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Agritechnica 2023 to focus on green productivity


Green Productivity is the guiding theme of Agritechnica 2023, focusing on the challenges of modern crop farming: how can agriculture increase productivity while protecting the soil, climate and environment?

All leading agricultural technology companies will be represented at the world’s leading trade fair for agricultural machinery, 12-18 November, 2023, at the exhibition grounds in Hanover, Germany. Startup companies as well as specialized suppliers will also be taking advantage of the leading business platform to present their innovations.

Agritechnica’s exhibition program will be accompanied by a technical program that offers live events, demo shows and a new series of ‘expert stages’, exploring topics like smart spraying, smart and remote sensing, connectivity, autonomous farm equipment and alternative powertrain systems as well as how to achieve greater efficiency and resource conservation in the field through tires, ballasting and assistance systems.

Agritechnica’s partner events are Systems & Components, the B2B marketplace for the international supplier industry in the agricultural machinery and off-highway sector; the “Inhouse Farming – Feed & Food Show”, the new DLG platform for the agricultural and food systems of the future, with strong ties to farm practitioners.

“Agritechnica offers the most comprehensive and varied trade fair program for international arable and crop farming: from crop protection sprayers to drones, from tractors to autonomous equipment systems, from combine harvesters to digital assistance systems.

The exhibition presents not only established standards and applicable innovations for farming practicioners, but also visions for efficient and sustainable agriculture worldwide,” says Timo Zipf, Agritechnica Project Manager.

Feedback from the industry

“Our role is to give farmers the tools to improve the efficiency and productivity of farming while optimizing operational results. This is why we are always present at Agritechnica, to reaffirm our leading role on technology research and development.

Carlo Lambro, Brand President, New Holland Agriculture

We expect the world’s leading trade fair to provide answers to the question of how a seamless supply of food is possible in light of current events. With its innovative technological solutions, the agricultural machinery industry is making a significant contribution to this.

Under the motto of the next Agritechnica – Green productivity – inspiration and solutions – we look forward to presenting new products and solutions that support our customers in increasing productivity and conserving resources.
Tilmann Köller, Manager Public Communication, Fairs & Events John Deere

Our industry faces a very special challenge: developing technical solutions for farms looking for flexible and adaptable solutions to increasing weather extremes. Agritechnica’s main theme Green productivity could not express the current situation and challenge facing agriculture any better.

We would therefore also like to take advantage of the upcoming world fair for agricultural technology to present extensive machine innovations from Horsch and to seek intensive exchange with customers.

Michael Horsch, CEO, HORSCH Maschinen

“In Europe, the maximum yield of the plant will become much more important in the future as a leading parameter for increasing yields. Rauch technology enables fertilisation that is precise to the part area, which guarantees increasing fertiliser efficiency. In addition, our innovations stand for precise placement. This results in an increase in yield, cost savings and environmental protection.

In order to place these technologies more nationally and internationally, Agritechnica is the perfect communication platform and a must for every agricultural machinery manufacturer.”

Martin Rauch, CEO, RAUCH Landmaschinenfabrik

“It is our task as a manufacturer of agricultural machinery to provide farmers with good process solutions with which they can position themselves for the future. We need efficiency-enhancing technologies as well as an improvement in machine intelligence up to autonomously operating units. Agritechnica offers us a unique opportunity to present our innovations and visions for better agriculture to international trade visitors and to exchange ideas with them.”

Nicola Lemken, shareholder and member of the management at Lemken

“The core objective for agriculture and thus also for Amazone is to create a high yield level per hectare of land with sustainable methods. Amazone would like to help our farmers and contractors with innovative solutions to further orient themselves in a future-oriented and sustainable way.

The world’s leading trade fair Agritechnica therefore offers the perfect international platform for us to personally exchange with our customers about their individual requirements and to present many Amazone innovations for intelligent crop production.”
Christian Dreyer, Chairman of the Management Board and co-owner of the Amazone Group.

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AgroFood 2023,14th – 15th July 2023

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Agriculture is the foundation of all other industries and it embraces the resources available on earth while strengthening human kind.

It is an essential constituent of the journey toward prosperity and characterized by an integration of interconnected processes that enable food production and assurance of survival.

However, in the present context agricultural production has depleted causing a significant threat to food and nutrition security, food quality and safety, and many related aspects. Therefore the need of reorganizing and revamping the entire global food system has gained much significance among the measures that lead to sustainability.

The 4th International Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Food Safety, AgroFood 2023, hosted by iConferences will be organized with the prime objective of assisting the aforementioned attempt by facilitating fruitful discussions and resourceful research collaborations.

Delivering a premium conference experience, the AgroFood 2023 will be held as a hybrid (Online and In-person) conference on 14th – 15th July 2023 based in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Enabling networking among research enthusiasts from all around the world, AgroFood 2023 will contribute in unique ways to sustain the global food system immensely.

What are Areas of Discussion?

“Agriculture Conferences 2023”
  • Agricultural Waste Management
  • Agroindustry
  • Aquaculture and Farming Systems
  • Food Security and Environmental Impacts
  • Crop Postharvest, Managing and Packaging Technologies
  • Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security
  • Climate and Climatic Changes and the Effects on Agriculture and Aquaculture

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Strong exhibitor demand for Agritechnica 2023

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Agritechnica 2023, taking place 12-18 November 2023, in Hanover, Germany, already promises a strong exhibitor participation from Germany and abroad.

Following the stand booking deadline for the world’s leading trade fair for agricultural machinery, the organizer DLG (German Agricultural Society) announced that 2,000 exhibitors from 49 countries have signed up. All leading agricultural machinery companies will be represented.

High numbers of exhibitors have also been registered for the parallel exhibition, Systems & Components, the B2B marketplace for the international agricultural machinery supplier industry of the entire off-highway sector.

“Today some nine months before the start of the exhibition, the number of registrations so far impressively reflects the outstanding position of Agritechnica for the international agricultural machinery sector and its suppliers,” says Timo Zipf, project manager for Agritechnica.

“As the world’s largest trade fair in the industry, Agritechnica is not only the leading international business platform, but also a forum for the worldwide professional exchange of future-oriented crop production,” he added.

“Green Productivity” is the guiding theme of Agritechnica 2023, focusing on the challenges of modern crop farming: how can agriculture increase productivity while protecting the soil, climate and environment?

Agritechnica’s exhibition program will be accompanied by a technical program that offers live events, demo shows and a new series of  ‘expert stages’, a platform exploring topics like smart spraying, smart and remote sensing, connectivity, autonomous farm equipment and alternative powertrain systems as well as how to achieve greater efficiency and resource conservation in the field through tires, ballasting and assistance systems.

Agritechnica’s partner events are: Systems & Components, the B2B marketplace for the international supplier industry in the agricultural machinery and off-highway sector; the “Inhouse Farming – Feed & Food Show”, the new DLG platform for the agricultural and food systems of the future, with strong ties to farm practitioners.

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Apollo Tyres receives ISO certification for sustainable procurement

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Apollo Tyres’ raw material procurement process was successfully validated by a third party recently for ISO 20400:2017 Sustainable Procurement standard.

Apollo Tyres is the first company in the automotive sector in India to get ISO 20400.

Commenting on this, Sunam Sarkar, President and Chief Business Officer, Apollo Tyres said “Sustainability being one of the key enablers of our Vision 2026, this is an important milestone in that journey.

I would like to commend the Corporate Procurement and Sustainability Teams on achieving this within a short span of time. We believe that this is a great first step, and we intend to carry forward the rigor in alignment with our Sustainability Goals.”

ISO 20400:2017 provides guidance to organisations, independent of their activity or size, on integrating sustainability within procurement, as described in ISO 26000. It is intended for stakeholders involved in, or impacted by, procurement decisions or processes.

The Company’s procurement team has undertaken a rigorous process to realign the existing practices, including the strategies, policies and processes, to embed the sustainable procurement elements.

The validation exercise that started in August 2022, is a culmination of 3-stage rigorous assessments — initial, intermediate, and final — by TUV SUD auditors through onsite visits and virtual engagements with the relevant stakeholders.

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Apollo develops tyres with 75% Sustainable Materials

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Apollo Tyres, the leading tyre manufacturer, has developed tyres with 75% sustainable materials. This is aligned with Apollo Tyres’ sustainability roadmap of increasing the usage of sustainable raw material to 40% by 2030.

The concept Agriculture tyres containing 75% sustainable materials, has 9 featured compounding ingredients in different components of the tyres. This includes recycled rubber, sustainable carbon black from end-of-life tyres, bio-based oil, recycled nylon and the bead wire processed with higher recycled content.

The concept tyres have been made using sustainable natural rubber, sourced from suppliers who have public commitments to sourcing and/or traceable to plantation, in accordance with the company’s sustainable natural rubber policy.

Speaking on the concept tyres, P K Mohamed, Chief Advisor, R&D, Apollo Tyres Ltd, said “This is a big milestone in the sustainability journey of Apollo Tyres.

Being the early movers in this space, especially in India, and with investments in R&D and Manufacturing towards achieving the 40% sustainable material target by 2030, we have been able to develop this tyre with 75% sustainable materials, which is now being tested extensively before being commercialised.”

This concept Agri tyre was manufactured at Apollo Tyres’ Perambra plant in Kerala, in the southern part of the country, which happens to be company’s first manufacturing facility.

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Prioritise tackling toxic emissions from tyres, urge Imperial experts


Imperial experts are calling for more to be done to limit the potentially harmful impact of toxic tyre particles on health and the environment.

The researchers, from Imperial College London’s Transition to Zero Pollution initiative, warn that even though electric vehicles remove the problem of fuel emissions, we will continue to have a problem with particulate matter because of tyre wear.

Tyre wear particles pollute the environment, the air we breathe, the water run-off from roads and has compounding effects on waterways and agriculture

-Dr Zhengchu TanDepartment of Mechanical Engineering-

 

Six million tonnes of tyre wear particles are released globally each year, and in London alone, 2.6 million vehicles emit around nine thousand tonnes of tyre wear particles annually.

Despite this, research on the environmental and health impacts of tyre wear has been neglected in comparison to the research and innovations dedicated to tackling fuel emissions. The Imperial researchers say that the effect of new technologies on the generation and impact of tyre wear should be a priority.

In a new briefing paper, a multidisciplinary group of Imperial experts including engineers, ecologists, medics, and air quality analysts have called for as much investment into tyre wear research as there is for reducing fuel emissions – and for understanding their interactions.

Lead author Dr Zhengchu Tan, of Imperial’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, said: “Tyre wear particles pollute the environment, the air we breathe, the water run-off from roads and has compounding effects on waterways and agriculture. Even if all our vehicles eventually become powered by electricity instead of fossil fuels, we will still have harmful pollution from vehicles because of tyre wear.

“We urge policymakers and scientists to embark on ambitious research into tyre wear pollution to fully understand and reduce their impacts on biodiversity and health, as well as research to reduce the generation of these particles.”

 

Tyre wear particles pollute the environment, the air we breathe, the water run-off from roads and has compounding effects on waterways and agriculture

Dr Zhengchu TanDepartment of Mechanical Engineering

Transition to Zero Pollution is an Imperial initiative which aims to build new partnerships between research, industry, and government to help realise a sustainable zero pollution future.

Professor Mary Ryan, Vice Provost (Research and Enterprise) at Imperial and a co-author on the briefing paper, said: “Safeguarding our planet and the health of future generations requires us to look not just at a problem from a single perspective, but to take a systems level approach. That’s why we need to look beyond just carbon and to consider human-made pollution in all its forms.

“Electric vehicles are a crucial step forward to decarbonise transport, but we need to look at the big picture too. Some are concerned that electric vehicles tend to be heavier, which might increase tyre wear. This is exactly why Imperial College London is driving a holistic, joined-up approach to sustainability challenges.

“We will continue to leverage the full strength of our research and influence to find meaningful solutions and help realise a sustainable, zero pollution future.”

In the briefing paper, the researchers discuss how tyre wear leads to these particles, where the particles end up, their potential effects on people and planet, and why we must act now.

Tyre wear particles

We are growing increasingly concerned by the impact of tyre wear on human health.Professor Terry TetleyNational Heart and Lung Institute

As tyres break down they release a range of particles, from visible pieces of tyre rubber to nanoparticles. Large particles are carried from the road by rain into rivers, where they may leach toxic chemicals into the environment, whilst smaller particles become airborne and breathed in. They are small enough to reach into the deep lung.

These particles may contain a range of toxic chemicals including polyaromatic hydrocarbons, benzothiazoles, isoprene, and heavy metals like zinc and lead.

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS

Particulate matter from tyre wear is a significant source of ‘microplastics’ in rivers and oceans, and tyre wear in cities could pose up to a four-fold greater risk to the environment than other microplastics.

Tyre waste does not naturally degrade and instead builds up in the environment

Dr Will PearseDepartment of Life Sciences

While existing technological interventions, such as filters, and environmental policies could help to control our ecological footprint, there are huge gaps in our knowledge, understanding, and ability to forecast the impacts of tyre wear pollution.

Co-author Dr Will Pearse, from Imperial’s Department of Life Sciences, said: “Tyre waste does not naturally degrade and instead builds up in the environment, and may interact with other pollutants as well as biological organisms.

“Our gaps in understanding make further research and development of new solutions vital so we can limit all types of vehicular pollution.”

HEALTH EFFECTS

The impact of tyre wear particles on human health is an increasing cause for concern, and the full long-term effects on our health urgently require more research.

There is emerging evidence that tyre wear particles and other particulate matter may contribute to a range of negative health impacts including heart, lung, developmental, reproductive, and cancer outcomes.

Co-author Professor Terry Tetley of Imperial’s National Heart and Lung Institute said: “We are growing increasingly concerned by the impact of tyre wear on human health. As some of these particles are so small they can be carried in the air, it’s possible that simply walking on the pavement could expose us to this type of pollution.

“It is essential that we better understand the effect of these particles on our health.”

Shifting gear

The researchers argue that reducing tyre pollution should be seen as a critical part of making transport cleaner and more sustainable, alongside reductions in CO2 and other exhaust emissions. In tackling the climate crisis, we should design better systems and technologies to protect the environment; and research funding, government policy and regulatory frameworks should reflect this.

The report authors call for policymakers and scientists to investigate the complex problems related to tyre-wear pollution, from the basics of wear-particle production, to understanding how these particles affect the health of people and the planet. Potential innovation solutions include particle capture technologies, new advanced materials, and disruptive business models that encourage different transport choices. These need to be coupled to clear policy and regulation and to a broader discussion around urban transport systems.

The research efforts, they say, should include the following:

  • Establishing standardised ways of measuring environmental tyre wear levels and their toxicity.
  • Reducing harm to land and water species and in humans by tightening limits on the use of harmful components in tyre materials.
  • Launching new trials to better understand the short and long-term effects of different sized particles on the environment and human health.
  • Efforts to better understand underlying wear mechanisms and to propose wear mitigation strategies such as reducing vehicle weight, using advanced driving techniques, and ensuring tyre materials pass wear resistance regulations.

Read the full report here.

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LEMKEN invests in artificial intelligence


Modern image recognition is becoming more and more prevalent in agriculture and enables at least partially autonomous machine use in many fields.

However, this requires powerful cameras or sensors combined with intelligent algorithms.

With its IC-Weeder AI, LEMKEN has already launched a hoeing machine which reliably distinguishes between sugar beets and weeds, even under high weed pressure. The relevant software was developed by the Dutch AgTech specialist Track32, in which LEMKEN has now acquired a holding. LEMKEN is therefore seizing the opportunity to develop technologies of the future in-house in collaboration with a competent partner.

Intensive cooperation for future technology

The intensive cooperation with Track32, a company based in Ede (Netherlands), has already proven highly successful in the development of camera-controlled hoeing machines.

The investment will accelerate the development of smart technologies and ensures continuity. For Track32, our cooperation delivers planning security and great potential for growth.

Anthony van der Ley, CEO LEMKEN

Track 32’s founder Joris IJsselmuiden explains: “As a company that specialises in software and artificial intelligence, we also develop solutions for arable farming and greenhouse processes. With LEMKEN as an investor and client, we will be able to concentrate even more on the further development of our software and will benefit from closer proximity to end customers.”

 

Sustainable through machine intelligence and precision

For LEMKEN, this investment also offers additional benefits besides great market potential, namely in terms of sustainability: the agricultural machinery specialist is confident that machines equipped with this technology will make a major contribution to regenerative agriculture.

Track32’s expertise will allow LEMKEN implements to be used even more precisely and in more versatile ways, so that intelligent machines can be controlled not only by human operators, but also by robots, for example. LEMKEN and Track32 are currently collaborating on a number of joint projects to achieve this objective.

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Lemken’s new transport carriage for large furrow presses


When ploughing, furrow presses are mainly used if there is not enough time for the soil to settle gradually and tilth to form naturally.

Furrow presses immediately restore capillary action and therefore retain moisture in the soil.

LEMKEN, the plough specialist, is now introducing a new trailer for its proven VarioPack furrow press, which allows even large furrow presses used with six-furrow or larger mounted and semi-mounted ploughs to be easily transported by road.

Fast and manoeuvrable on the road

The VarioPack with trailer is coupled to the tractor via a cross shaft and with a transport width of 2.8 metres even narrow field tracks pose no problem. As the trailer is EU-approved for speeds of up to 40 km/h, VarioPack presses can now quickly and easily be transported to the field.

Optimally adjustable

The implement is switched hydraulically from its transport to its working position from the cab. The arms of the VarioPack can be adjusted vertically, laterally and in length, allowing them to be optimally adapted to any given conditions. This ensures reliable capture even on slopes, and the furrow press can be run close to the plough to minimise side draft.

The trailer is available for large VarioPack double furrow presses with 70 or 90 cm rings.

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Third African Congress on Conservation Agriculture (3ACCA)


The Third African Congress on Conservation Agriculture (3ACCA) is coming against the backdrop of a new wave in Africa to transform agriculture to be more sustainable and climate resilient.

The strategic purpose of the 3ACCA initiative is to facilitate diverse and open sharing of experiences and information on Conservation Agriculture (CA) and Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (SAM) thereby fostering learning and widespread awareness and interest in the uptake and spread of CA and SAM. The main theme of the congress is “Building a Resilient Future in Africa through Conservation Agriculture and Sustainable Mechanization.”

The Africa Congress is jointly organized by African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT), Kingdom of Morocco, the African Union Commission, the NEPAD Agency, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the UN, INRA Morocco and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), in collaboration with the Hassan II Agronomic and Veterinary Institute (IAVH2), Moroccan Association of Conservation Agriculture (AMAC), the National School of Agriculture of Meknes (ENAM) and other classified Sponsors.

It’s objective is to bring together and enable experts, practitioners, and policy makers across different sectors and interest groups at all levels of agriculture development from the public, private and civil society sectors to share and exchange information and knowledge about best practices that expand the Africa-wide adoption of Conservation Agriculture (CA) and Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (SAM) as a basis for building resilience to climate change amid the increasing food and energy prices and disruptions in distribution systems.

The diversity of expert knowledge, information, and insights as well as stakeholders that will be brought at the congress is essential to enable the desired multi-disciplinary and cross-sectoral development of CA and SAM as core production components of climate-smart agriculture.

This will further sustained mobilization of policy, institutional and community support to accelerate the widespread adoption and management of CA and SAM as core elements of the expanding climate-smart food and agriculture systems in Africa. This is in line with the Malabo Declaration, AU’s Agenda 2063 and the SDGs.

The 3ACCA initiative provides a platform to facilitate diverse and open sharing of experiences and information on CA and SAM thereby fostering learning and widespread awareness and interest in the uptake and spread of CA and appropriate SAM.

This includes CA and SAM’s roles in: enhancing sustainable agricultural productivity, strengthening environmental and social resilience, and fostering efforts to provide food and nutrition security as well as jobs and economic opportunities, especially for rural communities, including youth and women.

The 3ACCA initiative provides “neutral space” for networking, collaboration and partnership to support the scaling-up of CA systems and SAM-based technologies as the sustainable basis for CSA development across Africa.

Therefore, this congress seeks to facilitate the development of a more effective and coherent action plan geared towards;

  • Helping the most vulnerable populations cope with the devastating impacts of climate change.
  • Furnishing African countries with strategies to increase agricultural productivity in the implementation of the Malabo Declaration’s Vision 25 x 25 and the Agenda 2063.
  • Consolidating the African position on CA and SAM and enhancing effective participation at the 9th World Congress on Conservation Agriculture (9WCCA) to be held in South Africa in July 2024.

Date:

June 5-8 2023

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Revitalizing African agriculture: Time for bold action


The high cost of nutritious food imposes a heavy burden on vulnerable households across the world, with African nations, especially the 33 least developed countries on the continent, hit the hardest.

The war in Ukraine is a key factor driving the recent skyrocketing of prices of staple foods like wheat, maize and barley. But food prices were already steadily increasing over the past 18 months due strong import demand and tightening export stocks, as a result of droughts in 2021.

Across Africa, the number of people experiencing food insecurity at a moderate or severe level increased from 512 million in 2014 to 794.7 million people in 2021 – nearly 60% of the continent’s population. Troublingly, at this pace, Africa is not on track to meet the food security and nutrition targets of Sustainable Development Goal 2.

Global challenges to moving affordable food, fertilizer and fuel are compounding with ongoing conflict in the region and drought. This puts pressure on already fragile livelihoods across the continent and raises the risk of additional population displacement due to lack of food.

Protectionism and trade disruption is hitting imports

For African countries, most of which are net food importers, food security is largely dependent on global markets. At least 82% of Africa’s basic food imports come from outside the continent. In Eastern Africa, 84% of wheat demand is met by imports.

Fertilizer prices have also more than tripled since January 2020, putting a strain on farmers across the continent. In Kenya, for example, rising fertilizer costs caused many farmers to abandon its use, until the government introduced a significant subsidy.

The closure of key trade routes, including the Black Sea, has dampened access to food staples and fertilizer. Furthermore, as global supplies become limited, traders are likely to favour larger markets, threatening access to smaller farms across the continent, which are nevertheless responsible for 70% of African food production.

Vulnerable populations, vulnerable land tenure

Despite the extremely challenging global context, homegrown challenges exacerbate Africa’s food security crisis. Africa is not realizing its own potential to feed itself.

In 2021, 52% of employed people in Sub-Saharan Africa were active in agriculture, and roughly 45% of the world’s area suitable for sustainable agriculture production expansion is located in Africa, but the lowest agriculture productivity per worker rates are found within the continent.

With production processes unchanged for many decades, most of African agriculture is still characterized by the farming of cash crops for export. For example, 14.8% of Côte d’Ivoire’s land is used for cocoa production.

While the world is reliant on Côte d’Ivoire’s cocoa, which makes up 40% of global supply, the country reaps few benefits. The labour-intensive agriculture leads to minimal investment, and most of the 5 million people, approximately 20% of the population, who depend on cocoa farming for their livelihoods remain in chronic poverty.

As Côte d’Ivoire dropped the farmgate price of cocoa by 17.5% last year, the disparity caused by rising food prices will intensify food insecurity across the nation.

Another concern is that huge swathes of land are subject to long-term leases by foreign nations and private companies for the extraction of resources and the production of agricultural goods for export.

While the scale of these land deals is unknown and reports vary, there is evidence for alarm (see the figure below). Large-scale land deals in Africa totalled 22 million hectares from 2005 to 2017 and are likely rising.

Increased demand for agrofuels over the past two decades has added fuel to the fire. Despite arguments from foreign firms that long-term land leases can contribute to local development, case studies from MozambiqueGhana and Madagascar have shown otherwise.

Agrofuel plantations displace communities, disrupt livelihoods, make minimal contributions to employment, exacerbate rural poverty and worsen environmental conditions through practices like deforestation.

These long-term land deals simultaneously take away the potential for local communities to use their land for productive purposes aligned with their own development visions.

In the absence of strong property rights and resource governance systems, commercial investments in agriculture can lead to displacement, loss of livelihoods and loss of access and tenure rights to land for the local population.

When land and other governance systems effectively protect these rights, the private sector, including smallholder farmers, can better allocate resources and make forward-looking investments in capital and other inputs, motivated by the promise of future returns.

Taking stock of efforts to transform Africa’s agricultural sector

The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) is Africa’s policy framework for agricultural transformation. Created in Maputo, Mozambique in 2003, commitments to prioritize food security and nutrition, economic growth and prosperity in Africa were further strengthened in the 2014 Malabo Declaration.

The commitments were reinforced through the development of Africa’s common position on food systems, to help deliver on targets of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals. Despite featuring across Africa’s development agenda, and the African Union dubbing 2022 as the “Year of Nutrition”, the continent’s performance remains subdued.

It was in Malabo that African countries adopted a resolution to commit at least 10% of their annual public budget to agriculture and rural development and to achieve agricultural value-added growth rates of at least 6% per annum.

A cornerstone of this ambition was the implementation of national agriculture investment plans (NAIPs) – country specific visions and strategies to put the CAADP agenda into practice. At the same time, AU heads of state and government committed to ending hunger by 2025 and resolved to halve the current levels of post-harvest losses by the same year.

In 2020, only four countries – Lesotho, Malawi, Ethiopia and Benin – had government expenditures in agriculture that met or exceeded the target of 10% of annual public expenditures.

Africa-wide, just 2.1% of public budget expenditures were dedicated to agricultural spending. Similarly in 2020, only eight countries met the 6% agricultural value-added growth rate target – Lesotho, Zambia, South Africa, Senegal, Ghana, Angola, Kenya and Guinea.

Africa-wide, the growth rate for agricultural value added was just 2.6% in 2020 (see the figure below). Overall, of the 51 member states that reported progress in implementing the Malabo Declaration during the 2021 biennial review cycle, only one country – Rwanda – is on track towards achieving the CAADP Malabo commitments by 2025.

Africa must act now

Increasing food insecurity across the continent comes with severe consequences for development, threatening the livelihoods of millions and making it extremely difficult to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

It’s crucial for African governments and their development partners to seek solutions to weather the current crisis and address the deeper causes of food vulnerability across the continent.

This includes boosting efforts to meet the goals and targets of CAADP. Moreover, they need to shore up domestic production and regional trade, provide assistance and guidance on how to adapt to climate change, and ensure local resources serve local needs.

At the same time Africa’s trading partners should be aware of the crucial role they play in ensuring food security and avoid export bans.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) can help enhance agricultural trade and food security. The implementation of the AfCFTA, alongside targeted policies to boost industrialization and bolster the agro-industry in Africa, can spur the creation of much-needed jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities for local populations.

The private sector also has a compelling role to support agricultural trade, technology uptake and investment.

Also, there is a need to modernize countries’ agricultural strategies to generate new skills and technologies to enhance productivity and support agricultural workers. This includes supporting seed investments, opening new linkages with local producers and brokering collaboration between governments, international and domestic agriculture companies and smallholder farmers in Africa.

Modernization of Africa’s agricultural sector also requires concerted efforts to increase the value-added content of production. To achieve this, countries must prioritize the development of productive capacities.

Paul Akiwumi is Director for Africa and Least Developed Countries, UNCTAD

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