ADDIS ABABAm Ethiopia (PAMACC News) - Promoting a robust infrastructure growth in Africa will be a key driver to the continent’s development agenda, experts say. According to James Murombedzi, coordinator, African Climate Centre, and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the solution pathways to the success of Africa’s development agenda lies in infrastructure development to permit for the full exploitation of the rich resource potential the continent is endowed with. In a paper presented under the theme “China-Africa Linkages in the Agricultural Sector and Climate Change: Challenges and Opportunities” in Addis Ababa, Murombedzi said that poor infrastructure development was a huge setback to agriculture growth, thus a constraint to the fight against rural poverty. “There is need to push for infrastructure development in Africa. Investments in infrastructure are key drivers to the African rural development agenda,” he noted. UN records show that Africa’s infrastructure financing needs are estimated at $135 billion per year. But currently, only around $77 billion is being funded, leaving a financing gap of almost $60 billion. Close to 50% of the current financing is from governments and other public sources, with much of the rest made up by loans and grants from development partners, Murombedzi told media representatives in Addis Ababa. Investments, he notes, are required in order to increase the productivity of agriculture, irrigation, energy, transportation, and marketing. “However, such investments should empower, not dispossess smallholder farmers and the vulnerable communities,” he cautioned. Thus the need to partner with other development actors to better drive the Agenda 2063 and help Africa meet the Sustainable Development Goals. “China and Africa can develop strong partnerships to promote these infrastructure development agenda,” he said. Opening the ceremony of the Media Workshop on “Reporting Africa-China Engagements, Agriculture Developments, Climate Change, Industrialization, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2063”,Chen Xufeng Charge d’Affaires of the Chinese Mission to AU, said China was ready to accompany Africa in efforts towards bridging the infrastructure deficient gap. “China has today become Africa's largest development partner, main investor and engineering contractor. China-Africa cooperation faces new historic opportunities geared at accompanying efforts towards development especially in the area of infrastructure” Chen Xufeng said. China he assured was firmly committed to promoting cooperation with the African continent through common, intensive, green, secure and open development and supporting Africa’s efforts to address the main bottlenecks, namely lack of quality infrastructure, professional and skilled personnel and financial resources. “China is ready to help Africa resolve three fundamental issues of employment, food and health by developing self-sustainable system of industrialization, food security, and disease prevention and control system, he noted. China it was announced has completed a number of mega infrastructure projects including the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway, the Nairobi-Mombasa Railway in Kenya, and the Abuja-Kaduna Rail in Nigeria. Rapid progress has also been made in production capacity cooperation in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and the Republic of Congo as pilot and pioneering countries and a dozen of priority partners for production capacity cooperation. There is also the construction of…

ABIDJAN, Cote d’Ivoire (PAMACC News) Eleven African countries are set to benefit from multi-million dollar Partnership for Inclusive Agricultural Transformation in Africa (PIATA), which has been launched alongside the 2017 African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF). PIATA is an innovative and transformative partnership and financing vehicle to drive inclusive agriculture transformation across the continent.Three development partners, which include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have jointly pledged up to U.S. $280 million to catalyse and sustain inclusive agricultural transformation in Ghana, Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique.This is aimed at increasing incomes and improving food security of 30 million smallholder farmers. "We are pleased to be part of PIATA. We see it as an opportunity to leverage even more from the partners and their huge networks, for greater impact,” said Mr. Mamadou Biteye, Managing Director of the Rockefeller Foundation Africa Regional Office during the launch of the initiative.“We are looking forward to deploying the technologies that we have helped develop over the years, together with our shared knowledge and grant support, to work with our esteemed partners. Together we hope to catalyze Africa’s pursuit for prosperity through agriculture,” he told delegates at the AGRF in Abidjan.The PIATA is an important collaboration between donors that aligns behind the Malabo agenda agreed to by African Heads of State and Government in 2014. It signals an enduring commitment to Africa’s transformation agenda. PIATA is but one of various means by which each of the partners are supporting African countries to deliver on agricultural transformation; its partners continue to provide support through avenues including direct support to continental agencies, government bodies and in-country partners. The partnership will allow partners to align and complement existing efforts, making new investments in developing input systems, value chains, and policy where they will have the most impact. According to the 2017 Africa Agriculture Status Report, Africa needs an agricultural revolution that is distinct and that links millions of small farms to agribusinesses, creating extended food supply chains, jobs and economic opportunities for large segments of the population. Agriculture is still the best bet for inclusive African economic growth and poverty reduction.Experts believe that such a transformation will require greater political, policy, and financing commitments from across the public and private sectors. It will also require new partnership models like PIATA, which is hailed as an outstanding example of how partners can collaborating with African countries' visions and systems to deliver on their own transformation, in line with their national economic development strategies. Mr. Rodger Voorhies, the Executive Director of the Global Growth and Opportunity Division of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said, “We’ve seen significant progress when countries recognize the critical importance of agriculture to their economic development and help catalyze agricultural transformation with targeted investments, evidence-based policies, and strong national plans. PIATA is an exciting platform that can help countries take the lead in driving agricultural transformation. Our investment…

ABIDJAN, Cote d'Ivoire, (PAMACC News) – Kenya’s Prof Ruth Oniang’o and Mrs Maïmouna Sidibe Coulibaly from Mali have jointly won $10,000 worth of the Africa Food Prize - 2017.The women, working at both ends of the agriculture supply chain were awarded the prize for their exemplary efforts in driving Africa's agriculture transformation at the 2017 Africa Green Revolution Forum in Abidjan. Hon. Prof Oniang'o is recognised as the leading voice of nutrition in Africa and for her relentless advocacy for the availability and affordability of diverse and nutritious crops for millions across the continent. She pioneered nutrition leadership in academia, research, and policy to improve food security and nutrition. Her groundbreaking work, with farmers' groups and rural communities connects agriculture and nutrition both in research and practice providing a natural link between agriculture and nutrition. Mrs Coulibaly, on the other hand has been feted for her mission to produce and supply improved and high-yielding seed that have led to improved incomes and nutrition for millions in Mali and other West African countries. Through sheer hard work and consistency, Coulibaly has overcome multiple hurdles to build a leading seed company that is fast becoming a model for Africa's agri-businesses. Her company, Faso Kaba, specialises in the production and sale of a wide range of improved seeds, including cereals, oil seeds, market gardening, fodder and tuber seeds that can improve agricultural yields by up to 40 per cent. The Prize recognises and puts a spotlight on shining examples of agricultural projects that are transforming lives and economies. According to H.E. President Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria and the Chairperson of the Prize Committee, the 2017 Prize winners come from both the public and private sector representing how both groups are working together to transform agriculture into a high value industry sector. He said that this year’s award attracted over 600 nominees."It gives me immense pride that this year's winners are both women. This is a clear demonstration that women in Africa are at the forefront in terms of connecting the rising food needs and the continent's vision for prosperity that is driven by agriculture and agri-business. The fact that the winners work at either end of the agriculture value chain, represent both private and public sector and are from different parts of Africa reflects the wide impact agriculture has in transforming economies and reducing poverty, way beyond the fields," he former Nigerian president.A strong believer in farming being the bridge between humankind and nature, Prof. Ruth Oniang'o spends most of her time with smallholder farmers and women in rural areas helping them to transform their household's ability to produce, purchase and consume foods in higher quality and quantities. She reckons that smallholder farmers are the most valuable part of the market and the entrepreneurial value chain."I believe we are what we eat. I realized early on in my life, when I dreamt of being a doctor, that food is the first medicine," said Prof. Oniang'o in a statement to the…

OPINIONNAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - A high level ‘independent’ panel created to enhance the effectiveness of UN-Habitat has proposed the creation of a rival body, called UN Urban, that will take on a large part of UN-Habitat’s work if approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations.The creation of a separate body to coordinate the sustainable urbanization agenda, which has been the role of UN-Habitat since 1978, will have a major impact on the United Nation’s presence in Kenya.It would mean major job cuts for Kenyan and expatriate staff working at UN-Habitat. And these cuts will affect Kenya’s economy, particularly in Nairobi. The effects will not be limited to losses of millions of dollars in foreign income, but will also extend to income losses by those employed (4000) by UN staff, landlords, shops, restaurants, tourist facilities and many others.The downsizing may go beyond UN-Habitat. It will also affect the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON), created primarily to provide services to UNEP and UN-Habitat, the two UN agencies headquartered in Nairobi. Currently Kenya is the only developing country to host the Headquarters of United Nations agencies. The whole UN complex in Nairobi houses over 4,000 staff. If UN Urban is created in New York, and UN-Habitat is significantly downsized, the need to maintain a large UN Office at Nairobi to service the two agencies, UNEP and UN-Habitat, in Gigiri will diminish. The move to create UN Urban comes at a time when the United Nations system is undergoing major reforms aimed at cutting costs to achieve greater efficiency. These reforms include moving all UN regional offices to the cities where the UN regional commissions are located. In the case of Africa, this would mean moving the UN regional offices located in Kenya to Addis Ababa where the UN Economic Commission is based. With the move of regional offices and the downsizing of UN-Habitat, the justification for a large UN presence in Kenya will be greatly reduced. Indeed, there have been past attempts to move UNEP to Europe, but these have been resisted successfully in the past and the government of Kenya played a critical role in keeping the organization in Nairobi.Some see the hand of the current Head of UN-Habitat, Joan Clos, investigated for racist comments last year, as spearheading the effort to create the rival UN Urban body in New York as his term comes to an end at the end of this year. He is already making moves to place his cronies in New York and is believed to have constituted the panel that has come up with this recommendation.The panel report also recommends reducing the level of country programmes on urbanization , which are most valued by developing countries which are rapidly becoming more urban. It is ironic that the work of the United Nations is aimed at helping developing countries, yet there is resistance in maintaining the headquarters of just two of the UN agencies in the countries that have the greatest understanding of the…