SWITCH Africa Green Regional Sector Meeting on Sustainable Agriculture

The SWITCH Africa Green Regional Sector meeting on Sustainable Agriculture, was held on 27-28 November 2019 in Nairobi, Kenya. In attendance were stakeholders from the government, private sector and Micro-, Small, and Medium Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in the agriculture sector to promote the scale-up & replication of best practices in the sector. Participants also included partners and participants from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa, Uganda, among others, Regional Economic Communities (RECs) such as Economic Commission of West Africa States (ECOWAS), Africa Union Commission (AUC), European Union (EU), financial institutions, UN agencies, and experts and stakeholders in the agricultural sector.

Speakers

Dr Juliette Biao, Director and Regional Representative represented UNEP Africa Office, Amb. Sebastian Gil, the European Union Delegation in Kenya, and a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of Kenya gave the keynote address.

Setting the scene

Mr. Patrick Mwesigye, Regional Coordinator, Resource Efficiency, United Nations Environment Programme set the scene of the meeting while Ms. Rhoda Wachira presented the Regional Sector Report on Sustainable Agriculture: Focus on Green Business Development.

Sessions

Other sessions included a panel discussion on Some Good Practices with presentations from Meat Naturally Initiative: Embedding sustainability in South Africa's emerging red meat sector, Eco-Agriculture–Sesame Livelihoods and organic-green business Opportunities for Young Rural people, Capacity enhancement for green business development and eco-entrepreneurship, Transformation of waste to organic fertilizer , and Promoting Sustainable Local Agriculture through Green Retail and Green Hospitality. On Sustainable Agriculture programmes and projects, presentations included, One Planet network Sustainable Food Systems Programme, Ecosystem Based Adaptation for Food Security in Africa Assembly (EBAFOSA), Enhancing Africa Green Economy through Eco Geographical Indication for Coffee, Inclusive Green Horticultural Processing Sector in Kenya and  Smallholder access to high value horticultural markets. Parallel Working Groups worked around Financing for Enterprises in the sector, Policies to promote Sustainable Agriculture, Technical Assistance Models for Enterprises in the Agriculture Sector and Sustainable Trade and Markets reported to plenary on their challenges and recommendations.

Recommendations for developing enabling environment for sustainable agriculture in Africa

These recommendations were wrapped around policy formulation and harmonization,  support to market access, capacity building for various stakeholders, funding and financial access and  innovative solutions.

The workshop report is available here.