Annual Report 2012 - African Agricultural Technology Foundation

12 AATF Annual Report 2012
in supporting Africa’s scientists and farmers gain access to technologies
that have potential to make a difference during 2012. AATF is about
African farmers and providing them with practical technology solutions
because technology offers hope towards reversing the low agricultural
productivity trend in Africa that makes it lag behind the global average.
The Foundation began the year on a high note with a strategy refresh
exercise in May for which I must thank management on behalf of the Board.
Motivation for that refresh came from the realisation that AATF needed
to be more responsive to the changing environment and stakeholder
expectations while aligning its work with that of other agricultural players
in Africa.
Various key stakeholders, including donors, partners, representatives
from regional agricultural organisations and the management participated
in the exercise. The result of the refresh is a more dynamic strategy that
will see AATF focus on appropriate technologies whether proprietary or
not. These technologies will provide the organisation with the opportunity
to reach even more farmers in SSA faster through availing a larger pool of
tools to address their constraints; and expand its reach of farmers to also
include resource-constrained and not smallholders only, a definition that
is based on size of land. The refreshed strategy will also see the injection
of commercial skills into the Foundation’s staffing to support its product
deployment activities; and the application of impact driven and results
based management with a fitting planning, monitoring and evaluation
system.
AATF’s work depends on partnerships. Partnership formation and
management therefore is at the core of its work and is the means by which
the organisation achieves its goals. In this respect, the organisation signed
memoranda of understanding (MOU) with key continental and regional
organisations to support its work across Africa. These include agreements
with the Africa Union Commission, the Forum for Agricultural Research
in Africa, the Conseil Ouest et Centre Africain Pour La Recherche et le
Developpement Agricoles and the Africa Seed Trade Association. These
and the various other partnerships entered into during the year are
important for the organisation as they allow for harnessing of synergies,
alignment of activities, effective and efficient utilisation of scarce resources
and more importantly, they present a united approach towards addressing
the food security and the development question in the continent.
The organisation launched two new exciting projects during 2012
– Cassava Mechanisation and Agro-processing Project (CAMAP) and
Hybrid Rice Project. CAMAP is focusing on accessing appropriate labour-
Deploying agricultural technologies for farmers