Oslo Conference 2006 Highlights

On August 31, concerned corporations and organizations from the private and public sectors met in Oslo, Norway to boost the development of Africas Green Revolution. The three-day Conference aims to become a key arena for promoting Public-Private Partnerships.

The Oslo Conference is a response to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s call to put agricultural productivity at the forefront of the struggle to eliminate extreme hunger and poverty. In addition to rallying expertise and capital around the task of eradicating hunger and extreme poverty in Africa, the Conference aims to become a powerful force for sustainable growth in Africa, by promoting agricultural productivity and empowering farmers.

The Conference’s hosts – two Norwegian public development institutions, Norad and Norfund, and two private sector participants, Yara International and Rabobank – were joined by multinational companies, government officials, donor and investment agencies, African entrepreneurs and NGOs. Key Conference speakers included Director of the UN Millennium Project, Jeffrey D. Sachs, World Bank Executive Director,  Paolo Gomes and President of The Hunger Project, Joan Holmes.

Highlights

Yara CEO Thorleif Enger kicked off the Conference on the role of Public-Private Partnerships in African development with a note of urgency: "The first MDG [halving those suffering extreme poverty and hunger by 2015] is striking in its simplicity but complex in its implementation. However, there is no need to deliberate - we are all aware and know what can and must be done."

Norway’s Minister of International Development Erik Solheim gave the formal welcoming address, and described Norway’s focus in supporting developing nations to achieve sustainable progress. His underlined the vital importance of a functioning state and an open market, and emphasized the current grave reality: “African farmers live on the edge - in a normal year they survive, and when intermittent disasters strike, they don't.”

Jeff Hill, Senior Agricultural Advisor for USAID, discussed the role of PPPs in Africa’s development. He argued that agricultural investments have by far the greatest positive impact on infrastructure, on poverty and hunger, and that African leaders are now committed to agriculture. “It is important to remember the larger picture: agriculture creates jobs and opportunities for people to do other things - the result is transformation.”

A strong case for sustainable cocoa agroforestry was made by representatives from Mars Inc., the Smithsonian Institute and the Norwegian Association of Chocolate Manufacturers. They described how cocoa industry stakeholders have recognized that cross-sector partnerships are the only way to effectively improve all facets of the cocoa supply chain, including breeding, pest and disease research, productivity and quality, technology transfer, and marketing and market access. This has allowed them to build a cocoa sustainability model that is now supporting smallholder farming and transferring knowledge to rural communities in West Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia. Mars Director of International Networks John Lunde and its Director of Plant Science, Howard Shapiro suggested that the existing cocoa industry public/private partnerships could provide a model for similar types of activities that combine science, public policy, finance, and business best practices.

The opportunities provided by Biofuels were introduced by World Bank Senior Economist Boris Utria, who stated emphatically, "Biofuels are here to stay!”

According to Utria, biofuel production can provide better income streams for rural economies; an important factor considering that the main biofuel crops grow in the tropical zones where 100 of the world's neediest developing countries lie. Utria also paid tribute to the  B-MESDV (Biofuel Multi-Energy Service Delivery Vehicle) a new biofuel driven all-terrain tractor that won the World Bank's "Development Marketplace 2006" award.

Akin Adesina, Rockefeller Foundation’s Associate Director of Food Security,  looked at partnerships for meeting one of the key challenges facing African agriculture – to improve input distribution.  Adesina mapped out a range of interventions needed at regional, national and local levels to improve access, affordability and incentives in the input supply chain. He suggested that, combined with similar improvements in the output markets, these efforts would lead to a day when African’s can finally proclaim “African agriculture, free at last!”  Adesina also questioned reliance on markets alone as a solution, citing the current paradox of markets in rural Africa:  “Africans are saying ‘We don’t want Coca-Cola, we want seeds and fertilizers’.”  

Among the solution’s highlighted  were turning rural shops into input retail platforms, or agrodealers (used with great success in Malawi), and stimulating demand for fertilizers through micro-dosing programs (as practiced by Farm Input Promotions Africa in Kenya).

Day two  of the conference focused on the crossroads facing African agriculture. Paulo Gomes, World Bank Executive Director, described the new political paradigm arising in Africa, where strong African leaders are pushing democratic and legal reforms and making firm commitments to agriculture. Describing himself as an “agro-optimist”, Gomes emphasized that, “The question should no longer be whether or not Agriculture should be the horse to harness in the ride for sustained growth and poverty reduction, but how Africa and his development partners should join forces to ensure that it contributes to its optimum in the race towards the MDGs.”

Gomes moved on to identify adequate financing as the remaining corner stone of a successful development of African agriculture. Although he suggested the bulk of this financing should come from within the continent itself, Gomes saw a clear role for innovative financing mechanisms: “In this regard, the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model represents a promising avenue in complementing the investment needs of African Agriculture.“

Beatrice Gakuba, CEO of Rwanda Flora described the company’s development of a successful business model for Rwandan entrepreneurship and some important lessons learned in the process. According to Gakuba, “For increased private sector support to create economic growth in Africa, it needs to be matched with public sector and donor community support for institutional strengthening.”

Gakuba expressed her conviction that Africa is ready for its own Green Revolution, and explained how Rwanda Flora has joined other agri-business players to prove that growth in smallholder agriculture offers the best prospects for transforming rural economies. “The case of Rwanda is very relevant. Just a few years after the genocide, demoralized populations are being transformed into productive small agri-businesses producing high quality crops for export. We are overcoming the key challenge for Africa’s entrepreneurs: incorporating development issues into business,” concluded Gakuba.

Pedro Sanchez and Cheryl Palm from the Earth Institute lifted the mood of the participants with a report on the progress made in rejuvenating African agriculture. Sanchez underlined that the MDG’s are now widely accepted and generating increased action and resources. He also explained that, with agriculture firmly back in the donors’ agenda, the African Green Revolution is now happening: “Soil health and small-scale water management are now mainstream, community leadership is being leveraged and a science–based renewal of agricultural practices is taking place. The private sector is becoming a full partner and PPP is being used in areas as diverse as rural telecommunication, health and agriculture. ”

According to Sanchez, we now know enough to succeed in the economic transformation of subsistence farmers into small-scale entrepreneurs. It is just a question of how to scale up the development. Cheryl Palm backed up Sanchez’ optimism with a report on the progress made by the Millennium Villages program, which is empowering African villages to achieve the MDGs.  In its first year the project has lifted 120,000 people out of hunger.

Director of the UN Millennium Project Jeffrey Sachs encouraged all present to “look beyond our ideologies” in working to end poverty and hunger. Citing the “White (dairy) Revolution” that followed the Asian Green Revolution, he reminded all that agriculture cannot be the end of the story in the development of Africa, but that it must be the start.

On the subject of PPP, Sachs implored donors to support the wave of new efforts. He said that companies like Yara and Mars, who are willing to champion the cause of ending poverty and hunger through new public-private alliances, are sorely needed.

Day three  of the conference  was devoted to the 2006 Yara Prize for an African Green Revolution, awarded jointly to Ms. Celina Cossa and Ms. Fidelis Wainaina for their remarkable grassroots work with small-scale farmers in Mozambique and Kenya respectively. The prize ceremony’s keynote speeches were punctuated by drama and musical performances, giving the event a powerful sense of celebration.

Joan Holmes, President of the Hunger Project, made a profound impression, illuminating the key points of Africa's plight, and especially the plight of the women who make up the backbone of the continent's agricultural sector.  The 92-year-old Nobel Prize Peace Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug stated, "I hope to live long enough to see the green revolution reach full flower in Africa." Fidelis Wainaina's heartfelt acceptance speech moved many in the audience to tears.

Celina Cossa's whirlwind speech raised the crowd to higher spirits, and her accompanying dancers from Mozambique, and acclaimed Benin artist Angelique Kidjo's set of three songs, closed the ceremony by leaving the audience singing and dancing.