The Future Agricultures Consortium has instituted a regional, Africa-centred
structure to support its research and policy engagement activities, with new
'hubs' in Kenya, Ghana and South Africa joining the existing secretariat, based
at the Institute of Development Studies.
Since 2005, Future Agricultures has produced research and analysis on the
political economy of agricultural policy in Africa through a network which now
includes over 90 researchers, supported by a secretariat in the UK.
Future Agricultures is producing insights on the politics of agricultural
policy and rigorous evidence on how smallholder farmers can contribute to
broad-based agricultural growth.
Choices about how to produce food, support farmers, involve private sectors
and donors, and work with civil society, will require strong and relevant
evidence from researchers with relevant experience and understanding. Future
Agricultures' new setup comprises three new hubs related to the major regional economic
communities in Africa, as well as a fourth hub in Europe.
The hubs are hosted in leading university-based, policy research
institutions in each region: Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development,
Kenya (Eastern Africa hub), the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian
Studies, South Africa (Southern Africa hub), the Institute of Statistical,
Social and Economic Research, Ghana (Western Africa hub) and the Institute of
Development Studies, UK (Europe hub).
"Future Agricultures has a strong track record"
Hon. Mohamed Elmi (MP for Tarbaj and former Minister of State for
Development of Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands, Kenya) said, "Future
Agricultures has a strong track record of engaging directly with African
policy-makers and African citizens to illuminate the complex processes shaping
contemporary agricultural development.
Its new Africa-centred structure is a welcome development which will
strengthen these linkages and build on the investment it is already making in
research capacity across the continent."
Future Agricultures is funded by the UK Government to research policy
options on a number of key areas affecting agricultural development in Africa,
including pastoralism, irrigation and water, agricultural growth, and
the role of young people in the agri-food sector.
The research supports the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme
(CAADP), the principal framework for governments supporting agriculture as part
of development in Africa. It also looks at ways that private sector investment
could work for smallholder farmers.
The consortium's other research projects, funded by the UK Department for
International Development (DFID) as well as the Economic and Social Research
Council (ESRC), are studying how China
and Brazil are engaging with African agriculture, the impacts of different
types of land
commercialisation, and the implications
of land deals on local people in Southern Africa.
UN Environment response
In response to the new phase of work, Achim Steiner (UN Under-Secretary
General and Executive Director, UN Environment Programme) said, "Africa is
moving into a new phase that could see the continent become a major player in
the transition to a global inclusive Green Economy, but to do that it needs
access to well-managed natural resources.
Future Agricultures builds on the capacity of leading research institutions
to inform policy-making for a sustainable future by focusing on areas that need
urgent attention - showing how to remove barriers to policy-making and
implementation, highlighting alternative policy options and facilitating access
to new knowledge and information."
African agriculture is the focus of renewed expectation for development on
the continent. Amid concerns about large-scale 'land grabs' and hopes for the
potential of new partnerships with China and Brazil, policymakers are grappling
with how agriculture can feed citizens, provide jobs and bring in much-needed
investment.
These challenges require insights from within Africa itself, linked to
national, regional and Africa-wide policy debates and networks.
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