Africa Climate Smart Agriculture Congress: Innovations, Partnerships and Financing

NAIROBI, Kenya - Nov. 14, 2017 - PRLog -- Climate-smart agriculture has a profound impact on Kenya. The country is incredibly vulnerable to crises from extreme weather due to the reliance on climate-sensitive natural resources. The agriculture sector is a major contributor to the national GDP, which also leaves Kenya's economy weak during periods of flooding or drought.

The World Bank has recently approved a $250 million USD investment to the Climate-Smart Agriculture Project in Kenya. The investment comes at a time when Kenya has been hit by major drought and approximately 3.4 million people are in need of food aid and clean water. As weather patterns become more extreme and unpredictable, the main goal of the project is to increase agricultural productivity and build resilience to climate change risks for smallholder farming and pastoral communities through upscaling finance interventions, developing sustainable seed production and distribution, and improving forecasting and information distribution to farmers.

The inaugural Africa Climate Smart Agriculture Congress (http://www.csa-africa.aidforum.org/) will take place on 6-7 March 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya. Organised by the Aid & International Development Forum (AIDF), the Congress brings together senior representatives from ministries of agriculture, heads of key Agri-related public institutions, UN agencies, agricultural firms, NGOs, farm associations, agriculture research and development institutes, investors, donors and the private sector.

The agenda will cover technological innovations, capacity building, innovative financing, partnerships and the use of big data to advance climate-smart agriculture practices across East Africa. The participants will discover how to secure financial investment for CSA initiatives, improve agricultural productivity and scale adoption of technological innovations in agricultural systems. Other prominent topics include ICT for agri and mAgri innovations and supporting farmers through technology, data collection and sharing.

The 40+ speaker panel includes Gabriel Rugalema, Representative of the FAO Kenya, Noelle Obrien, Team Leader of the Finance Innovation for Climate Change Fund, Richard Munang, Regional Climate Change Coordinator at the UNEP and Berber Kramer, Research Fellow of the International Food Policy Research Institute and Laban Ogallo, Project Coordinator, IGAD-UNDP amongst others.

By offering keynote addresses, panel discussions and interactive roundtable sessions, the congress enables robust debates on sustainable agricultural transformation and economic opportunities while ensuring sustainability for communities and the environment.

Join the Africa Climate Smart Agriculture Congress and meet key decision makers and agricultural experts to establish public-private partnerships for a sustainable food future in East Africa. There will also be discussions on  practical solutions to the prominent climate change challenges in the region, especially around drought management and irrigation best practice.

Reserve your place (http://csa-africa.aidforum.org/register) to be part of engaging discussions and connection building in climate smart agriculture in Africa.

​To learn more about the Climate Smart Agriculture Congress, visit the website (http://csa-africa.aidforum.org/) or email Alina O'Keeffe, Head of Marketing, Aid & International Development Forum at marketing@aidforum.org