Farm to Market Alliance secures additional public funding from Norway

Farm to Market Alliance film from 2017.

The Farm to Market Alliance is a unique alliance of six agri-focused organizations, collaborating to develop a sustainable and profitable agricultural sector in Africa. It does so by addressing the major challenges smallholder farmers face, supporting their transition to commercial agriculture.

The Alliance’s global members are The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Bayer, Rabobank Group, Syngenta, Yara and the World Food Program (WFP).

The Farm to Market Alliance works to build resilient value chains by bringing together the public and private sectors to leverage the knowledge, experience and infrastructure of the world’s leading experts in agriculture. The Norwegian government have committed NOK 150 million (USD 17 million) over three years in support for the Farm to Market Alliance.

Africa is recognized as the future breadbasket of the world, but the continent is still a net-importer of food. The Farm to Market Alliance’s mission is to develop a sustainable and profitable agricultural sector in Africa.

For too long, farmers in Africa have been subject to a range of barriers preventing them from transitioning to commercial farming. To address this, the Farm to Market Alliance takes a demand-led approach in servicing smallholder farmers and the surrounding ecosystem thus providing a holistic value chain solution.

“The private sector has a critical role to play in the worldwide movement to end hunger – we will never achieve our goal without their support. The Farm to Market Alliance is a unique collaboration that supports the growth of agricultural markets and works with smallholder farmers to help them find buyers for their produce – enabling them to earn a sustainable living and support their families.” says Executive Director of the World Food Program, David Beasley.

The announcement of continued funding to the Farm to Market Alliance comes at a time when access to food is deteriorating for millions of people, threatening both food security and peace in vulnerable regions.

“In the middle of the Covid crisis we are also facing a hunger crisis. We must rebuild more resilient and fair food systems after the pandemic, and the Farm to Market Alliance is uniquely positioned to help us achieve that goal,” says Yara’s President & CEO, Svein Tore Holsether.

In connection to the World Food Program being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday, WFP Executive Director Beasley, Norway’s Minister for International Development Dag-Inge Ulstein and Yara’s CEO Svein Tore Holsether will discuss how to accelerate public-private partnerships for food security in a meeting today, Friday 11 December.

Press release from the Norwegian government can be found here. (NB in Norwegian).