The event due next month in Kigali will bring young African agritech innovators for what is poised to be an exciting show-piece of technologically driven solutions that young people are deploying to revitalize the agricultural sector. Heifer International, the United States based non-for-profit organization that focuses on combating hunger and rural poverty through the support of agriculture for decades, has planned its first ‘Next-Generation Young African Agriculture Entrepreneurs Summit’ on the 11th of June 2024.
Dubbed ‘Reimagining Africa’s Agriculture for the next 50’, the inaugural AYuTe Next Gen will feature young innovators and agripreneurs focused on the African continent’s agricultural sector, youths, and stakeholders across those fields.
The Agriculture, Youth, and Technology (AYuTe) Africa Next Gen is a program by Heifer International in partnership with some organizations with the aim of unlocking the capability of the young people in Africa and entrepreneurship to tap into and seize opportunity change the lives of smallholder farmers and farmer-led organizations benefiting from their innovative solutions that can shape the agriculture sector. In 2021, the initiative was carried out to start shedding light on the situation, and the response has been overwhelming. It has also seen its share of success stories, where some winning solutions have positively impacted the continent’s agricultural revolution.
This year also marks the 80th year of Heifer International as an organization and as a service provider supporting smallholder farmers around the world. Additionally, it commemorates the 50th year it has been supporting the region and its communities to design and implement solutions together with governments, donor agencies, partners, and communities to strengthen the agricultural value chain across the continent. In commemoration of these significant events, Heifer will use the upcoming AYuTe Next Gen summit to mobilize and empower a fresh crop of young people across Africa with ideas and passion for agribusiness entrepreneurialism to advance a bold agenda for the next 50 years of change in African agriculture.
Adesuwa Ifedi, Senior Vice President, Africa Programs, Heifer International, said: “The AYuTe Next Gen gathering provides agripreneurs, policymakers, investors, innovators, and other key stakeholders with the opportunity to witness young African innovators in agriculture pitching their ideas as we seek to identify and reward the top performers with cash prizes and the technical support, they need to scale their innovations.
“It is also a platform for young agripreneurs to lead important conversations, share knowledge, and forge partnerships with critical stakeholders to drive progress towards a more secure and sustainable food system in Africa.”
People who are winners of AYuTe national competition in several countries will be presenting during the conference and for a chance to clinch the best regional awards. These finalists included participants who submitted their entries to the show from all the participating countries. They were selected from a large number of contenders through a preliminary screening and a technical evaluation stage. During the event, the AYuTe Next Gen, their ideas will be presented to a competent panel of judges and only the deserving innovations will be selected and awarded.
Dayo Aduroja, African Youth and Innovation Lead, Heifer International, stated: “Every innovator within the AYuTe ecosystem is a winner, and our ongoing collaborations with them, which presents us with front-row seats to the impact of their tech-driven solutions for smallholder farmers’ challenges, constantly reminds us of this.”
She concluded by highlighting that the AYuTe Next Gen gathering is another opportunity for stakeholders and partners to see from their perspective and requested for their participation in supporting the bringing to market of home-grown technology and innovation that powers smallholder farmers to increase productivity and incomes.
