The gala dinner of the seventh African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) at the Sofitel Hotel in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, unfolded as a celebration of progress, and a rallying call in meeting the challenges, as delegates engage in accelerating agricultural development in Africa.
Attended by the 2017 AGRF co-host President Alassane Ouattara, of Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former rulers Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Tanzanian Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, the dinner’s warmth and sociability was punctuated by leaders’ speeches addressing weighty matters in meeting Africa’s food needs.
But at the heart of the dinner was the award ceremony for the Africa Food Prize, celebrating two outstanding achievers in changing the food security landscape in Africa.
Kenyan influencer Ruth Oniang’o and Malian Agri-business entrepreneur Mme Maïmouna Sidibe had earlier been named as the 2017 African Food Prize Laureates.
Prof. Oniang’o, the founder of the African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND) as well as the non-profit Rural Outreach Africa, has been feted for advancing nutrition across Africa.
Coulibaly founded the Malian seed company Faso Kaba in 2007 and oversaw its rapid growth, which saw it more than double its sales from 700 tonnes of certified high yielding seeds in 2011 to more than 1,600 tonnes by 2015.
At the AGRF dinner, a feisty Prof. Oniang’o, the first Nutrition professor in Kenya and the first female Nutrition professor in sub-Saharan Africa, took to the podium, where she gave a charged speech detailing the challenges she has encountered in her quest for a well-nourished continent.
“It has not been an easy journey, but the desire to see Africa become self-sufficient in its food needs has kept me going. And I would like to urge fellow academicians to keep researching and coming up with ways to help the 55 States in Africa grow their food and nutrition options,” said Oniang’o.
A former politician, who served in Kenya’s ninth parliament from January 2003 to December 2007, Prof. Oniang’o narrated how she had to fight insurmountable odds to front her ideas to her country’s MPs.
“My mission was to empower the women, most of them who were not able to feed their families. By then nobody was really giving attention to food and nutrition and I made them understand that my constituency was the women and that I would represent their health interests as strongly as I could,” said Oniang’o.
Coulibaly, in her speech, detailed the setbacks she surmounted to launch her business and sustain and expand it to the giant it is today.
“There were many times when I felt like giving up, but I was encouraged to keep going by the number of people who told me how great of an effect I was having in their lives,” said Coulibaly.
The AGRF, now in its seventh year, is being held in Francophone Africa for the first time ever, and as with past editions, has brought together heads of state and other African agriculture stakeholders to develop plans for the transformation of the sector.
By the time it winds up on Friday, September 8, the five-day forum will have been attended by as many as 1300 delegates and guests.
The Forum remains Africa’s main platform to discuss and develop strategies for a green revolution in Africa.
with agrf
