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Liberia's Minister of Agriculture, Her Excellency Jeanine Milly COOPER, called for an adapted, conceptualized and detailed discourse when it comes to agricultural transformation and climate-smart agriculture in Africa.

H.E. Jeanine Milly COOPER made this appeal at the opening ceremony of the Science and Partnerships for Agriculture Conference (SPAC), which opened in Accra (Ghana) on September 14, 2022, for three days.  

For the Liberian policymaker, while the transformation of African agriculture remains a real possibility, to get there we need to start taking stock, not only of the challenges - which are certainly overwhelming - but also of the assets the continent possesses, and capitalize on them.

In order to ensure the success of the mission and prevent it from reaching an impasse, the Liberian authority is calling for "the best catalysts and success factors to be sought for the transformation of our agriculture".

Farming systems today are focusing on Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) as the most favorable way out.

However, the Liberian Minister of Agriculture urges stakeholders to contextualize the very notion of AIC and adapt it to African realities.

"To what extent do we need to change the way we farm to be climate-smart?" asks H.E. Jeanine Milly COOPER.

Taking the example of her own country, which she believes adapts to most sub-Saharan African countries, the Minister believes that some AIC solutions, particularly in Western countries, are not adapted to African realities.

So, while the European Union is talking about increasing the rate of family farms from 7% to 25%, the equivalent in Africa is all smallholders, and that's the majority of agricultural producers. 

On the other hand, while commercial agriculture has developed in the West thanks to extensive mechanization and the massive use of fertilizers and chemicals, Africa is still at a very low level of fertilizer use and mechanization.

"For us, the transformation of our agricultural sector must not undermine our traditional systems. It must strengthen them", says H.E. Jeanine Milly COOPER. 

"We can't afford for CSA to be anecdotal for us. Our lives depend on the kind of transformation we can bring about in our agri-food systems".

According to the expert, mechanization adapted to the size of fields and the topography of countries, which can simultaneously solve the problem of youth unemployment and the disempowerment of women, solutions that lighten the burden on women and improve their livelihoods, and digitization of processes that attract more young people are just some of the climate-smart solutions for Africa. 

"We need to deploy and use the best research now. We need to drive innovation. We need to try out the right ideas and continue to seek to improve our triple aim of people, planet and prosperity," said the Minister.

SPAC is organized by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the member organizations of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme ex-Pillar 4 (CAADP-XP4), in collaboration with the government of Ghana and several other partners and donors.

Bringing together over 300 participants, it aims to find solutions to the challenges of agricultural production and productivity in Africa, in particular climate change.

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