Raising the Profile of Knowledge Transfer in Africa
By Elijah Mwashayenyi, Head of Knowledge Transfer for Africa
Once every year, the stakeholders of Africa’s food systems gather to deliberate on pertinent issues that affect the food security, nutrition, and incomes of the continent’s 1.5 billion people. It is a gathering of like-minded characters seeking synergies, showcasing their contributions to Africa’s food production, and plotting the continent’s future food and nutrition security.
This year, the AGRA-organized Africa Food Systems Forum Summit was hosted in early September in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city. Like many organizations, East-West Seed Knowledge Transfer Foundation (EWS-KT) was on hand to exhibit at the weeklong event.
There to share information with the summit guests were Executive Director Stuart Morris; Head of Knowledge Transfer for Africa Elijah Mwashayenyi; Knowledge Transfer Managers Ruth Ardzard (Nigeria), Epaphras Milambwe (Tanzania), and Joshua Mwanguhya (Uganda); Project Manager Godfrey Akechenu David (Nigeria); and East-West Seed representative Maya Muller, Corporate Communications Manager for Emerging Markets (Europe, Africa & Latin America).
A Little About EWS-KT
EWS-KT is the nonprofit foundation of East-West Seed, the company founded by World Food Prize laureate Simon N. Groot. From the company’s founding in 1982, the focus has always been on smallholder farmers. If smallholder farmers can access quality seeds (like those produced by East-West Seed) and acquire relevant skills, the lives of these farmers, their families, and their nations will never be the same.
In the wake of insufficient extension services, EWS-KT was formed to build the capacity of smallholder farmers in the vegetable sector, first in Asia and now also in Africa—currently in Ghana, Nigeria, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Our Booth at the Summit
Learning from previous experience, the EWS-KT team this year decided the best way to interact with stakeholders at the summit was to bring eye-catching pumpkins, and they were right. The booth literally became a magnet, attracting a wide range of guests, including a former prime minister, heads of organizations and institutions, heads of departments, business people and entrepreneurs, farmers, consultants, lecturers, and university students.
The appeal of a foundation speaking the gospel of training smallholder farmers, backed by its mother company and showcasing its Pumpkin Project as an example of promoting underutilized crops was not something to be missed.
The Pumpkin Story
It was not surprising that the pumpkin story stole the show. When East-West Seed founder Simon Groot won the World Food Prize back in 2019, he dedicated most of his prize money to a project to promote pumpkin in Africa, starting in Uganda.
Why pumpkin? In a world where food insecurity and malnutrition are topical issues, pumpkin fits the bill of being close to a silver bullet. It is a simple crop to grow, virtually all its plant parts are eaten, it is highly nutritious, it has a long shelf life and easy transportability, and it can be a good catalyst for increasing the participation of women in the vegetable value chain. Add products like pumpkin chips (we exhibited them at the summit) and pumpkin oil and pumpkin biscuits showcased by other stakeholders, and you have a unique crop that is surpassed by very few.
The Pumpkin Project, implemented in Uganda, saw 520 demonstration plots established, reaching 14,095 farmers through 2,851 hands-on training events, and raising awareness about pumpkin production and consumption. 26 radio talk shows were held, creating mass awareness about pumpkin production and strengthening collaborations among key stakeholders along the pumpkin value chain. 150 pumpkin nutrition awareness campaigns were conducted within the project areas, which were key to increasing the consumption of and demand for pumpkin.
The Pumpkin Project also realized a significant increase in the production and marketing of the crop, with allied changes to the incomes of smallholder farmers. The average rate of return for a 250-square-meter demonstration plot was US$104 per crop cycle. With funding, there are plans to expand this work to Tanzania, Nigeria, and Ghana. (For more on the Pumpkin Project, read the recently released project report.)
What About the Sessions?
The sessions we were able to attend amid our busy schedule were informative and interactive. These included “Advancing the Food Systems for Africa through the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) and the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils,” where Executive Director Stuart Morris was a panelist and spoke about the importance of knowledge transfer in the vegetable sector, and the youth event where Uganda Knowledge Transfer Manager Joshua Mwanguhuya spoke passionately about youth inclusion in agriculture.
Lasting Impact
The Africa Food Systems Forum Summit of 2024 has come and gone. What remains are the memories of a well-organized event where we hopefully established lasting relationships and made an impact among our stakeholders. The setting, Kigali, could not have been more perfect; a beautiful city with immense hospitality and efficient systems. Add the breadth of the stakeholders, from agricultural entrepreneurs and farmer groups to funding organizations and government officials, and we had the hallmarks of a top-notch event.
Finally, the story of the 2024 summit cannot be complete without returning to the pile of pumpkins in the EWS-KT booth that, for a week in Kigali, became the center of attention.
