Farmers have to ensure that the world continues to eat healthily and that food production is not interrupted by Coronavirus (Covid-19).

The spread of the corona virus has deterred operations of restaurants, hotels and airlines that patronizes farm produces in large quantities. It has greatly slowed down export demands and global economic activities.  

Although there are current challenges in the agricultural sector, the farmer’s health is most paramount. Farmers should observe basic bio security protocols and safety rules while working on farms.

The onus lies on food producers, processors and vendors to take the following precautions to stay safe amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

• Handle all food samples wearing face masks and gloves. Livestock farmers should also avoid direct contact with animals.  
• Wash your hands properly before and after visiting your farm.  
• Remove and wash clothing immediately after visiting the market.  
• Seek medical attention early when you feel sick, even with mild symptoms such as cough, headache, and fever.  
• Hand wipes and sanitizers should be made available in marketplaces.  
• Opt for bank transfers rather than cash handling in the marketplace.  
• Stay away from crowded environments.  
• Maintain social distancing of at least three feet when conducting business transactions with vendors and consumers.  
• If you can, package all vegetables in transparent bags to stop customers from touching food  

Finally, everyone involved in the agricultural value chain has to follow strict food safety and health regulations. Always listen to the news and stay in touch with the Agro community for updates about the global agro economy. Protect yourself, your Agro products and others to help prevent the possible spread of Covid-19 and other viruses. 

Written By:

Joy Ejere Uche 

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Meet the Farmers Conference is an annual conference aimed at promoting and supporting agribusiness partnerships between Africa and the GCC. It encourages technology innovation in the agricultural value chain and provides a platform for agro trade between both regions. The theme of the conference this year, ‘Creating a Sustainable Future; Food Security | Trade | Technology’ is anchored on sustaining food production, facilitating inter-regional trade and promoting technology in agriculture.

This year’s conference was largely attended by African farmers, exporters, investors, distributors, policymakers, logistics companies, and trade agencies. Standardization bodies, agricultural advocates, exhibitors, off-takers from the GCC, and participants from different countries were all present.

The conference opened with a welcome address delivered by Bola Oyedele, Managing Director Crenov8, and was followed by a keynote speech from the office of the UAE Ministry of Economy represented by H.E. Juma Al Kait, Assistant Undersecretary- Foreign Affairs of the Ministry of Economy, UAE. He expressed the UAE’s interest in trading with Africa and encouraged farmers to capitalize on this opportunity and export food to the GCC.

Next was a presentation on ‘How Logistics can help Improve Agricultural Trade in Africa’ by Adekunle Oyinloye, Group Managing Director -SIFAX Group, Gold sponsors of the conference. Omar Khan, Director of International Offices at Dubai Chamber of Commerce spoke on ‘How Dubai is Advancing Trade Relations with Africa’. He described MTFC as a conference that exposes Agribusinesses in Africa to opportunities in the UAE. He also stressed that the Dubai Chamber is willing to support agribusinesses and other organizations looking to set up business in Dubai.

The conference featured other presentations and panel sessions by agro experts across Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Topics ranged from ‘Ways to Create a Sustainable Future in Agriculture’ to the ‘Opportunities in Agricultural Value Chain’. Some of the panelists for both sessions include Kenneth Obiajulu, Managing Director – Farmcrowdy, Ademola Akinyemi – CEO Farmcenta, Alok Bhargava – MD Praramb Agri-Trading DMCC, Dennie Beach – President Go Africa LLC, Schlueter – President Doehler MENA and Adekunle Oyinloye – Group MD of SIFAX Group. This was followed by breakout meetings and B2B networking sessions.

Day Two

After an engaging time on the first day of the conference, the second day was lit with expectant faces and high-level networking had started in the conference hall already, The full proceedings of the day began with a presentation by Dr Abdulkareem Muhammad Al Amri, CEO Hail Agriculture Consultancy. He spoke on the ‘Role of Africa in Supporting UAE Food Security’. Highlighting the major African-produced food crops that are in demand in the UAE,  he encouraged farmers to cultivate for export as there is a huge market ready to absorb same in the UAE. His speech was succeeded by a presentation on ‘Food Trade in the UAE’ by Joachim Yebouet, CEO Foodco Holdings, one of the largest FCMGs engaged in food processing and distribution in the UAE. This presentation focused on the role Africa has to play to ensure the sustained distribution and availability of food for the UAE’s teeming population.

Other highlights of the event included two-panel sessions and a presentation underlining the Standards and Requirement for Food Importation into the UAE, How to deal with the Agricultural Challenges in Africa and the Agribusiness Opportunities in Africa.

MTFC 2019 Innov8Agric Challenge

The Conference this year also featured the second edition of Innov8Agric Challenge. This year, we received over a thousand applications with various innovative Agritech ideas from across Africa. The finalists, Acquahmeyer Ghana, AgriGo Rwanda and Lentera Africa pitched at the grand finale held at MTFC 2019. At the end of an exciting pitch session, Lentera Africa emerged winner of this year’s Innov8Agric Challenge. The CEO, Moses Kimani was awarded the sum of $5000 grand prize and other incentives that came with the Innov8Agric Prize.

Other Awardees at MTFC 2019 include;

• The Most Impactful Networking Group – UAE AFRICA NETWORKING GROUP
• Business Excellence Award – GO AFRICA 
• Company of the Year – SIFAX GROUP 
• Sustainable Company of the Year – WEBCOR GROUP
• Best Innovative Company of the Year – ADVANTA SEEDS
• Excellence in Investment Promotion – FEDERAL MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (FMARD Nigeria)
• Trade excellence Award – MINISTRY OF ECONOMY, UAE

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The distribution of agro commodities in Africa continues to be inefficient, leading to excessive spoilage and the high cost of logistics. These challenges in the African logistics system affects the productivity of the agro sector.

Africa has the potential to produce cash and food crops in massive quantities. Asides the need for technology and finance to scale agriculture, logistics also contributes a major role to this effect. Logistics is needed to aggregate large quantities of agro commodities from across Africa for exportation. Hence, the need to establish a modern logistics system for agro trade.

See also: The Future of Technology in Agriculture

Although Africa has large amounts of arable lands for cultivation, a large part of these lands are unreachable. This is due to insufficient inter-connecting infrastructure within and outside the continent. As a result, the cost of transporting agro commodities is relatively high when compared to the cost of production. 

Logistics play an important role in Africa trade but unlocking the potentials require innovation and digital solution. The improved distribution could come through government policies and private company involvement to relieve the burden on agro-dealers. 

There is also need for investments in basic infrastructure such as roads, ports, trucks, dockyards, air cargo, and warehousing. This will ensure that the farm produce reach the final consumer. These infrastructures are essential to facilitate inter-regional trade of agro produce.

At Meet the Farmers Conference 2019, William Stenhouse the Vice President of Agility Africa will be speaking on “The Role of Logistics in Agriculture”. 

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In 2018, the United Nation estimates that more than 820 million people in the world were still hungry, challenging the goal to achieve zero hunger by 2030. Another disturbing finding by the FAO states that about 2 billion people in the world experience severe food insecurity. In the face of these challenges, African farmers still work tirelessly in the rain and sun to cultivate lands for food production. As insignificant as it may seem, African farmers play a very crucial role in promoting global food security. 

The second UN Sustainable Development Goal is to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030. Achieving this goal in Africa will require sustainable agricultural practices and better access to food, land, technology by the small scale farmers who constitute 70% of the population.

The World Health Organization defines food security as when all people at all times have access to sufficient safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life. Food insecurity, on the other hand, is more than just hunger – it is as a result of severe food deprivation. 

Agricultural production in Africa is relatively low, compared to other continents. More than half of the world’s uncultivated arable lands (about 65%) are located in Africa, yet the continent remains food insecure. Spending $35 billion annually on food importation has led to a negative trade balance in Africa. These statistics affect indigenous farmers, some of which live in abject poverty and depend on agriculture as an only source of livelihood. Low yields, lack of quality seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and advanced tech-enabled farm tools are few attributes to food insecurity in Africa. 

Africa can feed the world and farmers have a huge part to play to achieve this through sustainable agricultural practices. Proffering solutions to the challenges facing African farmers is key to mitigating food security in the world. The development of human resources will help achieve food security in the world. 

Investing in farmers equals investment in the agricultural sector. Human capacity development of these farmers in low-income communities is fundamental to tackle other indirect causes of hunger. 

Africa has enormous agricultural potential that can be harnessed to feed the 9 billion people that will be in the world by 2050. In commemoration of the World Food today, we call everyone to take action for food security. Arise and secure the future of African farmers to produce healthy food and achieve zero hunger in the world.

More on MTFC:

• Where this is found in Africa Series – an Expository of African Cash Crops
• Agribusiness Spotlight: Cevital Agro Industrie
• UN Appoints Aliko Dangote and Akinwumi Adesina to Tackle Global Malnutrition
• AATF partners IRRI to Scale Hybrid Rice Production in Africa
• Dr. Taiwo Olayinka Afolabi

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Co-Founder and CEO, Farmcrowdy

Years later, Onyeka bagged a first-class degree in Applied Information from the Sikkim Manipal University of Health, Medical and Technological Sciences in India. Thereafter, he gathered measurable work experiences from several job roles at Wakanow, Jumia, Guaranty Trust Bank, Konga, Travelbeta, CoSign Inc., etc. In 2015, he decided to apply his technical know-how to agriculture, after conducting research.

Farmcrowdy Group was the brain-child of the research, birthed with a team of Onyeka’s co-founders in 2016. Today, the company is the parent company to Farmgate, a technology-driven agro-trading platform for agro commodities in Africa. The Farmcrowdy Group is now a leading agritech company with over 12,000 farmers registered across 13 states in Nigeria

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At TKC we specialize in working with Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) including Entrepreneurs and Small Start-ups to develop custom-made business “development” strategies that fit within their strategic vision.

As an entrepreneur of entrepreneurs, Khaleel focuses on helping SMEs get ahead by providing Marketing, Branding, Business IT and Market Acceleration services and his company, TK Consultancy have become experts in leveraging technology and establishing large business. On the strength of his expertise and leadership, TKC has become a proven reliable partner providing access to one the fastest growing emerging markets in the world where you can take advantage of unrealized and untapped opportunities. At TKC, we believe business is borderless and are dedicated to building bridges between Africa and the World.

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