On June 14, AFC welcomed 22 experts from 17 countries to its first Agricultural Expert Day after the pandemic. The aim of the event was to give each participant an overview of relevant topics  the different projects are working on and to use and share knowledge inside the AFC network. 20 projects were represented, and 18 project managers joint the dynamic exchange.

The focus topic was the transformation of agricultural and food systems. AFC’s project manager Daniela Böhm set the scene for the topic, which is currently dominating agricultural projects and activities in technical assistance worldwide: Food systems are the combination of all actions it takes to produce and consume our food on a day-to-day basis. The need to transform food systems is driven by the effects of climate change, natural catastrophes, unsustainable practices lead to reduced soil fertility and endanger biodiversity. Moreover, the pandemic accelerated this severe situation. Only 7 years remain until 2030 – the deadline for achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – and many of the goals remain far out of reach. Daniela explained, that as a result of the UN Food Systems Summit in September 2021, around 150 governments have developed national pathways outlining their intentions to transform food systems for the coming years. Four mentioned action areas are:

1. Nourish All People

2. Boost Nature-Based Solutions of Production

3. Advance Equitable Livelihoods and Decent Work and Empowered Communities

4. Build Resilience to Vulnerabilities and Shocks and Stresses

The participants of AFC‘s Agricultural Expert Day (mainly team leaders) were then actively elaborating in working groups how their projects are contributing to transformation of agricultural and food systems and how they fit in this categorization of the UN Food Systems Summit.

Following this, three impulse speeches were presented in order to give examples how different stages of food systems are currently being transformed within on-going projects. Karsten Ziebell, team leader, started with an overview on transformation of agricultural production systems Thailand. He emphasized, that small holder farming often has a positive and somehow idyllic image, whereas their reality is characterized by many challenges such as weather events, lack of access to finance, fragmented land areas, aging farmers, increasing costs, lack of landownership and education. In Thailand, the development of farm structures has shown a decrease of average agricultural area per farm from more than 3.35 ha in 1993 to ca. 3.15 ha in 2013, while the number of farms has even slightly increased. In order to strengthen the position of farmers, the Thai government has developed the concept of cluster farm management. So far, 1,633 Landholdings with less than 80 ha face 9,917 Clusterfarms with an average size of 116 ha per farm.

After that, Annie Nana, project manager at AFC’s head quarter, presented the Allicance for product quality in Africa as one example for the transformation of agri-food standards. In AFC’s projects in Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire, so far, 34 agriculture companies have been successfully supported in terms of private standards such as organic, Global GAP, Fairtrade. 15 agribusiness companies have been fostered in order to prepare for internationally recognized quality management certifications such as ISO, IFS or HACCP.

Finally, Christoph Pannhausen, team leader, introduced the transformation of supply chains a part of sustainable food systems via sustainable employment through agribusiness in Ghana. He explained how Ghana responses to external drivers of transformation (climate, demography, urbanisation, globalisation). The country focusses on cashew and shea as alternatives to cocoa, it increases climate-smart agricultural practices, has established an industrial transformation agenda, restructures state subsidy programs and pushes for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as a pioneer.

Based on these practical examples, the experts then exchanged experiences regarding bottlenecks and potential recommendations to transfer elements of agri-food systems in their projects in an interactive session. The vivid discussions showed that

• Multi-level linkages from policy and research to practical implementation on the ground play a significant role in the transformation of food systems due to their interconnectivity
• Agroecology and food security are to be combined according to the EU’s Green Deal strategy, rather than being seen as a contradiction
• Strengthened traceability via contractual links between production, processing and trade in agri-food systems can support the holistic transformation of food systems

In the afternoon, Stefanie Maak, AFC project manager, moderated the session on impulses for emotional intelligence. Dave Boreham spoke vividly about the potential of this competency as a new key for effective leadership in volatile times: “You can manage things, but you lead people. – Management is a science, leadership is an art.”

The Agricultural Expert Day offered a strategic pooling of expertise from different countries and fields of work and has proven very successful in terms of a comprehensive technical exchange of information between the projects as well as for intensive networking of experts. Moreover, sharing lessons learnt and developing new ideas lead to the sustainable use of resources. Finally, all projects benefit considerably from the detailed personal meetings with AFC staff in the head quarter. We are looking forward to welcoming our colleagues here in Bonn again in the frame of our next Agricultural Expert day.