Dr. Namanga Ngongi, President of AGRA 

at the   

Young People Farming and Food Conference   

March 19-21, 2012

Accra, Ghana

The Role of Young People in Africa’s Agricultural Revolution

o “A food secure and prosperous Africa through rapid smallholder agricultural growth and transformation”;

o An agricultural renaissance, a vision of a food secure and economically prosperous Africa;

o Marshaling the capacities of a new generation of agricultural professionals and entrepreneurs across the food/ agricultural value chain;

o Acknowledging the potential of young men and women as active agents in the transformation of Africa’s agriculture.

AGRA’s vision- Forward looking …

• Low education and literacy levels;

• Access to assets and financial resources;

• Access to extension and vocational training;

• Access to agricultural/rural markets;

• Exclusion in policy discussions and instituted policies.

Young people in the agri-economy: Obstacles and constraints

Training of a new generation of agricultural professionals

Practical hands-on skills

University of Ghana (WACCI students)

Moi University student on farm trials

Kwame Nkrumah students planting

Haramaya student in the laboratory

Working with Farmers

Moi University (Kenya) students and professors working with farmers

on farmers fields

Innovative approach to training and extension programs

3000 Extension Workers

200 Laboratory Technicians

+300 MSc

132 PhDs

+300 Seed entrepreneurs

Rural Agro Entrepreneurship – huge potential for young people

New dynamism in the private sector:Africa’s small and medium seed companies

Agro-Dealers Trained in Business Management

2007 2008 2009 2010 20110

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

331

2,634

7,601

9,339

13,859N

o. o

f Agr

o-De

aler

s Tra

ined

(Baseline)

Other opportunities for young professionals• Training, Capacity building and financing

in• Post –harvest processing including value

addition• Market information• Service provision- tractor ploughing,

spraying etc

– Excess liquidity exists in financial markets• Need to reduce risk of lending to agriculture, especially for young people• Need loan guarantees to leverage commercial banks• AGRA is spearheading successful risk sharing arrangements • to leverage financing for smallholder farmers and young entrepreneurs in

Africa

– Kenya: $50 million from the Equity Bank

– $100 million from Standard Bank (Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Ghana)

– Nigeria; $300 million for NISARL ($3 billion)

– Impact Investment funds– AGRA’s goal: leverage $

4 billion commercial financing for the agricultural sector

Innovative Financing Partnerships with Commercial Banks: $160 Million Leveraged into Agriculture

12

Kenya

Uganda

Tanzania

(Sta

nbic)

Moza

mbiq

ue

Ghana

Tanzania

(NM

B)0

5

10

15

20

25

30

AGRA Innovative Finance Loan volume (US$ m) (2011)

Cumulative volume of loans to farmers and SMEs under AGRA risk sharing facilities

39,238 SHFs

66,449 SHFs

72,053 SHFs

4,514 SHFs

24,848 SHFs 966 ADs