators, development agencies, private sector giants, farmers and agripreneurs to discuss critical challenges and opportunities in Africa’s food systems.

    Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame will join other world leaders at the event, in a demonstration of the high-level commitment to addressing challenges facing Africa’s food systems. Organised by   Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa

     (AGRA), the AFS Forum is widely considered the continent’s biggest gathering of stakeholders in the agriculture sector. The theme for this year’s event is ‘Innovate, Accelerate and Scale:  Delivering Food Systems Transformation in a Digital and Climate Era’.

    At this year’s summit, Heifer International, along with strategic partners, young innovators and smallholder farming organisations within Heifer’s ecosystem, will highlight their experiences at various sessions and side events during the summit, in what the organisation hopes will inspire collaborative action and drive change in the area of leveraging innovative financing to accelerate technology integration in agriculture.

    Heifer’s Mechanisation for Africa project presents an important illustration of the possibilities of a unique model of applying catalytic funding to innovation that drives transformation in agriculture. In a report released earlier this year, the organisation showed how Heifer’s innovative financing of a tech-led tractor leasing initiative created by agritech company, Hello Tractor, catalysed the initiative’s expansion, unlocking commercial capital, and powering beneficiary smallholder farmers in the pilot phase to over 200 percent increase in income.

    The initiative also created over 250 jobs for young Africans as tractor owners, booking agents, tractor operators and technicians.

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    Adesuwa Ifedi, Senior Vice President, Africa Programs, of Heifer International, said: “We are inspired by the incredible contributions that young visionary African innovators can make towards transforming our food systems and we are actively backing their innovations. Through our various programs, especially AYuTe NextGen, we provide the catalytic financing and market knowledge that these innovators need to iterate and scale their agritech solutions for challenges faced by smallholder farmers.

    With the integration of finance and technology, we are able to move smallholder farmers from sustenance to a business, and support them to take their businesses to scale and profitability, while creating much needed new jobs across the value chain for young people.

    Working alongside smallholder farmers through this journey has informed our reflections on what is critical to transform Africa’s food systems. At this year’s AFS forum, we will be engaging with critical partners, stakeholders and policy makers, to continue to deepen this conversation, leveraging on our experience, to fast track the food systems transformation we all seek.”

    This year, Heifer will be attending the 2024 AFS Forum with several young innovators from six African countries who the organisation has been working with to strengthen their innovations to support smallholder farmers on the continent. Heifer is excited to give an opportunity for generations to connect in agriculture, recognizing that the future of Africa’s agriculture will be dependent on the next generation and their capacity to introduce fit for purpose technology and innovation into the sector.

    Delegates at the 2024 AFS Forum are expected to spotlight and discuss innovations, technological advances, policies, business models, and investments required to accelerate sustainable food systems transformation in Africa. The gathering also presents public and private sector leaders another opportunity to discuss the urgent need and modalities of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 and meet the Malabo Declaration’s commitments by 2025.

  • Heifer Int’l okays $3.5m for Nigeria, others

    Heifer Int’l okays $3.5m for Nigeria, others

    Heifer International, a non-profit organisation working to end hunger and poverty through sustainable farming, has outlined innovative ways of financing and empowering smallholder farming communities in Africa. This is in addition to creating new opportunities in agriculture for the youth population.

    In its new report released recently in Nairobi, Kenya, it disclosed how tens of thousands of these smallholder African farmers have seen their livelihoods transformed by a tech-driven mechanisation initiative.

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    The report titled ‘Mechanization for Africa: Innovative Financing for Agricultural Transformation and Youth Job Creation’, examined the role and benefits of agricultural innovation.

  • Heifer harps on innovative agriculture

    Heifer harps on innovative agriculture

    Heifer International has called upon stakeholders in Africa’s agriculture sector to enhance their backing for youth-driven innovations, technology adoption, and the establishment of strategic partnerships.

    It stated that the initiatives aim to bolster smallholder farmers and communities, ultimately raising incomes and catalysing a transformation in the continent’s food systems.

    Heifer made this call at this year’s Africa Food Systems Forum (previously known as AGRF), where it hosted side events, networking forums, and participated in several panels that centered discussions on transformative solutions for Africa’s agriculture.

    The AGRF 2023, taking place  in Tanzania is Africa’s leading venue for agriculture stakeholders to come together and agree on practical actions to transform food systems and end hunger.

    More than 3000 attendees from over 70 countries attended this year’s summit, where more than 350 experts and policymakers engaged stakeholders on ways that Africa can build back better food systems and strengthen the continent’s food sovereignty – with youth and women at the centre.

    Heifer International has been working with farmers and communities in Africa for nearly 50 years to help them build sustainable and resilient food systems that can withstand shocks and stresses.

     Part of the organisation’s work in the continent is innovative investments in young Africans working on transformative solutions and products within the agriculture ecosystem that have strengthened smallholder farmers’ outputs, increasing women participation in agribusinesses, and enhancing climate-smart practices.

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    Senior Vice President, Africa Programs, Heifer International, Adesuwa Ifedi, speaking to global stakeholders at the event, said: “Our profound experience of partnering with smallholder farmers and communities has provided us with a unique perspective – one that harnesses the innovation and energy of young innovators, alongside the limitless potential of technology, to craft scalable and enduring agritech solutions tailored to the unique needs of smallholder farmers. The impact of these has been transformative – driving heightened productivity, amplified incomes for farmers, job creation, and unlocking commercial capital fostering agripreneurs, and elevating the capabilities of our food systems.”

    According to Ifedi, concerted efforts need to be made to boost Africa’s food systems urgently to be able to accommodate the continent’s forecast population of 2.5 billion people by 2050.

    “The good news is that in the face of this challenge, we are endowed with two critical tools – our youth and technology,” she said. “Africa possesses the youngest population globally, with nearly 40 per cent of the continent’s population aged 15 or below, as of 2022. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, an estimated 500 million people will be under 25 years old by 2050.

    Within these massive numbers, we see a reservoir of energy, ingenuity, and determination being leveraged to solve societal problems across the continent.”

    Heifer International also advocated for increased innovative capital for young innovators working on transformative solutions for the agriculture ecosystem.

    Speaking during the organisation’s side event at the summit on September 4 that had youth innovators, policymakers, experts in finance and technology, and other stakeholders in attendance, Country Director Ethiopia, Heifer International, Tewodros Ayele, said: “Through various initiatives, we have provided innovative capital to young professionals developing and deploying tech innovations that are enhancing smart farming and food production across the continent. The impact of the various programs we have partnered with these young innovators on is heartwarming and encourages us to do more.”

    Ayele identified one of such initiatives as the AYuTe Africa Challenge, one of the most ambitious agriculture competitions on the continent which empowers and supports young professionals who are developing and deploying tech innovations that are reimagining farming and food production across the continent.

    “Since 2021, we have awarded up to US$1.5 million annually to our AYuTe Champions,” said Ayele. “Our support doesn’t end there. We also deploy a team of expert advisers-accomplished business veterans-to support AYuTe Africa Champions as they translate this funding into aggressive business expansion strategies. We believe innovative capital includes everything that helps these young agripreneurs innovate beyond their talent. It is a sum of the assets, tangible and intangible, that power them. It includes financing, networks and partnerships, human capacity, and mentorship”.

  • Heifer champions youth-led agritech solutions

    Heifer champions youth-led agritech solutions

    As part of its capacity-building initiatives, Heifer International, a leading global nonprofit is grooming innovators that would  create solutions to boost food production.

    Senior Vice President, Africa Programs, Heifer International, Adesuwa Ifedi said some of these solutions will be unveiling during this year’s AGRF Africa Food Systems Forum taking place next month in Tanzania.

    She said the organisation intends  to engage agriculture sector stakeholders to attract more  financial support for youth-led transformative solutions that  can improve African food systems.

    The AGRF 2023, taking place next month  in Dar es Salaam, is Africa’s leading venue for agriculture stakeholders to come together and agree on practical actions to transform food systems and end hunger.

     She stated that this year’s summit will convene more than 3000 attendees from over 70 countries.

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    According to her, more than 350 experts and policymakers will make presentations on ways that Africa can build back better food systems and strengthen the continent’s food sovereignty – with youth and women at the centre.

    “We believe that the gathering of vital stakeholders for Africa’s agricultural development at the AGRF 2023 is a critical opportunity to share our knowledge and experience in leveraging innovative funding and strategic partnerships to build more-resilient and sustainable food systems,” she stated.

     ”The summit also presents an exciting opportunity for us to show the critical role that young innovators and technology are playing in helping Africa’s smallholder farmers increase their productivity and incomes. While catalysing improvements across the agricultural value chain and improving food systems.”

    She said: “Heifer International will host a side event at the summit  that will bring together youth innovators, policymakers, experts in finance and technology, and other stakeholders to discuss leveraging innovative capital for youth in agriculture.

    A second Heifer-hosted event will be the Pitch AgriHack/AYuTe Showcase on promoting ICT innovation and entrepreneurship in agriculture by identifying and amplifying efforts of young innovators using technology to reimagine farming and food production across the continent.

    These events are aligned with the summit’s theme of Recover, Regenerate, Act: Africa’s Solutions to Food Systems Transformation,” focusing on building back better food systems and food sovereignty with youth and women at the centre.

    “Young Africans are not only the future of the continent’s agricultural transformation, but are leading present developmental efforts,” said Ifedi. “By leveraging innovative capital, young innovators are empowered to see agriculture as a viable career path and sector to scale tech products that build systems and markets. This leads to solutions that enable more productive market systems that transform our food systems, such as our AYuTe Africa Challenge program that focuses on creating opportunities for young African innovators to transform the agricultural landscape.”

     Heifer International has been working with farmers and communities in Africa for nearly 50 years to help them build resilient food systems that can withstand shocks and stresses.