Hosting the African Green Revolution Conferences

In 2006 Yara initiated the African Green Revolution Conference (AGRC) and co-hosted the three-year Oslo series through 2008, after which it was transformed into the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF), and then transferred to Africa – still with our active support. The AGRCs were supported by chief co-partners Norad, Norfund and Rabobank. Establishing the AGRF was a joint effort by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and Yara.

The AGRC aimed to promote the African Green Revolution and soon gained a position as the global venue, the meeting-place for public-private dialogue on partnership and action, and inspired concrete collaboration. The Oslo conferences received on average about 250 high-level participants from around 40 countries, representing public institutions and private companies, academia and organizations and the media.

The unique focus of the AGRC was to engage the private sector, with its human as well as financial capital, and its institutional competence and capacity for innovation, in public-private partnerships in support of the African Green Revolution: PPP–AGR. The AGRC explicitly supported Africa’s own strategy, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

The 2006 conference brought together interested parties under the PPP–AGR umbrella for the first time. A Conference Resolution was agreed, establishing the foundation for a unique partnership. The conference – and its novel approach – met with acclaim from both the private and public sectors.

The 2007 gathering built further on the foundations established the previous year, focusing on the need to improve productivity, and concluding with a high-level ministerial roundtable that adopted the Oslo Declaration and Agenda for Action – based on the dialogue in plenary, breakout sessions and subsequent workshops.

The 2008 conference followed up on previously identified challenges, prioritized in the Agenda for Action. The main themes were engagement for entrepreneurship, including financing and markets, empowerment and innovation and alliances for action, including partnerships.

In conjunction with the Yara Prize ceremony in 2009, Yara hosted an AGR Seminar in Oslo, following up on key issues such as climate change and financing mechanisms – preparing for the 2010 AGRF in Accra, Ghana.

The ministerial and high-level roundtable hosted by Yara as a conclusion of the AGRC 2007 adopted the "Oslo Declaration on the African Green Revolution" and the corresponding "Agenda for Action in Support of the African Green Revolution."

The Oslo Declaration draws on outcomes from the conference and the conclusions from the roundtable. The latter involved 18 Ministers of Finance and Agriculture from 12 African states, as well as leaders from public sector and donor organizations.

Find out more about the Oslo Declaration by downloading the document Oslo Declaration and Agenda via the link on the right of the page.

The AGRCs helped involve the private sector. Bringing representatives of key stakeholders together resulted in a sharing of ideas and experiences and building of networks.

Several partnerships have been initiated after the conferences. Yara’s projects include the two agricultural growth corridors in the making, which have attracted great interest from the public and private sector alike – from inside and outside Africa.

Priorities identified by the AGRCs are carried forward by key stakeholders and found in main policy documents: The public-private partnership concept; the value chain approach; the attention to smallholder farmers; the need to improve productivity; and the key role of financial mechanisms – both financing and insurance.

Awareness of agriculture as a potentially profitable business has grown in recent years, as has its role in combating poverty and driving economic development. Major donor institutions and policy bodies, including the World Bank and the G8, have rallied in support of the African Green Revolution. At its 2009 summit, the G8 repeated its commitment to support African agriculture, and the G20 created a global fund to boost food production.