Two African laureates have been honored for their work in agricultural development, food security and green revolution by the Yara Prize Committee. Both Dr. Ousmane Badiane, Director for Africa, IFPRI, and Mr. Eric Kaduru, Founder and CEO of KadAfrica, have taken ideas for development and translated them into impactful results in their respective areas.
“Africa needs to do more to foster entrepreneurial agriculture and the interests of women and youth in agriculture. More smallholder-oriented policy changes are needed to meet growth and poverty alleviation targets in rural areas. In 2015, the Yara Prize honors two leading African change agents with transformational power. I wish to extend my personal congratulations to both laureates,” Svein Tore Holsether, President and CEO of Yara, said.
Mr. Kaduru is awarded the prize for changing the lives of young out of school girls in Uganda. Through his comprehensive approach to passion fruit farming, he has managed to strengthen these girls’ belief in themselves as entrepreneurs. He has equipped them with the financial, technical, and entrepreneurial skills that allowed them to develop into commercial farmers. Mr. Kaduru’s passion for engaging African youth in agriculture as a positive and sustainable livelihood is exemplified through the fact that in less than two short years he has partnered with more than 1,500 out of school girls (aged 14-20) to begin their own passion fruit farms. Mr. Kaduru and his organisation, KadAfrica, is rapidly building communities of resilient young women actively engaged in Uganda’s agriculture sector and are economic drivers of their communities.
Dr. Ousmane Badiane is awarded the prize for his important leadership role and influence on strategic debate and collaboration in Africa on agriculture and food security. Dr. Badiane is a first-class scholar and leading authority on African development with 30 years of professional experience in economic and agricultural development. As a persevering strong African voice he has already had profound impact on African governments across the continent. Dr Badiane has been instrumental and played a pivotal role in the shaping of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) agenda from concept development to implementation.
The Yara Prize for an African Green Revolution strives to transform African agriculture and food security to reduce hunger and poverty.