Very interesting piece over on the Agra website this morning (Agra is the Alliance for the Green Revolution in Africa) about “five lessons from the frontline of Africa’s green revolution.”

While that’s in fact a slightly misleading title in that it forces you to consider the existence or otherwise of an African Green Revolution (about which we’re sceptical), it’s a fascinating piece perhaps particularly for those planning or running community engagement programmes around sites in rural areas. Written by Agnes Kalibata, who as well as being current AGRA President is also the former Rwandan Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, it contains those rarest of things—simple, actionable ideas.

We urge you to read the full piece here—but in the meantime, here are those five lessons:

1.    Double down on creating the conditions for smallholder farmers to adopt new inputs and practices through raising awareness and access to finance.

 ‎2.    Think outside the bank to consider new ways to deliver financing to farmers.‎

3.    Develop structured and efficient grain markets that are accessible for smallholder farmers.

4.    Support efforts to match smallholder farmers with large-scale buyers.

5.    Support women in agriculture to reap a large dividend.‎

More here.

ENDS

https://www.agra.org/media-centre/news/five-lessons-from-the-frontlines-o...

IMAGE: from the Agra site