EWS-KT Is Proud Participant in G20 Panel
DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA – We were honored to participate in the G20’s Agriculture Working Group Meeting on 24 April 2025. With meetings throughout the year, the G20 brings together the African Union, the European Union, and 19 countries to discuss global economic affairs.
Our Head of Partnerships, Hoa Duong, served as one of five panelists for the key session “Fostering Innovation and Technology Transfer in Agriculture and Agro-Processing” during the Second Agriculture Working Group Meeting, held in Durban, South Africa.
During the session, Hoa focused on sustainable business models and public-private partnership strategies that facilitate inclusive knowledge and technology transfer, with a spotlight on successful approaches for making agricultural innovations accessible to smallholder farmers.
She spoke about our model—which integrates public and private funding to introduce smallholder farmers to climate-resilient vegetable cultivation techniques through peer-led demonstration plots—and discussed how it enables the transfer of agronomic knowledge and technologies, along with improved business planning skills and market connectivity. She also highlighted East-West Seed’s continual development of high-quality vegetable varieties that target the agronomic and market needs of smallholder farmers, such as more heat-tolerant and drought-tolerant varieties for a changing climate.
Other panelists included Dr. Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg, Africa Managing Director, Alliance Bioversity International-CIAT/CGIAR; Neeraj Vij, Regional Sector Manager Director, Industry, Agriculture and Human Development, African Development Bank; Dr. Aluwani Maiwashe-Tagwi, Chair, Department of Agriculture and Animal Health, University of South Africa; and Dr. Paulo Gallerani, Technology Transfer Expert, Embrapa. The panel was moderated by Bonani Nyhodo, Senior Manager, National Agricultural Marketing Council, with closing remarks from Dr. Rob Vos, Senior Research Fellow at International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)/CGIAR.
We are proud to have had this opportunity to contribute to the Second Agriculture Working Group Meeting, and we hope that the issues that were highlighted, especially concerning increased investment in knowledge transfer, market-oriented solutions, and public-private partnerships to support smallholder farmers, are useful inputs for the G20 discussions.
