By Mirror digest reporter, recently in Arusha
The Swedish International Development
Cooperation Agency (Sida) and of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa
(AGRA) announced a US$10 million grant to support the development of
Africa-based innovations to boost African agricultural growth.
SIDA representative Henrik
Riby, and President of AGRA Jane Karuku formalized the agreement this week in a
signing ceremony at the African Green Revolution Forum held here in
Arusha.
The grant, awarded by
Sida, will be directly channeled to the African Agribusiness Window of African
Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF), a fund hosted by AGRA.
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| The African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) 2012 aims to develop concrete action plans for developing Africa's agricultural sector and hopes to put smallholder farmers at the center of the conversation. |
Administered by the
AECF, the grant will enable Africa-based entrepreneurs to submit new and
innovative business solutions to accelerate the development of the agricultural
sector in Africa.
Between 10-12 winners
will be selected and provided with funding to develop their ideas into practical projects that
are both commercially
viable and will have a broad developmental impact on the rural
poor.
The projects will
have a significant focus on the empowerment of women and environmental
sustainability.
The grant is part of SIDA’s program area focused on
inclusive business and pro-poor economic growth, with investments that must
significantly contribute to poverty reduction and rural development.
The grant is expected to benefit at least an additional
60,000 households (300,000 people) with extra income, employment, market access
and transfer of know-how.
“We know that a more effective and professional
agriculture sector can make a real difference for millions of people living in
poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, “said Henrik Riby, SIDA. “By sharing the
financial risks of private investments in agribusiness, we hope to encourage
new sustainable ways of raising rural incomes.”
“The African Enterprise
Challenge Fund is an important contributor to AGRA’s
goals and strategy, and its impact will be enhanced with this grant from the
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency,” said Jane Karuku adding
that “These
projects benefit millions of Africa’s rural
poor in very practical ways such as jobs, increased income, knowledge transfer
and market access.”
Sida, is a government
agency under Sweden’s
Ministry for Foreign Affairs and its goal is to contribute to making it possible
for poor people to improve their living conditions where as
AGRA is an Africa based organization working in partnership with
governments, agricultural research organizations, farmers, private sector,
civil society and other rural development stakeholders to significantly and
sustainably improve the productivity and incomes of resource poor farmers in Africa.
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