NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), John Deere Africa Middle East, and Mascor have launched a business plan writing competition for youth SME groups in Kenya for a chance to win a tractor.
The competition runs until March 31, 2022 and is open to groups that have been operating in the agriculture sector for the last three years, and whose members are aged between 18 and 35 years old.
Each participating group will be required to write a business plan for running and managing a mechanisation service provision business. The winning plan will be awarded the John Deere tractor (50 horsepower, 5050D TWD) to start the business.
John Macharia, AGRA’s Kenya Country Manager said the competition will offer youth in the country an opportunity to start a business with a catalysing tool for agricultural development.
“We are supporting youth groups in Kenya to build a business from mechanising farming operations. Whereas it is vital for development of agriculture in Africa, we have the least
mechanised solutions compared to the rest of the world. This has been driven by lack of tractors and implements where and when needed,” added Macharia said.
Despite early gains, the uptake of tractors in the region has not kept pace with demand. In 1960,Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania had more tractors in use than India but by 2005 India had 100 times more tractors in use.
“Access to finance is probably the biggest obstacle to African smallholder farmers interested in adopting mechanised farming solutions to boost productivity. The profits they typically earn are insufficient to purchase tractors directly or even access a financing facility,” added Mr Macharia.
Mascor, the John Deere dealer in Kenya, will support the competition winner with Aftermarket services, parts and more.
The joint competition follows a recent partnership between AGRA and John Deere to support successful mechanisation service providers based on the John Deere S.M.A.R.T Model.
AGRA supports small and medium-sized enterprises in business skills and financial management for growth, whilst John Deere, through its dealer network offers support with training operators, technician development, after-sales services, and financing equipment through John Deere Financial.
How to enter
Business plans can be submitted here: https://agra.org/win-a-john-deere-tractor
The full eligibility criteria, business plan format and terms and conditions can be found here: https://agra.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/John-Deere-Criteria-and-TsCs.pdf
NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Ministers of environment and other representatives from over 150 nations convened today in Nairobi to launch the three-day hybrid (in-person and online) resumed fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2).
Amid concern over intensifying hostilities in Ukraine and a call by the UN Secretary-General for an immediate ceasefire, the Assembly kicked off with high hopes to advance a global agreement on plastic pollution, among a series of draft resolutions on biodiversity and health, green economy, and circularity.
“Our Assembly gathers at a moment of severe geopolitical turmoil. More than ever, we must demonstrate that multilateral diplomacy can deliver,” said the President of UNEA-5 and Norway’s Minister for Climate and the Environment, Espen Barth Eide. “Plastic pollution has grown into an epidemic of its own. Paradoxically, plastics are among the most long-lasting products we humans have made – and frequently, we still just throw it away. Plastic is a product that can used again, and then over and over again, if we move it into a circular economy. I am convinced that the time has come for a legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution.”
Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), said: “Over the last week, we have seen tremendous progress on negotiations towards an internationally legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution. I have complete faith that once endorsed by the Assembly, we will have something truly historic on our hands”.
“Ambitious action to beat plastic pollution should track the lifespan of plastic products – from source to sea – should be legally binding, accompanied by support to developing countries, backed by financing mechanisms, tracked by strong monitoring mechanisms, and incentivizing all stakeholders – including the private sector”, Ms. Andersen added.
The resolution on plastic pollution, as well as the other pressing environmental issues, will be formally decided by Member States in the closing plenary meeting of the Assembly on Wednesday, 2 February 2022.
The UN Environment Assembly meets biennially to set priorities for global environmental policies and develop international environmental law; decisions and resolutions then taken by Member States at the Assembly also define the work of UNEP. Due to the pandemic, Member States agreed on a two-step approach to UNEA-5: an online session (22-23 February 2021) and an in-person meeting which takes place between 28 February and 2 March 2022.
Attended by over 3,400 in-person and 1,500 online participants from 175 UN Member States, 79 ministers and 17 high-level officials, the theme for UNEA-5 is “Strengthening Actions for Nature to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals”. This highlights the pivotal role nature plays in our lives and in social, economic and environmental sustainable development.
The Assembly will be followed by “UNEP@50,” a two-day Special Session of the Assembly marking UNEP’s 50th anniversary where Member States are expected to address how to build a resilient and inclusive post-pandemic world.
NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Ministers of environment and other representatives from over 150 nations convened today in Nairobi to launch the three-day hybrid (in-person and online) resumed fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2).
Amid concern over intensifying hostilities in Ukraine and a call by the UN Secretary-General for an immediate ceasefire, the Assembly kicked off with high hopes to advance a global agreement on plastic pollution, among a series of draft resolutions on biodiversity and health, green economy, and circularity.
“Our Assembly gathers at a moment of severe geopolitical turmoil. More than ever, we must demonstrate that multilateral diplomacy can deliver,” said the President of UNEA-5 and Norway’s Minister for Climate and the Environment, Espen Barth Eide. “Plastic pollution has grown into an epidemic of its own. Paradoxically, plastics are among the most long-lasting products we humans have made – and frequently, we still just throw it away. Plastic is a product that can used again, and then over and over again, if we move it into a circular economy. I am convinced that the time has come for a legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution.”
Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), said: “Over the last week, we have seen tremendous progress on negotiations towards an internationally legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution. I have complete faith that once endorsed by the Assembly, we will have something truly historic on our hands”.
“Ambitious action to beat plastic pollution should track the lifespan of plastic products – from source to sea – should be legally binding, accompanied by support to developing countries, backed by financing mechanisms, tracked by strong monitoring mechanisms, and incentivizing all stakeholders – including the private sector”, Ms. Andersen added.
The resolution on plastic pollution, as well as the other pressing environmental issues, will be formally decided by Member States in the closing plenary meeting of the Assembly on Wednesday, 2 February 2022.
The UN Environment Assembly meets biennially to set priorities for global environmental policies and develop international environmental law; decisions and resolutions then taken by Member States at the Assembly also define the work of UNEP. Due to the pandemic, Member States agreed on a two-step approach to UNEA-5: an online session (22-23 February 2021) and an in-person meeting which takes place between 28 February and 2 March 2022.
Attended by over 3,400 in-person and 1,500 online participants from 175 UN Member States, 79 ministers and 17 high-level officials, the theme for UNEA-5 is “Strengthening Actions for Nature to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals”. This highlights the pivotal role nature plays in our lives and in social, economic and environmental sustainable development.
The Assembly will be followed by “UNEP@50,” a two-day Special Session of the Assembly marking UNEP’s 50th anniversary where Member States are expected to address how to build a resilient and inclusive post-pandemic world.
NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - The 2021 Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) hosted by President Uhuru Kenyatta and attended by five other African heads of states ended September 10 with a conclusion that Africa is way off the track towards zero hunger by 2030, and therefore, there is need to change the way of farming, and the way countries look at the agriculture and food sector.
Agriculture, said Lionel Zinsou former Prime Minister of Benin, is the backbone of most of the economies on the continent, “and yet it has been neglected,” he said.
Addressing over 8,000 AGRF participants including government officials, development partners, research scientists, members of the civil society, farmers and the private sector, Zinsou observed that there is an urgent need for African countries to reconsider investment in Agriculture, “if we must get back on track and address the problem of food and nutrition security by 2030.”
Referring to his country Benin, the former Prime Minister said: “We can’t have agriculture contributing 27 percent to the GDP of a country, employing 50 percent of the population, but with credit share of just two percent.”
Benin’s situation is not very different from Kenya. During the financial year 2021/2022, the government allocated 2.4 percent of the total budget to agriculture to be administered by the central government, a sector that contributes 34 percent to the country’s GDP, and employs in excess of 40 percent of the total population and 70 percent of the rural population.
“These figures must change,” said Zinsou, also the Founder and Managing Partner at the SouthBridge, an investment bank providing pan-African financial and advisory solutions for public and private clients across Africa.
Most African countries including Kenya are signatories to the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), which calls for allocation of at least 10 percent of the total budget to the agriculture sector. The CAADP was seen as the vehicle to stimulate production and bring about food security among the populations of the continent.
However, despite many countries being food insecure, they are yet to allocate even half of what they signed for 18 years ago.
Dr James Mwangi, the Head of Equity Bank said that there is need to appreciate agriculture and finance it to the same level that it contributes to the GDP of the African continent. “At Equity Bank, we have made a bold commitment to allocate 30 of the credit share to the agricultural sector,” he told the AGRF delegates.
Besides the call for agriculture financing, it was observed that African farmers must change the way they produce food, the way they market it and the way they consume it.
At the AGRF, we have heard a strong call for Africa and the world to change the way we produce, process, market, consume food, and reduce waste. We know that a failure to change will make it impossible to achieve the key sustainable development goal of ending hunger by 2030. Hunger and poverty in Africa can only end with resilient food systems,” read the final statement.
“This is a turning point in Africa’s agriculture. We should do things differently by taking a more integrated approach to food systems,” said Hailemariam Dessalegn, the former Prime minister of Ethiopia. “To feed our diversity (over 1000 tribes), we cannot apply one simple solution. The challenge is complex and this requires investments and concerted efforts in a collaborative, measurable way,” he told the delegates reportedly from 103 countries.
