AgriProFocus

As a result of a parliamentary debate on April 16, 2020, the Dutch government has asked the Advisory Council on International Affairs to urgently draw recommendations on the role of the Netherlands in combating and mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 crisis in developing countries. Members of the AgriProFocus Food Security Policy Coalition, including HIVOS, »

Dairy Development and intensification contributes to healthy food, gainful employment and sustaining the agro-ecological base, stated Jan van der Lee during his key note speech at the Dairy event in Veenendaal on November 27. A total of 89 participants joined the workshop on “Dairy Development in emerging economies: A motor for sustainable and healthy growth?” to discuss needs, challenges and opportunities of dairy development in emerging economies. The input gathered during the meeting will enrich the draft Dairy Discussion paper and the proposed Dutch agenda for dairy and development. »

The annual African Dairy Conference & Exhibition (AfDa) is the key event for the dairy industry in East Africa. The day before this event, a coalition of NEADAP, AgriProFocus, 3R and F&BKP co-organized a joint knowledge sharing event “Dairy, the motor for healthy growth”. To prepare this meeting they held “Dairy dialogues” in four countries. During the AfDa expo, they invited other Dutch actors to their “Dairy knowledge corner”. »

The initiative Valuable Vegetables started early April 2019 with an expert meeting in The Hague. Dutch horticulture experts provided input for the agenda of the envisaged multi-stakeholder learning loops, which have the aim to improve practices and policies in the international horticultural sector, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). A summary with outcomes of the meeting is now published online. »

Climate change is and will continue to be a major challenge for East and Southern African horticulture. Its effects on horticulture are lower water availability, lower soil health, higher disease pressure and planning disruptions. With support of the Food & Business Knowledge Platform, AgriProFocus and Verbos Business Development carried out a scoping study of business drivers for Climate Smart Horticulture in Kenya, Zambia and Tanzania. »

In many continents, young people represent a promising, yet untapped potential for disruptive innovation for transforming food systems. Though, many young people struggle to make the transition from education to work to become financially independent. In the fifth CoP Youth meet-up on January 23, CTA and WUR presented a comprehensive framework and brief on supply and demand factors impacting youth employment & entrepreneurship. »

What is the relation between youth employment and education in agriculture and migration? And how should organizations working to improve food security via employment and education programs relate to the political agenda of mitigating (international) migration? These were questions discussed in another Community of Practice Youth in food systems Meet-up on September 11, 2018. »

On May 22, 2018, a CoP meetup around youth in agribusiness and food systems was facilitated by AgriProFocus and F&BKP. The objective of the CoP is to share recent work on youth in food systems, provide feedback on each other’s work, identify knowledge questions and ideas for joint action, find innovative solutions for urgent issues, and to get to know other stakeholders working in this field as well as inspiration for collaboration. »

AgriProFocus, in collaboration with F&BKP, hosted the first Community of Practice on Youth in Agribusiness on September 5, 2017. Objective of the CoP is to share recent work of members , provide feedback, identify knowledge questions and ideas for joint action, find innovative solutions for urgent issues and inspiration for collaboration. »

“Together we can ensure that food and food security remain on the agenda of the next cabinet.” This is the main message of the manifest AgriProFocus has drafted to be handed to the negotiators of the new cabinet at the end of June. Until June 26, 2017, organizations can sign the manifest by sending an email to AgriProFocus. »

Many policies and programs are being implemented that should bring youth back to work in agriculture, but they are often underpinned by assumptions that could undermine the effective augmentation of food security and employment. To start the discussion by shedding some light on the do’s and don’ts when working with youth, we organized two meetings on youth inclusiveness in agricultural transformation. »

Africa’s rapid population growth of youth is increasingly becoming a key priority on the development agenda. Looking at the cases of Mali, Kenya and Ghana, a quick scan study of the F&BKP, INCLUDE and AgriProFocus provides some new insights into the challenges of the agricultural sector, food security and youth unemployment. »

Last July, the Netherlands Platform for Inclusive Finance (NpM), together with AgriProFocus and funded by the Food & Business Knowledge Platform (F&BKP), organized three expert meetings in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. The aim of these meetings was to share the enormous wealth of knowledge from the research “Finance for Smallholders: Opportunities for risk management by linking »

After three successful expert meetings last year, firstly in Rwanda on January 24, then in Burundi on February 12 and later in Ethiopia on April 28, the Dutch Platform for Inclusive Finance (NpM), AgriProFocus and the Food and Business Knowledge Platform (F&BKP) have organized another series of expert meetings on their research, “Finance for Smallholders”. »

On May 12, the F&BKP and the AgriProFocus network used their complementary strengths to organize a meeting on youth in agriculture to facilitate alignment and coherence in concrete activities of different stakeholders in this field, and to identify possible knowledge questions. »

Kenya’s first Extensive Livestock Expo was held in Nairobi in November 2015. Themed ‘Herding for Markets’, the Expo brought together local, regional and international livestock producers and policy makers, financiers, buyers and other livestock value chain actors. It attracted 1200 delegates, 75 exhibitors and 10,000 livestock producers from various parts of the country. The Expo »

On December 9, a seminar was held at CDI Wageningen on the topic of youth in agriculture. This item describes the results of the debates and highlights potential knowledge questions and activities that could emerge around the topic. »

From November 25 to 27, a big regional horticulture event took place in Kigali consisting of a three-day horticultural exhibition at the PSF Expo Grounds, combined with a two-day conference about Innovation and Trade in Horticulture. A Business Innovation Competition took place during the event as well. »

Over the past three years the Kenyan Horticulture and Food Security Program (HFSP) has aimed to provide smallholder farmers access to quality seeds, to offer training in good agricultural practices and to improve linkages to markets. ‘The program has helped farmers to come and work together; we can now control the prices as well as »