1. Mark Holderness
Global Forum on
Agricultural Research
Public-Private Partnerships as
a means towards agricultural
development in Africa

2. The Global Forum for All in Agricultural Innovation
 CGIAR & International research
 FAO
 IFAD
 Farmers organizations
 Civil Society Organizations
 Private sector networks
 Advanced research - G20 MACS & BRICS
 Regional Fora – AARINENA, APAARI, CACAARI, EFARD, FARA,
FORAGRO
 Advisory Services - GFRAS
 Education Institutions - GCHERA
 Youth - YPARD

3. The Global Forum:
Breaking down the walls
• Development-centred thinking
• Accountability of public services
to funders and farmers
• Stakeholders learning
& innovating together,
managing benefits & risks
• Innovative knowledge access
& transformation systems
• Institutional reorientation
& changed attitudes/values
Convergence of R&D, education, enterprise,
policies & resources
joedale.typepad

4. Converging
Voices
Fostering
Partnerships
Re-imagining
institutions
Sharing
knowledge
Foresight for
better futures
Partnerships
for impact
Transformative
Investments
Capacities for
change
Research in
development
Accountability
for actions
Structure of the MTP and GFAR’s role

5. The Global Forum
Rapidly changing roles and perceptions of the agricultural „private sector‟
in development
 The private sector encompasses all areas for which services are
paid for by the client, rather than being paid for from public funds.
Roles include:
• Input service provision,
• Smallholder farmer enterprise
• Enabling environment – credits, insurance etc
• Markets for produce and processed foods, fibers, fuels etc.
• Farmers are entrepreneurs, economic growth is a basic
driver for change
 Balanced by social and environmental considerations: agriculture
and entrepreneurship are embedded in cultures and societies.
Re-imagining the ‘private sector’

6. Innovation
pathways
Enabling
environment
& inputs
Desired
development
outcome
GCARD 2010: Knowledge & innovation are essential,
but are not themselves sufficient for development
Institutions & capacities
supporting agricultural
development &
innovation

7.  Not just projecting what the world may become but for
deciding what kind of world we would like to see in future
 Trends are products of our behaviour – and can be changed
 Smallholders must have a say in envisioning their own future
 Need to inform policy choices about their implications
 GFAR-FARA African Foresight Academy: Africa decides for itself,
on its own terms
 Enables understanding of implications of technological choices
towards meeting desired ends
Better Foresight: Reconciling diverse P-P perspectives
Developing common visions for the future

8.  Productivity gap – a constraint of technology, or of inputs vs
returns and risk aversion?
 Rethinking agriculture from an engendered perspective…
gender blind technology is not gender-neutral - Where is PPP
investment in labour & time saving in production & processing,
in value addition in market access?
 Poverty reduction – future challenges will be in reaching the
poorest sector – usually rural poor
 Impacts of disrupted systems – e.g. protracted crises – what
role for PPPs in 17 protracted crisis countries?
 What value system and metrics do we ascribe to agricultural
development & technologies?
Re-imagining African agriculture – reflecting on our
own pre-conceptions & technological choices

9. Partnership in
innovation: all
knowledge has value
• Scientific knowledge is
reductionist, trusted & validated
by its method
• Local knowledge is holistic, risk-
aware, trusted & validated by
experience
• Need to link & reconcile these
knowledge & trust bases
• Sustainable development
must value & capitalize on both
P.VanMele

10. Clickstream data: how scientific
literature is accessed and
connected, from users’ downloading
and browsing behaviour (PLoS ONE,
2009)
Different worlds in a
universe of knowledge

11. “Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) remain, overall “unfinished
business.”
“Progress has been insufficient in eradicating extreme poverty and
hunger, and reducing child and maternal mortality”
“Africa‟s economic growth has not brought about commensurate improvements in
inclusiveness, job creation and human development.
Harnessing trade for diversification requires redressing the wide array of
constraints that undermine the competitiveness of African firms
Need to move beyond the traditional donor-recipient logic,”
“Must focus on harnessing the potential synergies and complementarities
across different actors, both public and private, at global, regional, and
domestic level.”
“We are at an important juncture, where we need to create sufficient
employment for Africa’s growing youth bulge”
Africa’s Challenges: Economic Commission for Africa

12. The Global Forum
 Considerable knowledge of public private partnerships (PPPs), but
limited collation and collective capitalization of experience.
 Known efficiencies of market competition where can pay for services.
 Private sector alternatives encouraged as government services have
fallen away with economic restructuring.
 Opening of free trade and scale efficiencies have enabled seed and
agrochemical companies, food processors and supermarkets to grow
and bring benefits
 But whose agenda? E.g. Equity and access to technologies and
access to, and returns from, markets for small farmers
 What do we measure as agricultural success? Income gains?
Increased production? Increased nutritive value? Access to nutrition?
African agriculture is transforming

13.  Private and public partners must truly understand and share the
same objectives from the outset
 How can PPPs reach the poorest, where there is least commercial
imperative?
 What can we learn from private sector investment in innovation e.g.
commodity crops?
 How to understand and empower the customers in these processes?
 What policy and investment environment is required to ensure
benefit to small farmers?
 How can famers be empowered to grow their own livelihoods? –
information access, market awareness, collective actions, support
systems, innovation brokers, business mentors & incubators, risk
management…
Some PPP Challenges

14. Source: ASTI 2012
Public Agricultural R&D spending: Much of Sub-Saharan
Africa still lags behind

15. The Investment & Capacity Challenge
 NEPAD target: Allocation of at least 1
% of GDP to R&D
 In 2008, Africa spent $0.61 for every
$100 of AgGDP on agricultural R&D
 Despite an overall increase in recent
years, Africa underinvests in
agricultural R&D

16. The International private input sector is changing fast
Iowa State
Univ. 2012
•Top 5 seed companies 9.4%
market share in 1995, 45.9% in
2011
•Driven by research costs & scale
of returns, economies of scale and
regulatory procedures & costs

17. The Global Forum
Delivering advanced research products through seed, with IP protection
has led to very rapid takeovers & consolidation in the seed industry:

18. Historically: public seed monopolies, stifling regulations, and lack of
access to good quality inputs.
Time for change? Requires…
 Reforms on seed policy, law and regulations to enable germplasm
movement across countries, variety release, and action by private
sector.
 Private sector diversity and availability of new varieties needs
enabling environment and flexible financing products.
 African seed companies are waiting for action - in India seed
business has already been a success for business and farmers:
S-S linkages?
 Training of researchers and seed value chain actors, agrodealer
networks, community based seed multiplication, etc.
 Small enterprises need scope for entry-level systems: quality-
declared seed etc
Seed sector – prospects for successful interventions?
(World Bank, 2012)

19. Balancing Farmers Rights & Breeders Rights
 Small scale local family farmers play essential role in
development & conservation of agro-biodiversity
 International plant variety protection (UPOV) exists since
1960s
 Farmers rights & returns recognized only since 1980s
and 2001 International Treaty - ITPGRFA
 National implementation of Farmers rights is still very
weak
 Farmers Rights and rights over new plant varieties
should become mutually supportive
Not just about the technologies, but their Access &
Equity for benefiting smallholders…

20.  To know & apply farmers rights via good practices
 To develop strong policies & legal/administrative
measures to protect rights of farmers over traditional
knowledge
 Farmers to participate in decision making
 Fair & equitable benefit-sharing systems
 Ensure the exchange, use and saving of seed &
propagating materials
It is time to recognize that implementation of Farmers Rights
is crucial for food security & rural livelihoods worldwide
For this, we need:

21. New Technologies-
Information and
Communication, Bio-
Technology and Materials
Sciences applied individually
and together
Bringing new opportunities in
agricultural services, agro-
industries and agribusiness
Transforming Agricultural
Research, Innovation,
Extension, Education and
Enterprise
Public Research-Private Sector composite
applications

22. Using Open Access Data
and Networked Local
Weather Stations with
Forecasting Models for
Risk Aversion and
Management
In Kenya for Crop, Disease
and Pest and Insurance in
Smallholder Tea and
Coffee Plots
Data Inter-operability for farmer support

24.  Much scope for value addition on farm
 Major CSR investments e.g. cocoa in W Africa
 Major food companies making a business virtue of sustainability
e.g. Unilever
 Major challenge in accessing high value markets: infrastructure
 Quality and supply assurance, food safety assurance, traceability
 High end research cost, e.g. flavour chemistry, aromatics
 Packaging and marketing cost account for much of value addition
 Little accountability from supermarkets to producers
 Requires more effective cooperatives/producer
companies for enterprise scale, market access and
support
Food chains and value addition

25. An example: a Win-Win for Small Holders and the Food and
Beverage Industry
Effective integration of smallholders into food supply chains – a win-win
Smallholders benefit
by increasing their
capital
Processors and the food industry obtain
a reliable, steady supply of safe and
quality raw materials
The Coca-Cola Company trained rural youth in the sustainable production of oranges in
Costa Rica with technical oversight and guidance of EARTH University
 Students gained valuable skills
in citriculture, research
Positive changes to farm’s mgt
Multiplier effect
Multistakeholder processes
Community benefits

26. For small-holders and farmers -
Empowering them with both
opportunities for learning and
information , i.e. Make them
knowledge-able
For rural technicians and artisans-
Technical and vocational training
For extension workers/change agents-Training in
soft /personal mastery skills
For entrepreneurs, traders, processors, wholesalers &
those who interface with producers and business people
- Improving agribusiness education in agribusiness
Building the Human Capacity Pyramid in Africa
For policy makers, scientists, researchers- Providing
opportunities to study in the wider contexts of economic
dev’t, security, world trade, climate change,

27. Strengthen Africa’s ability to build capacity:
 Creating entrepreneurs by establishing appropriate courses, soft
skills, internships and industrial attachments.
 Deepen engagement by creating the appropriate conditions for the
involvement of the private sector in research, extension & education.
 Enable the private sector to become a genuine partner
 Make graduates and research products more fit-for-purpose
 Smallholder producers , particularly women, constitute the largest
sub-sector in the private sector; particular attention will be paid to
empowering their learning and acquisition of knowledge.
 Value of AATF!
FARA MTOP

28.  Lack of productivity and market gain, high cost
of inputs and transportation costs, exploitation
by middle men.
 Little public- private sector dialogue on
investment in agricultural infrastructure:
irrigation, transportation, warehouses...
 Inadequate opportunities for Business
Development Services, market sourcing,
financing of early stage agribusinesses
 Lack of enabling business environment
 Little participation of youth, women and poor in
agribusiness in financial, labour, service &
goods markets
 Small farmers and traders are under-
represented and vulnerable.
Some key challenges need to be resolved by policy changes
and investment (PanAAC)

29. New Alliance Platform to Enhance Adoption of Agricultural
Technologies by Smallholder Farmers
 The G8, 2012 US presidency, set up a new Technology Adoption Platform to
improve delivery of improved agricultural technologies for sustainable
yield, resilience, and nutritional impacts.
 USAID, CGIAR, FARA, SROs, AGRA and others now working to design the
Platform and facilitate its implementation.
 Platform developed to meet the needs of the six New Alliance countries
 A Knowledge-Sharing ICT Platform: describing the technologies/innovations
on offer and enabling their access
Agricultural innovation & enterprise platforms –
a key need for Africa e.g. G8 New Alliance

30.  Incentivize scientists for technology transfer
 Develop alternative end products
 Provide entrepreneurs with internships
 Provide rural enterprises management
support and services, including risk coverage
 Simplify IPR procedures & clearances
 Certified training for quality & credibility
 Producer companies – cooperatives with
technical & managerial expertise
 Open out donor schemes to foster private
innovation
 Work actively across diverse sectors
 Scope for S-S linkages & learning
Enterprise Incubation from Innovation:
Some ideas from India

31. PanAAC country platforms for mobilization of Government Public Private
Partnerships (PPP)
Enables private sector interaction with African Governments to facilitate policy
formulation, value chain knowledge and information sharing, trade, improvement of
productivity, etc
e.g. Kenya Agribusiness and Agro-industry Alliance (KAAA),
brings together all stakeholders along the agricultural value chain with the Kenyan
Government in the implementing the Agricultural Sector Development Strategy.
Strongly linked with the AU/NEPAD‟s CAADP and the implementation of African
NAIPs.

32.  Earth University ethical entrepreneurship: Social and environmental
awareness and commitment,capacity to generate positive change.
 Students form and operate a business venture from beginning to end
during their first three years study, gain a comprehensive
understanding of what it takes to start a business
Dynamic and participatory, facilitated learning:
 Students explore real challenges and become active participants in
generating knowledge, not passive receivers of information.
 Students learn through deliberate experiences designed to encourage
learning
New skills for Youth, entrepreneurs of tomorrow:
e.g. Earth University, Wageningen Univ. ‘Golden triangle’

34. Almost 50% of farmers are women, yet receive 10% of income and 5% of
technical assistance in agriculture – not even considered farmers in some
countries
FAO State of Food & Agriculture: Women farmers, given equal access to
inputs, are as productive as men farmers
Research and innovation still often totally missing women‟s needs
Women as entrepreneurs
e.g. Niger:
• Men of household
sought input
technologies,
production and returns
• Women sought labour &
time saving, value
addition and household
nutrition

35. Key issues:
 access to resources and returns,
reorienting innovation systems to reduce
labour, energy and time in production, focus on
value-addition post harvest, child nutrition
 GCWA: 5 point Plan to „engender‟ Agriculture &
AR4D systems
 GAP: open & inclusive partnership mobilizing
actions across many national, regional &
international bodies
 Engaging national, regional and international
bodies from all sectors – CGIAR, UN
, FOs, CSOs, RF, private sector
 Advocacy, knowledge sharing, triggering
programmes - eg ERWW
Liberia, Ethiopia, Niger, Rwanda
Gender in Agriculture Partnership: Women at the centre
of innovation processes

36. Implications for AATF & for African innovation
systems
 Technological options are choices determined by
societies
 Sustainability makes good business sense
 Farmer is the customer – not just the taxpayer
 Requires effective accountability & feedback mechanisms
 Empower farmers (her!) in innovation investments
 Transform education with new skills & approaches
 Share knowledge and learning via multi-stakeholder
platforms
 Develop support systems for collective enterprise

37. Thank You
www.egfar.org