Commissioner Tumusiime meets CNBC Africa and Forbes Africa Executive Director
25 February 2015, Nairobi- H.E Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture called on Dr. Maya Kulycky, Head of East Africa for ABN 360 whose brands, including CNBC Africa and Forbes Africa, she drives, in strategic positioning of companies for global competitiveness through their broadcast and print.
They expressed concern over the long time it has taken with agriculture being taken for granted despite its significant contribution to socio-economic development and its untapped enormous potential. They also expressed concern over the overdependence of African farmers to rain-fed agriculture which is increasingly undermined by climate change and climate variability. They further expressed concern over market failures that tend to frustrate farmers especially with respect to output markets.
While discussing ways of breaking the cycle of poverty in which African farmers are trapped, they examined ways of catalyzing the private sector to engage in and finance operations in African agriculture. They, in particular, called for investments in increasing the shelf-life of the perishable agricultural products but re importantly in irrigation for farmers to be able to produce all the year round and also in infrastructure to ease the movement of agricultural commodities.
The Commissioner commended CNBC Africa and Forbes Africa under the able stewardship of Dr.Kulycky, for drawing the attention of governments and businesses to critical sectors like agriculture and the agricultural value chain.
The Commissioner and Dr.Kulycky took note of the best practices and success stories in some AU Member States like Rwanda, for example, were farmers were sensitized and mobilized to use fertilizer thereby increasing fertilizer use and as a result attracting private sector investment in inputs as well as in agro-processing since agricultural production increased. Another example cited was Ethiopia where soil mapping has been undertaken and fertilizer blending factories have been set up.
They also discussed ways of promoting standards, labeling and certification to enhance the competitiveness of African agricultural products on continental and international markets. They also discussed how to enhance partnerships to advance agricultural science, research, innovation and technology as a critical ingredient in the Accelerated Africa Agriculture Growth and Transformation.

Media Contact

Ms. Carol Jilombo, Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture; AUC
jilomboc@africa-union.org

Mr. Molalet Tsedeke; Directorate of Information and Communication, AUC;
molalett@africa-union.org;

For further information contact
Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: dinfo@african-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia
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