IDRC at the Africa Green Revolution Forum 2017
This year’s Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, was attended by close to 1,000 participants including policymakers, agricultural businesses, researchers, and agriculture donors. IDRC hosted several events throughout the Forum, which ran from September 4-8.
IDRC’s side event, “Strengthening research to support agricultural transformation in Francophone countries of West and Central Africa”, was organized in collaboration with the Agricultural Research Centre for International Development, the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development, and Nangui Abrogoua University. The event was chaired by Ly Bakayoko, Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, who made a presentation on the role and place of agri-food research and innovation in the economic development of the country.
The event provided a platform for researchers and other experts involved in innovation systems to exchange ideas on the challenges of agri-food research and the lag of Francophone countries in this area; the need to increase the number of young researchers and promote women’s leadership in agricultural research, innovation, and policymaking; the mechanisms used to improve the scale up and scale out of technologies and innovation; and the need to encourage partnerships between researchers and policymakers, the private sector, civil society, and communities across the continent to create lasting change.
In his remarks at the beginning of the event, Denis Roussel, the Chargé d’Affaires at the Canadian Embassy in Abidjan, reiterated Canada’s commitment to be an active partner in promoting women’s rights. This is in line with Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy that promotes efforts to protect women from inequality, violence, natural disasters, and climate change.
In collaboration with FAO and CARE USA, IDRC hosted a “Women in Agriculture” session on September 5 and an agribusiness exhibition of 10 women-owned businesses. The Centre also co-hosted a dinner with AGRA focused on women in agriculture that was attended and addressed by several high-level participants from African governments (including Côte d’Ivoire’s vice president) and other international and regional organizations, including the African Union and the African Development Bank. Several pledges were made during the dinner for support for African women in agriculture and agribusiness.
