This webinar focused on Africa’s regional perspectives is the third of the eDialogue series: ‘What Future for Small-Scale Farming?’.
Small-scale farmers are critical to food systems in much of the world. Vast numbers of rural households rely, at least in part, on agriculture for their livelihood. Yet times are tough for small-scale farmers, with many being among the poorest and most food insecure people on the planet, who are furthest away from achieving SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 2 (Zero Hunger). Meanwhile, COVID-19 puts a spotlight on the importance of resilient food systems and the vulnerability of poor rural households.
A profound transformation of small-scale agriculture is needed to create food systems that are equitable, healthy, resilient and sustainable. Breakthroughs are urgently needed so:
These breakthroughs are more vital and urgent than ever given the emerging impacts of climate change and COVID-19.
To develop transition strategies and avoid future crises and suffering, perspectives on the future – 5, 10 and 20+ years -are needed. It is crucial to better understand how changing demographics, economies, food systems, natural resources and climates will impact on small-scale farmers. This eDialogue will bring foresight and scenario thinking to the challenging questions around how small-scale agriculture can contribute to a future where the world eats more healthily, sustainably and responsibly.
The outcomes of this eDialogue will be made available for preparation of the Food Systems Summit and will contribute to the IFAD 2021 Rural Development Report on Food Systems, being prepared by Wageningen University and Research in collaboration with a global network of researchers.
Cyriaque Hakizimana is a researcher and PhD candidate in the Institute for Poverty, Land, and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at the University of Western Cape in South Africa. He obtained a Masters degree in Development Studies from the school of Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and his academic training is in poverty reduction approaches. His research interest is in agricultural development within the broader field of Agrarian transformation.
In recent years he has been involved in a multinational project on Land and Agricultural Commercialization in Africa (LACA) which investigated among other things questions related to how agrarian transitions happen and how farming models articulate the relationships between land, labour and capital in commercial enterprises themselves and in the surrounding locality. He is currently leading the Southern Africa Regional Hub of the Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) programme which aims to produce new information and insights into different pathways to agricultural commercialisation in order to assess their impacts and outcomes on rural poverty, women’s and girl’s empowerment and food and nutrition security in Sub-Saharan Africa. He is also coordinating the Young African Researchers in Agriculture Network (YARA) that he helped found in 2014.
Abdel Ismail is a principal scientist and the IRRI representative for Africa. He has over 30 years of experience in research for development, with a special interest in crop improvement to boost and sustain food production in less favorable areas and enhance resilience and adaptation to climate change.
Through his research, Abdel contributed to advancing knowledge in plant responses and adaptation to floods and salt, heavy metal toxicities, and nutrient deficiencies. His work also supported the development of tolerant breeding lines; facilitating the release and commercialization of stress-tolerant varieties; and developing and validating best management practices for different abiotic stress conditions to stabilize production, among others.
He works with partners in national programs, the private sector, and other stakeholders in South and Southeast Asia and in Sub-Saharan Africa to catalyze the establishment of effective seed systems and enabling enviroments for impacts .
Dr Jemimah Njuki is a Senior Program Officer at Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) where she oversees a portfolio of agriculture and food security projects focused on reducing post-harvest losses, improving nutrition and engaging women and youth in agribusiness, as well as overseeing gender integration and women’s empowerment in agriculture projects in IDRC’s Agriculture and Food Security Program. For the last 15 years she has carried out gender research and managed women’s economic empowerment programs in Africa and Asia. She has published widely on gender and women’s economic empowerment specifically in the areas of gender and technology, women and markets, and women and livestock. She has recently co-edited two books; one on ‘Women and livestock in Eastern and Southern Africa’, and the other on ‘Transforming Gender and Food Systems in the Global South’. She is the founder and editor in chief of the Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security. Prior to joining IDRC, she started and led the Women in Agriculture Program (Pathways to empowerment) at CARE USA, working in 6 countries in Africa and Asia and headed the Gender and Impact Program at the International Livestock Research Institute. She is an Aspen New Voices 2017 Fellow and currently chairs the advisory committee of the African Women in Agriculture Research and Development (AWARD) and in the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sustainable Intensification.