The partnership will provide a framework for collaboration in the delivery of strategic initiatives to support the African Union’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).
AKADEMIYA2063 and IFDC recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to leverage research to inform policy action toward advancing Africa’s food security ambitions. The partnership will provide a framework for collaboration in the delivery of strategic initiatives to support the African Union’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), the continent’s agrifood system transformation framework, including planning and implementation processes of the Kampala CAADP Declaration, and the Nairobi Declaration on the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit.
“Together, we aim to focus on coordinated actions–leveraging big data, innovation, and local capacity–to restore degraded soils, sustain soil health, boost productivity, and ensure resilient food systems for generations to come”, said Henk van Duijn, President and CEO of IFDC.
“AKADEMIYA2063 is delighted to partner with IFDC to guide policymaking and programmatic interventions toward accelerating sustainable agricultural productivity growth and food security in Africa,” said Dr. Ousmane Badiane, Executive Chairperson at AKADEMIYA2063.
“This partnership comes at an opportune moment, as the continent prepares for the implementation phase of the recently adopted Kampala CAADP Declaration on ‘Building Resilient and Sustainable Agrifood Systems in Africa.’ We look forward to leveraging our joint expertise to promote evidence-based decision-making while strengthening technical and institutional capacities at country and continental levels,” continued Dr. Badiane.
IFDC and AKADEMIYA2063 will work together to explore research in key thematic areas, including economic analysis on soil health, input policy, prices, and the impacts of soil health on agricultural yields and incomes, as well as food security and nutrition.
In addition, the parties are intent on leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and remote sensing data to assess and map soil health and agricultural production and yields to guide soil fertility and food security decision-making and management.
“We are proud to join forces with AKADEMIYA2063 in this timely partnership to advance Africa’s food security and agricultural transformation,” said Henk van Duijn, President and CEO of IFDC. “By combining our expertise in soil health, nutrient use efficiency, plant nutrition, and agribusiness with AKADEMIYA2063’s policy research and analytical capacity, we can deliver actionable solutions that support the African Union’s CAADP framework, the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan, the Soil Initiative for Africa, and the implementation of the Kampala and Nairobi Declarations. Together, we aim to focus on coordinated actions–leveraging big data, innovation, and local capacity–to restore degraded soils, sustain soil health, boost productivity, and ensure resilient food systems for generations to come.”
Knowledge sharing will be a notable component of the partnership, with potential activities spanning sharing soil health and other relevant data, strengthening technical and institutional capacities for fertilizer, soil health, and agricultural production measurement, monitoring, and analysis, as well as conducting joint fundraising for research, analysis, capacity-strengthening, and outreach.
