When the System Is Tested

“It would be criminal if in 2032 we find ourselves in the same situation and say: six years before, in 2026, we had another shock, and we did nothing substantial.” H.E. Lionel Zinsou said those words in a room in Nairobi on the margins of the Africa Forward Summit. It was a remarkable reflection on whether this moment becomes another crisis we survived, or the point at which we chose to build differently.

Twenty years ago, AGRA was founded on a belief that Africa’s food systems would only succeed if African farmers and institutions were at the centre of the solution. Two decades on, that belief has been tested repeatedly, by drought, by a global pandemic, by supply chain disruptions that no one in 2006 could have mapped. Each time, the question has been the same: does the system hold? And each time, the honest answer has required us to look at what we have built alongside governments, farmers and partners, and ask what still needs to change.

That question has never felt more urgent than now.

Disruptions to global shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have removed a significant portion of fertiliser supply from accessible markets, contributing to a nearly 50 percent rise in global urea prices. For many African households, where food already represents half of daily expenditure, the consequences are immediate: higher fertiliser costs push up food prices, and the burden is carried first by the same smallholder farmers that AGRA has worked alongside for twenty years.

This is the nature of structural vulnerability. It does not announce itself only in times of crisis. It is present in every season where farmers cannot afford the inputs their soils need, every harvest where the price they receive for their produce does not cover what it cost them to grow it, and every government budget that cuts agricultural development spending when an external shock hits. Resilience, as AGRA has learned over two decades, is not the absence of shock. It is the capacity of farmers, communities and systems to absorb pressure and continue to deliver.

On 11 May, on the margins of the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, AGRA joined the ONE Campaign and Climate Action Platform Africa to convene a high-level roundtable on exactly this question. The conversation brought together voices from development finance, government, the private sector and entrepreneurship, and produced five points of convergence that we believe can anchor a shared agenda. The structural diagnosis is no longer in dispute: Africa’s food systems remain too exposed to external shocks, even as many of the technologies and locally produced solutions that can reduce import dependence already exist on the continent. The challenge now is to make farming more profitable, to design financing with African institutions from the outset, and to back the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) as the continent’s policy framework for agricultural transformation, food security, nutrition and inclusive growth. Properly resourced, and held to account, CAADP remains the north star.

What the roundtable also surfaced, and what twenty years of AGRA’s work confirms, is that resilience is not built in response to crisis. It is built before one arrives. In the communities where AGRA has worked, resilience looks like a farmer who can access improved seed, locally relevant advice and a functioning market before the next season begins. It looks like village-based advisors (VBAs), who are trusted farmers in their communities and help other farmers improve how they grow, access inputs, understand their soils, and increase their yields and incomes. It also shows itself as a consortia model, which brings together government, private sector actors, off-takers, agro-dealers, financial institutions and community-based extension networks so that support does not reach farmers as isolated projects, but as part of a functioning local system. It looks like a women-led agribusiness in Malawi with access to credit through VALUE4HER that does not disappear when global commodity prices move.

The food corridors that AGRA has been championing carry this logic further. By creating the commercial architecture that connects African surplus to African demand, by reducing dependence on supply chains that African governments do not control, and by building the market predictability that locally produced inputs need in order to scale, food corridors are infrastructure for resilience. Not in the abstract, but in the practical sense of what it means for a farmer to have a buyer, a fair price, advisory support within reach, and a system that does not collapse when the world does.

As AGRA marks twenty years this August, resilience is the right theme for this moment. What we are marking is the accumulation of capacity, knowledge, partnerships and institutional presence that means Africa is better placed today than it was in 2006 to respond to the next shock, and to build systems that require less response every time. The goal is not to be in the same room in 2032 saying the same things. The goal is to ensure that by then, the system holds.

The Resilience Builders: How Young Africans Are Transforming Food Systems from Within

The YEFFA Learning Event 2026 in Mozambique, hosted by AGRA in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, brought together partners, practitioners, policymakers, and young people from across Africa to explore how young people are driving more resilient and inclusive agri‑food systems. Through a mix of knowledge exchange and field visits in Nampula Province, the convening offered a first‑hand look at how investment in youth is translating into real opportunities on the ground.

One of those stories is Laura Cardoso’s.

Laura Cardoso was nineteen when she decided that farming could be something more than survival. Growing up in northern Mozambique, she had watched agriculture demand everything from the people around her and return so little in kind. Long seasons, uncertain harvests, markets that felt out of reach. For many, especially young women, the path forward was narrow. But Laura saw something others had stopped looking for: the possibility that things could be different.

That belief, it turns out, is exactly what resilience looks like when it is young.

Across Africa, a generation is redefining resilience, not as endurance alone, but as the ability to confront challenges with ingenuity and build new pathways forward. Young people are launching agribusinesses, adopting climate‑smart practices, and reshaping local food economies from within.

They are not a future promise, but a present force.

Through the Youth Entrepreneurship for the Future of Food and Agriculture (YEFFA) initiative, implemented alongside local partner Miruku, Laura strengthened her skills in farming, business organisation, and market engagement. The training invested in her potential. What she did with it was entirely her own.

She built a peer‑led training model rooted in shared experience, returning to her community and bringing others forward with her. To date, she has trained more than 300 young farmers, most of them women, strengthening their productivity, confidence, and access to markets. By organising farmers into collectives and linking them to reliable buyers, she has facilitated the sale of over 30 metric tonnes of maize, transforming subsistence farming into sustainable income.

One young woman decided things could be different. Three hundred farmers are now living that difference.

This is the resilience AGRA is working to build, not as a response to crisis, but as a foundation for lasting change in the continent. Through YEFFA, implemented in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, AGRA is connecting young people to the skills, finance, and networks that enable them to lead.

Because the most durable food systems are not built on aid. They are built on people. On young people, in particular, who carry both the urgency of the present and the imagination to shape what comes next.

Laura’s story is not an exception. It is a signal of what becomes possible when youth resilience is recognised, invested in, and given room to grow.

 

Ethiopia’s Transformation: Built Through Systems and Partnership

The AGRA@20 Ethiopia High-Level Convening, held in Addis Ababa in April 2026, marked more than a milestone celebration. It reflected Ethiopia’s broader story of resilience, systems transformation, and enduring partnerships that have shaped the country’s agricultural progress over the past two decades, while highlighting AGRA’s contribution to strengthening agricultural systems across Africa.

A major highlight of the engagements was the strategic field visit by the AGRA Board and Management to the Sidama Elto Farmers’ Cooperative Union on 16 April 2026, conducted alongside senior Sidama Region officials and AGRA Board Chair, H.E. Hailemariam Dessalegn. The visit provided firsthand insight into Ethiopia’s integrated approach to agricultural transformation, demonstrating how farmer-led enterprises are advancing local resilience, food systems development, and economic growth.

At Sidama Elto, the delegation observed an integrated operational model combining feed processing, mechanisation services, and strengthened market linkages. The cooperative illustrates how coordinated investments across production, aggregation, markets, and community systems can drive scalable, inclusive transformation anchored in local ownership and institutional collaboration.

The engagements reinforced a broader message emerging throughout AGRA@20: Ethiopia’s agricultural progress has not been shaped by isolated interventions, but by sustained systems-building. During AGRA’s first decade, 17 PhDs and 51 MScs were trained in crop breeding and soil science, while more than 2.7 million farmers gained access to improved seed. By 2017, the focus shifted towards strengthening policy, markets, institutional coordination, and digitally enabled service delivery, including the eVoucher platform now supporting more than 900,000 farmers.

Today, AGRA Ethiopia’s Strategy 3.0 is deepening this integrated approach through a USD 25.75 million investment portfolio supporting policy reform, digital agriculture, seed systems, youth employment, and climate-smart agriculture, with support from the Gates Foundation, Green Climate Fund, and the Mastercard Foundation.

For farmers like Meryema Aba Sura, a 45-year-old widow and mother of four in Jimma Zone, resilience now means more than managing uncertainty. Improved access to inputs, information, markets, and digital advisory services has strengthened not only productivity, but also confidence and opportunity.

As AGRA marks 20 years across Africa, the Ethiopia convening and Hawassa–Sidama Elto field engagements highlight a critical lesson: resilience is not an attribute of institutions alone. It is built within communities, systems, and partnerships. In Ethiopia, long-term investment in farmer-centred systems continues to strengthen the foundations for sustainable agricultural transformation and inclusive growth at scale.

 

Reflections on the Foundations of Africa’s Food Systems Transformation

AGRA was founded in 2006 because Africa was struggling to transform the livelihoods of its farmers and rural communities, and to ignite wider socio-economic transformation. There was a need for an African institution to channel mostly philanthropic resources to address lingering gaps to build capabilities in critical parts of the food system, spanning communities, markets, research and government and therefore empower smallholder farmers. The goal was to increase farm productivity and double farm household incomes.

In the initial ten years up to 2016, there were four complementary programmatic areas. These were identified on an assessment of the biggest binding constraints African agriculture transformation faced in the 2000s.

The first was the Program for Africa’s Seed Systems (PASS) that supported the development of Africa’s seed sector almost from scratch. Up until the 1980s the seed sector was government dominanted. The government produced most seeds available for farmers. After liberalization in the 1990s some large global multinational firms entered the market, largely importing seed. The African seed industry was almost non-existent and public functions were not meeting the needs of farmers and not geared toward research and market-friendlyconditions. AGRA’s seed program therefore built a scientific backbone by training 500 MSc and PhD graduates and 152 technicians in plant breeding and crop improvement disciplines. It supported fledgling African agricultural research institutes to develop and release 700 improved crop varieties across 18 crops. And it set out to significantly accelerate the private sector backbone of the sector by supporting 110 nascent African seed companies in 13 countries through catalytic funding, trainings and technical and business support, as well as 25,000 agro-dealers to strengthen the then weak agro-input distribution system. By 2016, commercial improved seed production by these African seed companies increased from 3,000 metric tonnes of seed in 2006 to 240,000 metric tonnes annually.

A second program was on soil health to deepen the African cadre of soil scientists and agronomists, to start to embed integrated soil fertility management practices, to improve fertilizer use efficiency, and to deepen last-mile extension services connected to the agro-dealer network.

A third program was on strengthening post-harvest management and market linkages. Efforts focused on establishing and strengthening aggregation systems for smallholder farmers, improving post-harvest handling practices, developing storage facilities and market infrastructure, exploring warehouse receipt systems and starting to link smallholder farmers to structured commercial markets and buyers.

The fourth area was a Policy and Inclusive Finance Program that set out to to improve the enabling environment by training various agricultural economists at MSc and PhD levels, supporting the evidence-based formulation of policies in line with a liberalized approach (following the government dominated approach that was dominant until the 1980s), and supporting the deepening of inclusive agricultural finance and investment frameworks.

While these programs had some benefits, they did not move the needle toward doubling farmer incomes and ensure farmers and rural communities prosper. A green revolution and food systems transformation, including through environmental sustainability, did not and has not happened yet as the programs were scattered in the various countries making it difficult to measure impact. In the 10 years after 2016, AGRA sought to continually learn from why these gaps remain through a constant refining of its strategy.  Between 2017 and 2022 it introduced the consortia model whereby consortia of actors with different services and goods at sub-national level or at enabler sector level (e.g. seed sector) were brought together under one programmatic framework to provide a bundled solution. AGRA also started to work more with partners funded through other sources and with capabilities AGRA did not have.

After 2023, a further level of integration started to take place, with a stronger focus on market systems approaches and government capability approaches.

On the market systems side, the bigger focus has been on:

  1. Placing market-shaping private sector much more at the centre of the programmatic design;
  2. Distinguishing pioneering inclusive firms (anchor firms) – whose business model is one that provides a vested interest to empower smallholder farmers – from speculative, rent-capturing firms;
  3. focusing on end-to-end value chain development with a recognition that binding and major constraints may sit outside of AGRA’s area of specialization and partners are key for this;
  4. accelerating soil health, water management, nutrition, gender intentionality and youth intentionality solutions;
  5. value chain diversification to understand which value chains have biggest scope to transform the economy at a national level.

On the government capability side, there has been a bigger focus on

  1. political economy dynamics
  2. intra-ministerial coordination around the needs of smallholder farmers, anchor firms and priority transformative value chains
  3. an integrated government approach to ensure all our government interventions are synchronized
  4. a stronger approach to institutional capacity strengthening

This effort is ongoing and as AGRA heads to its 20 year anniversary this August, as a learning organization it is undertaking a further learning review to inform what AGRA’s role should be in the next 10 years in order to build on these lessons and to play the role it was set up to play, thereby accelerating Africa’s trajectory toward food systems transformation.

By Jonathan Said– Vice President, Centre of Technical Expertise , AGRA, and Rufaro Madakadze, Lead – Capacity Building & Technical Support- CESSA.

Seventeen years later: How AGRA changed the way I see impact

When I joined AGRA in 2008, I’ll admit I was skeptical. Coming from the academic world, where impact is often measured over long periods, I questioned whether this was just another development “wave” that might pass. What convinced me to take the leap was the possibility of scale, taking the work I had been doing across two universities in 13 countries and expanding it further.

In the end, that work reached 15 countries and brought together trainees from 18 countries, which has been both humbling and energising.

In the early years under Strategy 1.0, I had the opportunity to lead a large program of about USD 50 million focused on building human and institutional capacity. We trained scientists, supported seed companies, and strengthened research technicians. At the same time, AGRA invested heavily in institutions, public sector systems like research, extension, and policy, as well as private sector actors such as seed companies, agro-dealers, and market players. Looking back, while the work was impactful, it often felt fragmented. Different programs were operating in parallel across seeds, soil health, markets, and policy, sometimes in different geographies, and I couldn’t help but feel that we were spreading ourselves too thin to see big, lasting change in specific communities.

The shift to Strategy 2.0 felt like a turning point for me. There was a deliberate move toward building systems that directly reached farmers at scale, and I found myself drawn into the work on extension systems. Supporting the development of Village/Community-Based Advisors (C/VBAs) was particularly meaningful. These were people rooted in their communities, working directly with farmers to improve practices, access inputs, and connect to markets.

For the first time, I could see how different pieces of the system came together at the farmer level. The consortia approach, combined with engagement at the state and district levels, created a sense of coherence that had been missing before. It was also deeply satisfying to see tangible results, farmers adopting technologies, improving yields, increasing incomes, and to finally have the data to tell that story clearly. Now, in Strategy 3.0, I see AGRA building on those foundations with a stronger emphasis on sustainability and resilience.

Climate change and economic shocks are no longer abstract concerns; they are real and immediate for the farmers we serve. I’ve appreciated the growing focus on sustainable farming practices and the intentional effort to create employment opportunities in agriculture, especially for young people.

The alignment with government priorities and the strengthening of partnerships, both continental and with the private sector, give me a sense that this work is becoming more embedded and scalable than ever before.

The author is the Lead – Capacity Building & Technical Support- CESSA.

AGRA Welcomes UN General Assembly Resolution on Climate Justice, Calls for Urgent Action to Support Africa’s Smallholder Farmers

Nairobi, Kenya, 22 MAY 2026: AGRA welcomes the historic adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of resolution A/80/L.65 on 20 May 2026, recognising that states have legal duties to address the profound human rights crisis posed by climate change, as set forth in the 2025 International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion. The resolution passed with 141 votes in favour and calls on member states to meet their existing obligations to climate justice under international law and multilateral frameworks.

This is a moment that developing countries and Africa in particular have long advocated for. Africa’s smallholder farmers feed over half the continent’s population yet are among the least responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions driving the climate crisis. That they bear the heaviest burden of its consequences is not an accident of geography it is a profound injustice. This injustice is not abstract. It directly erodes farmer incomes, threatens livelihoods, and undermines Africa’s path to shared prosperity.

The ICJ ruled that harming the climate by increasing fossil fuel production may constitute an “international wrongful act,” reinforcing what has been clear on the ground for decades: the world’s most vulnerable communities are paying the price for decisions made elsewhere. This is not a charity issue. It is a matter of legal and moral responsibility.

Alice Ruhweza, President of AGRA said, “Climate finance must reflect this reality. Today, less than 5% of global climate adaptation finance reaches smallholder farmers, the very people facing income shocks from erratic rainfall, prolonged drought, and soil degradation. The overwhelming share of climate finance continues to flow toward mitigation in wealthier economies, leaving adaptation needs in Africa chronically underfunded. This imbalance must be corrected as a matter of justice, not goodwill.”

AGRA calls on the international community to ensure that the implementation of this resolution is:

  • Country-specific and context-driven tailored to each nation’s unique agricultural, ecological, and social realities, not driven by one-size-fits-all global frameworks;
  • Farmer-centred, with direct, accessible finance and technical support reaching smallholder farmers as primary actors in climate adaptation and food security;
  • Accountable, with transparent mechanisms that ensure climate commitments translate into measurable outcomes for the most affected communities.

This resolution brings renewed momentum toward ensuring accountability for climate-driven human rights harms and protecting present and future generations. AGRA is committed to supporting its implementation working with governments, development partners, and farming communities across Africa to translate this legal milestone into tangible gains in farmer incomes, resilience, and prosperity on the ground.

ENDS


Media Contact
For interviews and media enquiries, contact: media@agra.org | +254 703 033000

About AGRA

AGRA is a proudly pan African institution focused on scaling agricultural innovations that help smallholder farmers towards increased incomes, better livelihoods, and improved food security. Since 2006, AGRA has worked with its partners, governments, non-governmental organisations, private sector businesses, and more; to deliver a set of proven solutions to smallholder farmers and indigenous African agricultural enterprises. These partnerships work to inclusively transform agri food systems, enabling smallholder farmers to prosper.

For more information, visit agra.org

From Feed to Fortune: How 25-Year-Old Mutini Cheta is Rewriting the Poultry Playbook in Zambia

When the Zambia National Youth in Poultry Webinar convened farmers, policymakers, and agribusiness players, it did more than share information, it ignited possibilities. Among the voices that stood out was that of Mutini Cheta, a 25-year-old entrepreneur and Co-Managing Director already commanding attention through his company, Wattles and Combs Poultry Ltd.

Speaking with clarity and conviction, Cheta captured the attention of participants when he remarked:
Feed is not just a cost, it’s the difference between survival and profitability in poultry. Once farmers understand that, they begin to take control of their business.”

His words reflected lived experience. At Wattles and Combs, where production reaches 80,000 birds annually, feed accounts for nearly 70% of total costs, a reality that has shaped his entrepreneurial journey. Instead of being constrained by this challenge, Cheta turned it into an opportunity, positioning his company not only as a poultry producer but as a feed solutions provider for other farmers. Throughout the webinar, Cheta’s contribution went beyond sharing numbers; he told a story of building from the ground up, navigating volatile input markets and innovating within constraints. He explained how his team supports farmers with practical feed formulation strategies, helping them adjust to fluctuating soybean availability while minimising dependence on costly premixes such as lysine and methionine.

“We cannot wait for perfect conditions. We innovate with what we have- local soybean, local knowledge, and that’s how we stay competitive,” he emphasised.

What resonated most strongly was his commitment to lifting others as he grows. Through structured training programs, Wattles and Combs has already trained over 2,000 farmers, equipping youth and women across provinces with the technical and business skills needed to thrive in poultry production. His approach is hands-on, grounded in real farm economics, and focused on profitability rather than theory.

A major turning point in scaling this impact came through strategic partnerships. Cheta revealed that his company is currently working with iDE, an organisation specialising in last-mile distribution. Their collaboration began after connecting at a poultry forum organised by AGRA the previous year. Through this partnership, Wattles and Combs have been linked to 59 agro-dealers, each serving networks of approximately 200 farmers. This has dramatically expanded their reach, creating a powerful distribution channel that connects smallholder farmers to affordable feed solutions, knowledge, and markets. What started as a single enterprise is now evolving into a scalable ecosystem supporting thousands of farmers.

The webinar also highlighted tangible results already emerging from such efforts. With improved local soybean production, feed prices have dropped significantly, from around 800 ZMW to approximately 500 ZMW per 50kg bag, easing pressure on smallholder farmers. At the same time, awareness of the Simplified Trade Regime (STR) is opening new doors, enabling youth-led enterprises to think beyond local markets and position themselves within regional value chains.

Cheta underscored this opportunity with a forward-looking perspective:

The future of poultry is not just production, it’s market access. If young farmers can produce efficiently and connect to regional markets, then poultry becomes a serious business, not just a side activity.”

His leadership is already influencing broader sector dynamics. By fostering collaboration between poultry producers and crop farmers, particularly those producing maize and soybeans—he is contributing to a more stable and integrated value chain. At the same time, his insights are feeding into ongoing advocacy efforts to reduce the cost of key inputs and strengthen the competitiveness of the poultry sector.

In many ways, Mutini Cheta embodies the very outcome the webinar sought to achieve: a young, forward-thinking agripreneur who is not only building a successful enterprise but also shaping an ecosystem where others can succeed. His journey is a reminder that with the right knowledge, networks, and determination, youth can move from the margins of agriculture to the centre of transformation, and, in doing so, carry thousands along with them.

Ecobank Group and AGRA forge strategic partnership to transform agricultural value chains and drive inclusive growth in Africa

  • Ecobank Group and AGRA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing a high-level cooperation framework to promote sustainable and climate-resilient agricultural growth across the continent.
  • The partnership focuses on de-risking agricultural lending through blended finance, risk-sharing facilities, and tailored financial products designed for agribusiness SMEs and smallholder farmers.
  • The collaboration will specifically target women- and youth-led agribusinesses by aligning Ecobank’s Ellevate initiative with AGRA’s Value4HER and YEFFA programs.

Ecobank Group and AGRA today announced a strategic partnership aimed at strengthening Africa’s agricultural ecosystem. Signed during the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi on May 11, this MoU brings together Ecobank’s extensive pan-African banking network and AGRA’s deep expertise in agricultural transformation to improve access to finance for agribusinesses, farmer organisations, and key value-chain actors.

Recognising that agriculture is the backbone of the African economy, the two institutions are combining their strengths to address the critical challenges of agricultural financing, commercialisation, and climate resilience. 

Anup Suri, Group Executive Commercial and Consumer Banking Ecobank Group stated:

“To transform Africa’s economy, we must treat agriculture as a high-growth commercial sector rather than a subsistence activity. Through this strategic alliance with AGRA, Ecobank is unlocking the massive capital required to scale agribusinesses across the continent. We are de-risking the sector, backing women and youth entrepreneurs, and building a resilient food system that will power Africa’s next decade of growth.”

Alice Ruhweza, President – AGRA added:

“Agriculture is not one sector among many for Africa; it is the foundation on which the continent’s entire development agenda rests. As African leaders advance the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) strategy for the decade ahead, this partnership with Ecobank translates that ambition into action. AGRA, working with its partners, has over the last twenty years established evidence, value chain knowledge, and on-the-ground insight into the opportunities for women and young people to build agribusinesses that thrive. Pairing that expertise with Ecobank’s reach and capabilities is how we make the case, credibly and concretely, that African food systems are one of the most compelling opportunities of our time.”

A comprehensive framework for agricultural transformation

The partnership is built on several strategic pillars designed to catalyse long-term impact across the agricultural sector.

Ecobank will develop and deploy tailored financial solutions, including working capital, asset finance, and trade finance. To overcome traditional barriers to agricultural lending, the partners will collaborate on structuring risk-sharing facilities, guarantees, and blended finance mechanisms. AGRA will provide catalytic funding support, beneficiary mobilisation, and technical assistance to enhance the financial literacy, governance, and investment readiness of agribusiness SMEs and cooperatives.

Placing a strong emphasis on empowering marginalised groups, the partnership links Ecobank’s Ellevate program with AGRA’s Value4HER (women in agribusiness) and YEFFA (youth entrepreneurship) initiatives to increase targeted financing and capacity-building for women- and youth-led enterprises.

As climate change increasingly impacts food systems, the collaboration will actively promote sustainable land use and mobilise green financing instruments to support climate-resilient agri-solutions.

Media Contacts

About Ecobank Group

Ecobank Group is the leading private pan-African banking group with unrivalled African expertise. Present in 34 sub-Saharan African countries, as well as France, the UK, UAE and China, its unique pan-African platform provides a single gateway for payments, cash management, trade and investment. The Group employs over 14,000 people and offers Consumer, Commercial, Corporate and Investment Banking products, services and solutions across multiple channels, including digital, to over 32 million customers. For further information, please visit www.ecobank.com

About AGRA

AGRA is an African-led institution that has been driving inclusive agriculture transformation across the continent since 2006. Working with governments, private sector actors and development partners, AGRA unlocks system-level change so that smallholder farmers can increase incomes, build resilient livelihoods and strengthen food security. For more information, please visit www.agra.org