Emmet Murphy is an agricultural market systems and food security expert with over 25 years of experience. He currently serves as LandO’Lakes Venture37’s Technical Director, Agricultural Market Systems supporting USAID Feed the Future initiatives that strengthen livestock market systems in Rwanda and Haiti. He supports the firm’s new business and thought leadership efforts.

I had the pleasure of attending and representing Land O’Lakes Venture37 at the 2024 Africa Food Systems Forum  held in Kigali, Rwanda in early September. Organized by AGRA since 2006, the event brought together nearly 5,000 stakeholders (policymakers, private sector, academia, youth, women, and farmers) from Africa and other parts of the world. Attendees committed to taking practical action and shared lessons to build productive, nutritious, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable African food systems that have the power to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

In 2023, the organizers rebranded the Forum to more adequately capture a comprehensive view of food systems transformation: This ethos was reflected in the weeklong event that centered on a different thematic area each day, including innovation, nutrition, trade/markets, climate & food systems, and digital delivery. These conversations tackled pivotal decisions on food systems that could impact food security year-round. This year’s Forum also featured an expanded deal room, whereby pre-screened African entrepreneurs pitched concepts to raise new investment commitments. Over 1,000 youth attended this year, some of whom participated in the "GoGettaz" pitch competition, with top business ideas awarded to the most promising young entrepreneurs in Africa.

The Backdrop for Progress

The conference opened with high-level discussion points from the Africa Agriculture Status report, which emphasized that 75 percent of food produced in Africa ends up in urban areas, 95 percent of food produced on the continent remains in Africa and that micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) move 85 percent of that food. Despite these impressive figures, these MSMEs remain woefully underfinanced. Additionally, several speakers noted that 70 percent of Africans are under the age of 30 and by 2030, 42 percent of the global youth population will be African.

Trends for Climate and Food Security

The impact of climate on African farmers was noted by many speakers. Dina Esposito, USAID Assistant to the Administrator for USAID Bureau for Resilience, Environment and Food Security shared the agency’s commitment to address the climate crisis through its “PREPARE” agenda. This includes early warning with NASA and innovative ways to ensure that small farmers can receive such info. She stressed the need for climate finance for SMEs and how USAID is incentivizing lending with financial institutions throughout the continent. She also stressed the importance of animal genetics, reduction of food loss, and enhanced food safety. Several speakers noted the impact of climate, conflict, and inflation on food security, especially rising cases of malnutrition and poor dietary diversity among many rural households.

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Coordinator of the Association of Peul Women and Autochthonous Peoples of Chad (AFPAT), highlighted the negative impact of corruption and poor allocation of funds to smallholders, especially nomadic pastoralists who have been especially impacted by climate change. She also criticized the limitations of donor-funded grants programs that have onerous due diligence requirements that farmer groups are unable to access and rarely benefit from such funds.

Venture37’s Participation: Climate-Smart Livestock Innovations

Prior to the start of the event, a team from USAID Washington, including Dina Esposito, Assistant Administrator, visited Orora Wihaze’s partner – ABUSOL – that introduced an innovative ready-to-lay pullet model and egg kiosks to increase access to this health food in rural communities.

Land O’Lakes Venture37 participated in three panels during the event, and several young entrepreneurs showcased their animal-sourced food products at the forum’s Rwanda Pavilion. On September 2, Orora Wihaze and its partners participated in the Herding Change for Climate-Smart Innovations side event, hosted by the International Livestock Research Institute and the Alive4Climate Alliance. The event shared climate-smart technologies and innovations for livestock that have demonstrated readiness for large-scale adoption. Speakers highlighted practical examples of successful implementation, and their impact on productivity, sustainability, and climate resilience.

For example, Lucia Zigiriza, Chief of Party for the Feed the Future Rwanda Orora Wihaze Activity, and two co-investment partners – OX Delivers and Zipline Rwanda shared their efforts to enhance last-mile logistics through the use of electric vehicles, an integrated web and mobile web applications, and the use of drones to effectively deliver improved animal genetics to remote locations while reducing the dependence on fossil fuels.

On Thursday, I participated on the Policies in Regenerative Food Systems where I spoke about Orora Wihaze’s market systems approach that bolsters rules and regulations introduced by the Rwanda government related to livestock extension and meat safety and metrics on how we are realizing systemic change through co-investment grants and cooperation with the government.

Learn more about the 2024 Africa Food Systems Forum here. 



 

Lucia Zigiriza, Chief of Party of the Feed the Future Rwanda Orora Wihaze Activity, shares insights on how the activity has partnered with private businesses to accelerate climate-smart livestock solutions. 



 

Pierre Kayitana, General Manager, Zipline Rwanda


 

Ferdinand Munezero, Operations Director, OX Delivers

Emmet Murphy speaks on a panel about Orora Wihaze’s market systems approach

 At the Rwanda Pavillion, Orora Wihaze partners – Triumvirate and Panovita showcased their fish powder and baby porridge with egg powder products supported by a co-investment grant from Orora Wihaze. Several grantees participated in the event and shared their experience during a panel on Wednesday to discuss their businesses.