YALTA Regional Summit and the

Agroecological Market Systems Expo

Theme: Accelerating youth-driven agroecological businesses for
sustainable food systems

Photo: Group Photo at the Summit.

October 25-26, 2022

Silver Springs Hotel, Kampala-Uganda

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................................................................... 1
LI ST OF ACRON YM S ........................................................................................................................................................ 3
EXECUTI VE SUM M AR Y .................................................................................................................................................... 4
I NTRODUCTI ON ................................................................................................................................................................ 7

DAY ONE – 25TH OCTOBER 2022 ..................................................................................................................... 7

1 CONTEXT .................................................................................................................................................................... 7
1.1 Background ....................................................................................................................................................... 7
1.2 Objectives of the Summit ................................................................................................................................ 8
1.3 Outcomes of the Summit ................................................................................................................................ 8

2 SETTI NG THE SCENE ............................................................................................................................................... 9

2.1 Welcome Remarks and Objectives .............................................................................................................. 9
2.2 Overview of the YALTA Initiative .................................................................................................................. 10

3 KEYNOTE SPEECHES ............................................................................................................................................. 11

3.1 Reflection on the importance of accelerating youth-led businesses in agroecology ...................... 11
3.2 Reflection on the importance of sustainable food systems and the role of the youth ..................... 13
3.3 Alignment of YALTA Initiatives to IKEA’s wider Programme .................................................................... 14
3.4 Experiences in Agroecological Business Investments .............................................................................. 14

4 PANEL DI SCUSSI ONS ........................................................................................................................................... 16

4.1 Markets reward youth in agroecology ....................................................................................................... 16
5.1.1. Successful Business Acceleration for Agroecology Businesses ..................................................... 16
5.1.2. Creating scalable agroecology business models ........................................................................... 17
5.1.3. Access to finance for agroecology businesses ............................................................................... 17
4.2 Youths adopt agroecology principles ........................................................................................................ 18
5.2.1. Research on meaningful youth engagement and entrepreneurship ......................................... 18
5.2.2. Youth Caravan and Peer to Peer Learning ...................................................................................... 19
5.2.3. Mentorship programme ....................................................................................................................... 19
5.2.4. Best practices in the application of agroecology principles ........................................................ 20
4.3 Plenary Session ................................................................................................................................................ 20
4.4 Creating a conducive environment ........................................................................................................... 22
5.4.1. Youth engagement in policy development processes ................................................................. 22
5.4.2. Campaign for Acid Soils Reclamation .............................................................................................. 22
5.4.3. Youth engagement in policy processes at the country level ....................................................... 23
5.4.4. Inclusion of youth in agroecology research and education curricula ....................................... 24

5 BRE AKOUT SESSI ONS ........................................................................................................................................... 24

5.1 Market access ................................................................................................................................................. 24
5.2 Adoption of agroecology principles........................................................................................................... 25
5.3 Creating a conducive environment ........................................................................................................... 26

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DAY TWO – 26TH OCTOBER 2022 ................................................................................................................... 27

1 B ACKGROUND ...................................................................................................................................................... 27
1.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 27
1.2 AMASE Objectives .......................................................................................................................................... 28
1.3 AMASE Activities ............................................................................................................................................. 28
1.4 AMASE Outputs ............................................................................................................................................... 28

2 SETTI NG THE SCENE ............................................................................................................................................. 29

2.1 Opening Remarks ........................................................................................................................................... 29
2.2 Official Opening Speech by Guest of Honor ............................................................................................ 29

3 L AUNCH OF THE ‘PGS F ACI LI TATOR S’ GUIDE AN D H AN DBOOK ON AGROE COLOGY

PRODUCTI ON ......................................................................................................................................................... 32
4 AGROECOLOGY M ARKET AND BUSI NESS NETWORKI NG ACTI VI TI ES ............................................... 34

5 M ARKET B ARRI ERS, OPP ORTUNI TI ES AND R ECOM M ENDATI ONS FOR AGROE COLOGY
ADOPTI ON .............................................................................................................................................................. 36
5.1 Market Barriers/ Challenges ......................................................................................................................... 36
5.2 Opportunities ................................................................................................................................................... 36
5.3 Recommendations......................................................................................................................................... 36

6 PI TCHES FROM REPRESE NTATI VES OF N ATI ON AL YAL TA REFERENCE GRO UPS ........................... 37
6.1 MELCA Ethiopia............................................................................................................................................... 37
6.2 Help a Child Rwanda .................................................................................................................................... 38
6.3 SNV Kenya ....................................................................................................................................................... 39
6.4 PELUM Uganda ............................................................................................................................................... 39

7 PRESENTATI ON OF COMM I TM ENTS ............................................................................................................... 40

7.1 Market access ................................................................................................................................................. 40
7.2 Adoption of agroecology principles........................................................................................................... 41
7.3 Conducive business environment ............................................................................................................... 41

8 CLOSI NG REM ARKS ............................................................................................................................................. 43

9 ANNEXES .................................................................................................................................................................. 44
9.1 Day 1: 25th October 2022 - Summit Programme ...................................................................................... 44
9.2 Day 2: 26th October 2022 - AMASE Program ............................................................................................ 45
9.3 List of Participants ........................................................................................................................................... 46
9.4 Detailed Discussions from the Breakout Sessions ...................................................................................... 47

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LIST OF ACRONYMS

AFSA : Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa

AMASE : Agroecological Market Systems Expo
COMESA : Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
COP : Conference of Parties
COP 27 : 27th Conference of Parties
COVID-19 : Corona Virus Disease of 2019
FAO : Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations
GMOs : Genetically Modified Organisms
HYV : High Yielding Varieties
IFAD : International Fund for Agricultural Development
IKEA : IKEA Foundation
KHOA-EA : Knowledge Hub for Organic Agriculture in East Africa
MAAIF : Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries
MELCA : Movement for Ecological Learning and Community Action
MTIC : Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives
NAES : National Agricultural Extension Services
NFP : Netherlands Food Partnership
PELUM : Participatory Ecological Landuse Management
PGS : Participatory Guarantee System
SADC : Southern African Development Community
SDG : Sustainable Development Goals
SMEs : Small Medium Enterprises
SNV : SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
WFP : World Food Program
YALTA : Youth in Agroecology and Business Learning Track Africa

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

DAY ONE – 25th October 2022 – YALTA Regional Summit

Agroecology has been identified as a global response, offering a unique approach to the
alarming rates of food insecurity and malnutrition, alongside the growing crises of biodiversity loss
and climate change. The approach places a strong focus on the rights of women, youth, and
indigenous peoples. Whereas their involvement is crucial for the future, their involvement and
participation – especially the youth is still limited.

In the past 2.5 years, the YALTA Initiative – a partnership between the Netherlands Food Partnership
(NFP), and the IKEA Foundation has supported young (aspiring) entrepreneurs in agroecology to
effectively realise the transition towards sustainable food systems with solid business opportunities
and capacity strengthening through youth caravans, mentorship programmes, policy
engagements, and business accelerators to apply agroecology principles.

To ensure sustainability of outputs in the long run, dissemination of the results achieved, and lessons
learned and instigating discussions on how these could be replicated and scaled, NFP in
collaboration with PELUM Uganda organized the first YALTA Regional Summit at Silver Springs
Bugolobi in Kampala, Uganda on the 25 th of October 2022. The Summit was attended by 201
physical participants (119 men and 82 women) consisting of different agroecology stakeholder
categories under the theme “Accelerating youth-driven agroecological businesses for
sustainable food systems.”

The YALTA Regional Summit was intended to celebrate the successes and exchange insights and
lessons learned from YALTA project interventions in each country, empower the youth to drive
policy processes, provide a platform for the youth to showcase their agro-ecological businesses;
identify strategies to sustain, replicate and scale up innovative models and approaches.

The Summit triggered exciting discussions around a number of themes including market access,
adoption and creating a conducive policy environment for uptake of agroecology. Key
emerging issues and strategic pathways are shared hereunder:

Key emerging issues revolved around:

1. Limitations in access to credit. Most of the youths have limited access to funding due to
lack collateral often required by financial service providers as security for the loans.
Important to add is the insufficient quality of bankable business plans.
2. Lack of reliable markets for agroecology products. This is further compounded by the
costly certification processes required by authorities to authenticate standard organic
products for market access.
3. The gap between theory and practice. This is intensified by limited scientific research or
evidence of profitable agroecology businesses and limited awareness or lack of
knowledge about agroecological principles.
4. Land tenure especially for the marginalised groups such as women and youth. This includes
issues related to land access, ownership, management and benefit sharing mechanisms.

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Key strategic pathways to harness opportunities and provide solutions included the following:

1. Access to Credit
– Engage financial institutions to design appropriate and inclusive financial products
with less stringent restrictions on collateral to accommodate youth led investments.
– Encourage the youth to establish youth councils under well-organized
cooperatives and anchor their activities respectively to benefit from the credit
guarantee schemes that provide opportunities of access to credit.
– Empower youths to build credible networks and more trust worthy relationships. The
young people can partner with their fellows that run already established businesses
and family support to acquire soft loans.
– Strengthen the capacity of young people to build credible businesses, with clear
business plans and execution plans through targeted skilling programmes.

2. Improve market access

– Improve market information services through ICT - utilising digital and social media
platforms to improve advertisement,
– Strengthen market linkages through building networks along the value chain, and
support agroecology farmers to improve product quality and safety including
packaging.
– Support farmers with affordable alternative options for product certification to
ease access to markets.
– Strengthen access and delivery of extension services to agroecology farmers to
support access to quality inputs.
– Empower farmers in agroecological entrepreneurship as agricultural business
strategy on increasing value for society, the environment and the company or
business.

3. Strengthen research in agroecology value chains

– Invest more funds in research to stimulate studies on organic agriculture and
extend monetary incentives for farmers to invest in food safety.
– Review and integrate agroecology in school curricula of all educational
programmes at all levels.
– Documentation and integration of indigenous knowledge in science informed
research to build evidence-based cases for uptake of agroecology practices.

4. Ensure inclusivity in implementation of agroecology principles/ practices

– Develop a holistic approach to succession planning including land succession
plans since most youths/ women do not own land.
– Strengthen inclusion and recognition of the rights of marginalised groups in
planning and implementation to ensure fair and equitable benefit sharing.

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DAY TWO – 26th October 2022 – Agroecology Market Systems Expo

Over the past three decades, agroecology has gained more attention as the basis for the transition
from conventional agriculture and external-market oriented production to ecological, localized
agriculture that not only provides rural families with significant social, economic, and environmental
benefits but also sustainably and more equitably feed urban populations.

Young entrepreneurs have taken this opportunity to build their locally owned and operated businesses
and connecting farmers to local markets amidst the widespread supply chain disruptions through
innovation, diversification and market linkages. However, they still face challenges such as limited
access to credit, lack of business mentorship, unfavorable markets and interactive spaces among
others.

In light of this, PELUM Uganda in collaboration with the Netherlands Food Partnership (NFP) organized
the 1st Agroecological Market Systems Expo (AMASE) which is a multi-sectoral and multi value chain
expo that brings together all key actors within the Agroecological value chain and food system space
under the theme ‘Unlocking barriers and opportunities for scaling up agroecological entrepreneurship
and territorial market development.’ The Expo was attended by 275 physical participants at Silver
Springs Hotel in Bugolobi, Kampala on the 26th of October 2022.

The overall objective of the Expo was to provide a platform for agroecology entrepreneurs and market
systems actors to share experiences, build synergies, showcase (business exhibition) and explore
opportunities for strengthening agroecological entrepreneurship and territorial market development at
various levels.

The Expo was graced by the Hon. Minister for Trade – Hon. Harriet Ntabazi who appreciated the
innovations at the Expo, acknowledged the PGS as a simplified certification system, the Pesa Agro-
enterprise model to enhance market development, emphasized the power of partnerships and
encouraged the exhibitors to improve quality through value addition to tap into opportunities created
by the expanded markets. Despite the progress, the Minister expressed concern about GMOs amidst
the pressure to feed the growing world populations. The Minister officially launched the Facilitators’
Guide for establishing and operating the Participatory Guarantee Systems for Farmer Groups and the
Handbook on Agroecological Production.

In a rapid survey undertaken at the Expo, participants shared the challenges they face in the
agroecological market system; the opportunities within their reach and recommendations to improve
agroecological businesses. Key challenges included: product/price differentiation; stiff competition
from non-organic products; high cost of certification; limited access to credit and unfavorable market
dynamics. The main opportunities cited included: presence and willingness of financial service
providers to support agroecological businesses; availability of scientific research to support
development of business models; and the growing market for agroecological products. The major
recommendations revolved around: developing more appropriate financial products to ease access
to credit; simplifying the certification process for agroecological products and license agroecology
actors especially input providers; and strengthening capacity and enhancing inclusive awareness on
the role of agroecology in sustainable food systems.

The Expo further synthesized key priority issues to scale up the project interventions and actors made
commitments to this effect. The key commitments made included: capacity enhancement to guide
mindset/behavioral change; strengthening policy advocacy for youth inclusion; designing knowledge
management and advocacy frameworks to guide co-creation of knowledge and shared learning;
research, innovation and technology advancement; value addition to ease market access; affordable
alternative options for product certification; use of ICT technologies; integration of agroecology in
education programming; and gender inclusion.

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INTRODUCTION

On the 25th and 26th October 2022, PELUM Uganda and partners supported by the partnership
between the Netherlands Food Partnership (NFP) and the IKEA Foundation organized the YALTA
Regional Summit and Agroecological Market Systems Expo. This was a wrap up of the 2.5-year
project implemented in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia. The hybrid event brought together
over 275 participants including young entrepreneurs, agroecology and business professionals from
the four countries.

Organized for two days, the first day was generally intended to share experiences from the project
implementing partners and beneficiaries, exchange information and knowledge, identify
strategies to sustain, replicate and scale up innovative models and approaches and facilitate
networking opportunities that can potentially accelerate youth driven agroecological businesses
for sustainable food systems. The second day was intended to facilitate better understanding of
the agricultural market systems by providing a platform for trade and negotiations among actors
along agroecological value chains and highlight business opportunities that can create potential
value-based partnerships.

The subsequent sections provide detailed proceedings that took place during the two days.

DAY ONE – 25TH OCTOBER 2022

1 CONTEXT

1.1 Background
Achieving the 2nd Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 2) on Zero Hunger needs a transition
towards more sustainable food systems, with more socio-economic benefits and less
environmental consequences. Agroecology has been identified as a global response, offering a
unique approach to the alarming rates of food insecurity and malnutrition, alongside the growing
crises of biodiversity loss and climate change1. The approach aims to optimise the interactions
between people, plants, and animals.

Agroecological innovations are based on co-creation of knowledge, combining science with the
traditional, practical, and local knowledge of producers. By enhancing their autonomy and
adaptive capacity, agroecology empowers producers and communities as key agents of
change2. This includes an explicit focus on social and economic dimensions of food systems.
Agroecology places a strong focus on the rights of women, youth, and indigenous peoples.
Whereas their involvement is crucial for the future, their involvement and participation – especially
the youth is still limited.

In the past 2.5 years, the YALTA Initiative – a partnership between the Netherlands Food Partnership
(NFP), and the IKEA Foundation has supported young (aspiring) entrepreneurs in agroecology to

1M. Jahi Chappell and Annelie Bernhart (2018). Agroecology as a Pathway towards Sustainable Food Systems.
2Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (n.d.). Guiding the Transition to Sustainable Food and
Agricultural Systems.
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effectively realise the transition towards sustainable food systems with solid business opportunities
and capacity strengthening to apply agroecology principles.

The YALTA initiative follows a market-based approach and convenes a wide range of stakeholders
consisting of agripreneurs, practitioners, researchers and academia, policy makers, seed
distributors, and farmers; sharing a wide range of knowledge and experiences to push for
collective advancement. By connecting to a broad base of youth networks in Ethiopia, Kenya,
Rwanda and Uganda, the initiative ensured the inclusion of youth every step of the way – from
identifying the major issues to co-developing solutions that facilitate their participation to increase
the effectiveness and efficiency of youth agroecology initiatives and to improve attention for
youth in agroecology in research, policy agendas and education curricula.

To ensure sustainability of outputs in the long run, dissemination of the results achieved, and lessons
learned and instigating discussions on how these could be replicated and scaled, NFP in
collaboration with PELUM Uganda organized the first YALTA Regional Summit at Silver Springs
Bugolobi in Kampala, Uganda on the 25 th of October 2022. The Summit was attended by 201
physical participants (119 men and 82 women) consisting of different agroecology stakeholder
categories.

The multi stakeholder groups comprised YALTA implementing partners, representatives of youth
networks and coalitions, members of agroecology networks, young leaders, young farmers and
entrepreneurs, government officials, ambassadors, diplomats, student bodies, national and
international research and academic institutions, United Nations agencies, bilateral and
multilateral organizations, local and international non-governmental organizations, private sector
players (including financial service providers), media and social media influencers, and other
primary and secondary stakeholders.

The First Summit was therefore held under the theme “Accelerating youth-driven agroecological
businesses for sustainable food systems.” The summit created a multi-stakeholder space to learn,
share and assess youth driven emerging solutions to existing challenges, and opportunities for the
youth to accelerate agroecology for sustainable food systems.

1.2 Objectives of the Summit

The YALTA Regional Summit was intended to:

1. Celebrate the successes and exchange insights and lessons learned from YALTA
project interventions in each country - from the youth awareness campaigns,
caravans, mentorship programs, business accelerator initiatives, and agroecology
networking opportunities.
2. Empower the youth to drive regional policy processes, knowledge exchange and
showcasing youth led agro-ecological businesses.
3. Identify strategies to sustain, replicate and scale up innovative models and
approaches.
4. Facilitate networking within the regional platform for interaction between youth,
agroecology stakeholders, policy makers, service providers, investors, etc.

1.3 Outcomes of the Summit

In line with the set objectives (1.2), the Summit was able to achieve the following outcomes:
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 1. The successes and results of the YALTA Project were shared with various stakeholders.
2. Capacity needs and proposals/ strategies to advance youth participation in
agroecology were identified.
3. Concrete opportunities for replication and scaling were identified and agroecology
stakeholders committed to support implementation of action plans.
4. Young entrepreneurs showcased their agroecology products and businesses and had
an opportunity to network and link up with key actors and service providers in the
agroecology value chain.

2 SETTING THE SCENE

The event was moderated by Mr. Andrew Kyamagero, a renowned journalist working with the
Nation Media Group. He recognized participants from different countries in the region i.e.,
Ethiopia, Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda; and in a special way appreciated the development
partners for the financial and technical support towards the Summit. Mr. Kyamagero highlighted
the great opportunity that was presented through the connection of youth networks from the
different countries and future opportunities that this would come with.

2.1 Welcome Remarks and Objectives

By Ms. Josephine Akia Luyimbazi, Country Coordinator - PELUM Uganda

In her remarks, Ms. Akia observed all protocol

recognizing different actors from the different countries
and welcomed them to the very first YALTA Regional
Summit. In a special way, she recognized the presence
of the youth and appreciated them for changing the
narrative of youth unemployment and how
agroecology has been vital in closing the critical gaps.

On behalf of PELUM Uganda, Ms. Akia expressed

pleasure in hosting the first Summit and was optimistic
that it would set standards for other countries such as
Photo 1: Ms. Josephine welcoming participants. Rwanda, Kenya and Ethiopia.

In her reflection on the three-year project which commenced in 2020, she noted that a number
of successes had been achieved and it was important to replicate the lessons learnt from each
of the countries through enhancing youth awareness. Project interventions included the youth
caravans, mentorship programmes, business accelerators, among others and as a result, the
youth had a lot to showcase.

Ms. Akia reminded the participants that the COP 27 was to take place in a few weeks and this
was a great opportunity for the youth to showcase their contribution in enhancing climate change
resilience through innovative approaches, capacity development of the communities they work
with and harnessing opportunities such as waste to wealth and using biochar to enhance soil
fertility.

9
Pondering on how to replicate the project achievements beyond YALTA, Ms. Akia emphasized
the need to facilitate regional networks. Her guidance focused on creating connections between
the youth and business service providers.

In her forward-looking message, Ms. Akia informed the participants that the YALTA project had
ended with a lot of energy and innovations were geared towards mainstreaming youth
interventions in agroecology. She expressed PELUM’s desire to take the project achievements
forward through their programmes and provide the youth with an opportunity to showcase their
products. ‘Once youths are empowered with information and skills, you’ve empowered a
generation’, she emphasized and concluded by wishing the participants fruitful deliberations
during the Summit.

2.2 Overview of the YALTA Initiative

By Ms. Bente Meindertsma, Regional Programme Manager – YALTA Project

Ms. Bente was pleased to interact with participants from different countries and noted that YALTA
provides a great opportunity as a platform that brings together youth entrepreneurs from different
countries in the region.

The overview of the three-year regional project was

shared in a video. This demonstrated the YALTA project
as a platform that the youth utilized to build networks and
share experiences in agroecology. Through various
capacity building interventions, the youth were
empowered to embrace agriculture and drive
sustainable food systems through optimizing the
interaction between people, crops, and animals.

The video presentation further showed a great

improvement in adoption of the agroecology principles.
YALTA created sustainable business models; encouraged
peer-to-peer learning; strengthened agroecology
networks; and amplified youth voices in the policy
development process for agroecology.
Photo 2: Ms. Bente presenting an
overview of the project.

Key highlights included the production of briquettes that substituted 1000 kg of charcoal,
processing of maggots to produce chicken feeds, and production of organic fertilizers and
manure from waste among other interventions. Ms. Bente appreciated the key partners who had
worked tirelessly to link the youth to meaningful and value adding networks. She noted that this
was evident in the value added by each of the teams through their specialized skills in policy
engagements, business development, and capacity strengthening.

In a special way, she thanked the regional implementation teams for their efforts during the
project. This was crowned by a gift sharing gesture with the Country Coordinators and Program
Managers as appreciation for their tremendous work in shaping the successful implementation
journey of the YALTA project. She wished the participants a beautiful day of knowledge sharing
sessions from the youth who were to demonstrate agroecological principles to experiences from

10
experts in the regions. In reciprocating the same gesture, Ms. Josephine Akia Luyimbazi, the
Country Coordinator of PELUM Uganda appreciated the team from the Netherlands Food
Partnership for walking a patient and successful journey for the past 3years of the project.

Photo 3: Gifts exchange among the Project Implementing Teams in different countries.

3 KEYNOTE SPEECHES

3.1 Reflection on the importance of accelerating youth-led businesses in

agroecology
By Dr. Million Belay (Ph.D.), General Coordinator, Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa

Mr. Million Belay (Ph.D.) appreciated the honor of being

in Uganda yet again, to participate in the first summit
on agroecology. Mr. Belay informed the participants
that the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) is
the biggest Alliance in Africa that brings together small-
scale farmers, pastoralists, fishers, indigenous peoples,
faith communities, consumers, women, and young
people from across Africa to create a united and loud
voice for food sovereignty.

In a special way, he recognized the membership of

PELUM Uganda to the alliance as the strongest and
there could never have been a better choice of a
network to implement the YALTA project in Uganda
other than PELUM. He noted that some organizations
are born but never live to celebrate their “5th Birthday”
Photo 4: Dr. Million sharing the
(they die quickly) but PELUM has stood the test of time.
importance of accelerating youth-led
businesses.
He expressed sadness that the YALTA project had come
to an end noting that so many people are aging away.
He hoped that the project could be revived to support the younger generation and mentor more
young activists.

In his presentation, Mr. Belay started by questioning how the different actors could address the
challenges in the food system. He continued to reflect on how to produce more food that is
nutritious and healthy, and culturally appropriate without affecting the biosphere in a just way.

11
He reflected on the green revolution drawbacks that favoured farmers who could afford High
Yielding Varieties (HYVs), agrochemicals, machines and irrigation facilities, while the indebted
farmers lost their properties and migrated to cities; new monocrops faced resistance to pests and
weeds and this resulted in ecological disasters. This type of agricultural production was oriented
to cash crops and not food for domestic consumption and this resulted in nutrition and health crisis
and eventual cultural erosion.

Mr. Belay informed the Summit that the kind of food system that would solve the challenges stated
was to follow agroecology principles. In his definition, agroecology is the application of the
science of ecology simply, ‘the science of how nature works’. It is a science, practice and social
movement that integrates diverse knowledge systems generated by food system practitioners to
promote the transition to a fair, just and sovereign food systems.

Agroecological systems encompass a wide range of approaches with a clear direction of

diversifying farms and farming landscapes; replacing chemical inputs with ecologically based
materials, practices, and processes; optimizing biodiversity; and stimulating interactions between
different species as part of holistic strategies to build long-term fertility, healthy agroecosystems,
and just livelihoods.

Mr. Belay referred to case studies to help participants appreciate the role of agroecology in
building sustainable food systems. The first case focused on how the African leafy vegetable
enterprise boosts livelihood of rural communities in Kenya through its medicinal values and various
nutrient components. The second case was in Malawi where majority of the land was ignored
during the April/May season but permaculture sites continued to produce highly nutritious foods
throughout the year. In another case study undertaken by AFSA where compost and chemical
fertiliser were used for the same crops, higher yields were observed for crops where compost was
applied. Further, the farmers realised substantial income increase, improved soil fertility, carbon
sequestration, and increased crop diversity among others.

With science informed cases, he noted that agroecology is becoming the norm. it has been
integrated into the higher education system, more and more governments are endorsing it,
research institutions are increasingly engaged with it, the donor community is increasingly
engaged, the philanthropy is increasingly supporting it, the UN bodies, including FAO, IFAD and
WFP are engaged with it, the health crisis is driving consumers to agroecology, social movements
are mobilizing for it and it is appearing in international conventions.

With the increasing recognition of agroecology, he stress the importance of agroecological

entrepreneurship. This is an agricultural business strategy on increasing value for society, the
environment and the company or business. It is a wholistic way of doing agricultural business and
youth participation can create employment opportunities, boost individual creativity and self-
reliance, ensure better standards of living, and encourages technological advancement.

In his conclusion, Mr. Belay emphasised the role of the youth in facilitating the transition to
agroecology. He cautioned them to learn from practice and action research, practice
agroecology, create a movement around agroecology, educate others, think about the business
side of it, and participate in advocating for change. In his tips of success for the youth, he
underscored the need to learn their businesses, focus on delayed gratification, learn from failure
and try to be the best in their businesses.

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3.2 Reflection on the importance of sustainable food systems and the role
of the youth
By Mr. Frank Buizer, the Agricultural Councillor of the Embassy of the Kingdom of
Netherlands.

In his remarks, Mr. Buizer, appreciated YALTA for the

great work and its interesting story of choice on driving
change and innovation in the region, paving a way for
the youths in coming up with more sustainable
solutions to food security in the region through
applying agroecological principles.

The embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands has been

supporting food security initiatives in Uganda for a long
time through the Netherlands Food Partnership (NFP)
with a focus on accelerating initiatives by Dutch
companies, organisations, and partners from low- and
middle-income countries. To achieve food systems
transformation for food and nutrition security, in line
with the Dutch Policy for Foreign Trade &
Photo 5: Mr. Buizer highlighting the role of the Development Cooperation. As a backbone
youth in supporting sustainable food systems.
organisation, NFP supports collective impact
coalitions to reach their full potential and offers
convening space where initiatives can land and grow.

More focus is geared towards attracting the Dutch agricultural sector to be present locally for a
more sustainable direction. Many projects are being implemented in Uganda with NFP and these
include Poultry, Diary, Insect farming, and currently preparing the East African Program to further
develop skills among the citizens and ensure that available resources are utilized.

Mr. Buizer noted that food security is one of the biggest concerns, and there is need to develop
skills especially through the youth programmes as well as supporting them to build networks, apply
for grants and participate in grants competitions. In light of this, the NFP has established a Youth
Advisory Committee (23-26years) to select a group of youth to support more inclusive policy
development processes and support designing programs that are youth inclusive. The initiatives
should target bridging the gaps between theory and practice, enhance climate change
resilience through early warning systems, invest more funds in research to stimulate studies on
organic agriculture and extend monetary incentives for farmers to invest in food safety.

In his conclusion, he urged the youth to utilize the Youth Knowledge Exchange Program through
NUFFIC-Netherland Education Programs. There are so many ways to support the youths – through
awareness EXPOs, Best Farmer Competitions (e.g., best youth farmer of the year), Skilling
Programmes, Monthly Newsletters and Platforms such as the Youth Forestry Committees.

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3.3 Alignment of YALTA Initiatives to IKEA’s wider Programme
By Nico Jansen, Grants Manager at IKEA Foundation

Mr. Jansen commenced his presentation by giving a brief profile about IKEA Foundation. Founded
in 1982, the IKEA Foundation was established to support innovations around interior design and
architectural designs. Later in 2009, the scope of work was extended to supporting families to
enjoy a better life. After a decade, IKEA is working towards addressing the two biggest threats to
children’s future: poverty and climate change.

Since then, the foundation has worked with many partners, who have all made an incredible
contribution to the journey of improving lives of families and to this he recognised the priceless
partnership the foundation had in implementing the YALTA Project. The project facilitated the
generation of resourceful information, experiences for inclusive economies based on sustainable
food systems and protection of the environment through applying agroecological principles and
working with agribusinesses to improve access to finances.

The partnership has encouraged research advancement and capacity building of youths to
increase innovations, strengthen public policy for sustainable food systems and engaged the
youths to develop agribusinesses to improve prices during the climate crisis. Working with different
stakeholders and partners, it has facilitated high-value additional knowledge on soil health
improvement.

He ended by calling upon partners to work more with the young generation, give them an
opportunity to develop innovative approaches to battle serious crises and prevailing challenges
on food security but also build momentum for a positive movement to change both national and
international systems through a new set of beliefs, demonstrated transition through dialogue and
learning aimed at finding solutions to the challenges at hand. New ideas are needed to boost
livelihoods and solve food system challenges and the choice of agroecology is an approach to
find new solutions for the future.

3.4 Experiences in Agroecological Business Investments

By Ms. Jannifer Muthike, Founder and CEO - Dudumasters

Ms. Muthike is a young agroecological entrepreneur based in

Kenya and the Founder/CEO of Dudumasters - a start-up
dedicated to providing innovative organic farming solutions to
African small-scale farmers from organic waste. Ms. Muthike was
honoured to share her story and experience as a young
entrepreneur and appreciated the organizing team of the
Summit for the opportunity.

Born to a farmer (mother) and an ex-military officer (father),

Jannifer noted that the mother would farm and export French
beans to Brazil and UK which contributed to the national tax base
then. Despite her mother’s efforts, challenges such as the costly
imported fertilizers and unstable market frustrated her.
Photo 6: Ms. Muthike sharing
her experience in starting an
As a motivation from childhood, Jennifer wanted to be a soldier
agroecological business.
drawing to the communal respect accorded to her father. She

14
wanted to be physically fit like her father and have enough money to support her struggling
mother. She as well desired to study Civil Engineering and use that as an entry to the military
school. To her dismay, she ended up studying entomology and parasitology reading about the
Black Soldier Fly.

On her journey of life and education, she had an opportunity to attend a mentorship program
where some entomologists had won a grant prize of USD 5m. This excited Jannifer who got a
chance to work with mentors that guided her on practicing agriculture as a business. She pitched
her idea about the black soldier fly, attended workshops and training facilities like ICIPE which
gave her an opportunity to learn on how to commercially produce insects.

In her presentation, she reflected on the understanding of a dream – not that which you see while
sleeping but it is something that does not let you sleep ~ A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. In this, she narrated
how she received a loan of KSH 13,000 from her parents to start her insect business. As key elements
of her success in business, she recognized that her failures were a stepping stone to greatness,
and her story has inspired many to start the business.

Jannifer appreciated the YALTA Project and noted that she was a beneficiary of the Business
Support Program and had accrued knowledge through the mentorship hubs. These further
opened her mind to critically think and maximize her skill set. She added that the exchange visits/
youth caravans, and peer learning were very instrumental in fostering growth, improvement and
adversity.

On her advice to the youth, she guided them to work smart; be consistent and resilient; join
networks and value adding platforms; attend business support programs; seek mentorship; be
patient to start small while thinking big; and when an opportunity knocks, be intentional to grab it
and once you receive it, no one will take it away from you.

Ms. Muthike ended by emphasizing diversification of opportunities, ‘As as we identify strategies to

sustain, replicate and scale up innovative models, the best way to innovate is to be diverse’. She
further quoted, ‘Let a thousand flowers blossom. The more diverse the opportunities and options,
the better the blossom of the forest’.

15
4 PANEL DISCUSSIONS

Through the panel discussions, the youth had an opportunity to share their experiences from the
YALTA initiatives. Experiences revolved around participation in youth caravans, mentorship,
running agroecology businesses, resource mobilization for agroecology businesses, research and
best practices, market linkages and networking.

4.1 Markets reward youth in agroecology

The panel discussed issues around business advisory for successful enterprises, creating scalable
agroecological business models and access to credit for agroecology businesses.

Photo 7: From left to right - Ms. Oyier of Bopinc, Mr. Mandela of Shona and Ms. Felicite a Rwandese
Entrepreneur.

5.1.1. Successful Business Acceleration for Agroecology Businesses

By Ms. Beryl Oyier, Managing Director of Bopinc Centre in East Africa

With an inspirational phrase, ‘Success is a Journey’, Ms. Oyier started his presentation. He noted
the need to accelerate agroecology business models as a driver for young people to embrace
and promote agroecology products in their communities. He emphasized handholding the youth
through the financial modelling and sustainable funding mechanisms while focusing on
productivity as a best practice.

‘As opposed to conventional businesses, agroecological enterprises require time and the youths
need to be prepared. Whereas, agroecology business models present greater profitability
potential and financial service providers are interested in such investments, most of the
agroecological business plans are not bankable’, Mr. Oyier stated.

Mr. Oyier ended by informing the participants that Bopinc works with businesses to develop
financially and socially viable businesses through inclusive innovation, ensuring affordability and
16
desirability of products by the communities, creating linkages between the customer base and
the producers of agroecology commodities, and digitalization to improve reach to actual
customer base through social media and e-commerce.

5.1.2. Creating scalable agroecology business models

By Mr. Ivan Mandela, Director of Investments - Shona

Mr. Mandela informed the Summit that Shona provides Business Advisory and Business Training to
help Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) grow their revenues and become profitable businesses.
With a network of industry experts, Shona works with businesses to drive revenue growth,
profitability and investment. The margin of growth determines how much a business is able to
achieve and eases access to markets. On whether agroecology products are meant for only
export or high-end consumers, he advised participants to innovatively engage all market
categories/ consumers.

In his presentation, he stressed the importance of businesses having access to capital/ loans with
concessional terms such as low interest rates which eases access to credit for the youth. He added
that aligning the product to the market needs is at the heart for business success.

On addressing gaps, Mr. Mandela highlighted the need for financing to drive the right products
to the market – and recommended i) a market survey to identify and analyse the customer base,
ii) creating a value proposition to clarify investment readiness, and iii) analysing the team
competences and readiness to execute the plan. With a number of challenges compounded by
the lack of data, he advised that the unit economics should be critically managed to determine
the price and return on investment.

5.1.3. Access to finance for agroecology businesses

By Ms. Felicite Nayinganyike, a Young Entrepreneur from Rwanda

Ms. Felicite is a young entrepreneur from Rwanda dealing in waste recycling and
vermicomposting. Felicite identified a business opportunity on realizing that more than 12 tonnes
of waste were collected in her home town each week and dumped on site without treatment. In
an area where 80% of the farmers used more inorganic fertilizer than organic fertilizer, soil
degradation and yield reduction were evident. She then thought about production of organic
fertilizer from the degraded waste to be used by farmers to generate humus in the soil and
increase of agriculture production. Further, she raised awareness and involved her community
members in the waste recycling process in order to protect the environment.

In 2019, together with her friends, she started the waste to fertilizer business. Currently, the team
produces over 300tonnes of fertilisers per season, sell it to farmers and also train the farmers on
how to apply the fertilizer in their gardens. 20 agriculture cooperatives buy 150 tonnes per season
to be used in their agriculture activities while, over 100 individual farmers purchase 120 tonnes per
season for farming and home gardening. To date, the team has made an annual turnover of
$10,000 and anticipates this to raise to $100,000 by 2025. The plan is to reach and work with 100
agro dealers in different districts of our country and increase local customers by 20% every year
through use of digital platforms.

17
Felicite is on the agroecology platform in Rwanda. When the World Resources Institute (WRI) had
a call for proposals through their Land Restoration Programme, they applied and secured a $5000
funding to increase the production and this positively improved the trajectory of her production
capacity by 10%.

The business model is a promising one, profitable and development partners need to increase
financing in agroecology business. The outcry to save nature is on a peak and agroecology
businesses are the solution to this outcry. She emphasized the need to raise awareness to change
the mindset of young people about agriculture-related businesses and engaging local
communities through agroecology extension services. She concluded with a plea to the financial
service providers to develop specific products for agroecology businesses.

4.2 Youths adopt agroecology principles

The youth beneficiaries that participated in the YALTA Project had an opportunity to share the
practices they learnt, how they benefited and how they replicated and supported other youths
to benefit in a panel discussion.

Photo 8: From Left to Right: Ms. Wambui from Kenya, Mr. Jean from Rwanda, Mr. David from Uganda, and
Mr. Adounya from Ethiopia.

5.2.1. Research on meaningful youth engagement and entrepreneurship

By Adounya, a Research from Ethiopia

Mr. Adounya, a student/researcher from Ethiopia shared his research experience in using
agroecological principles in food processing initiatives to solve the problem of malnutrition in
Ethiopia. In a country where 27% of women are malnourished and 38% of children suffer from
stunting, Adounya started a journey of promoting nutritious foods. With support from YALTA, he
developed prototypes from raw materials and later engaged the World Food Programme (WFP)
for funding.

Despite the efforts, he noted that the biggest challenge was to reach the markets. Through a
partnership with SNV, he was able to identify and create market linkages with consumers of
organic products. Through his experience, he recommended diversification in food processing

18
and engaging more research institutions to promote agroecological entrepreneurship among the
youths. ‘Youths in agroecology have chosen the right path and our dream will come true’, he
concluded.

5.2.2. Youth Caravan and Peer to Peer Learning

By David Ssembajwe, a Young Entrepreneur from Uganda

David is the Director, Passion farm which he started in 2016. He appreciated the opportunity to
have been part of the youth caravan during the YALTA Project. Before this experience, David was
running a poultry farm of about 3000 birds and enjoying incomes from selling eggs. With little
known about waste management, he says this was one of the opportunities presented by the
youth caravan.

‘From the caravan, a lot of knowledge and experiences were shared on how to manage waste
and turn it into manure and make briquettes. This proved to be a rewarding journey for all of us.
Currently, we have seven products from the farm and six were learnt from the caravan – thus
diversifying our products in the market’, he continued.

As a way forward, David recommended the need to support the youths to access resources both
financial and technologies such as solar drying facilities, machines to process organic waste into
finished products of fertilizers and manure. He further emphasized that youth need to be
supported to establish acceptable community friendly facilities for managing manure. Most
youths have abandoned the businesses because the neighbouring communities are affected by
the nuisance/smell from the manure facilities.

5.2.3. Mentorship programme

By Jean Marie Ntakirutimana, Mentor and Business Advisor - Agriterra Rwanda

Jean started with a brief profile about Agriterra. It is an international, not-for-profit agri-agency
working in emerging and developing economies. Agriterra was founded by Dutch farmers’
organisations and cooperatives almost 25 years ago as an organisation for international peer-to-
peer agricultural cooperation.

Using a three-track approach, Agriterra works to make cooperatives bankable and create real
farmer-led businesses; improves extension services; and enhances farmer-government dialogues
using Agripool – the knowledge broker agency which is a unique pool of hundreds of agricultural
experts from the Netherlands and other countries. Agriterra builds on the know-how and
experience of experts in agribusiness.

As a partner to the YALTA Mentorship Program, Agriterra mentored small scale farmers of
potatoes, and this was fulfilling task for them doing what they know best. One of the gaps
identified was a need for mentorship of youth in agroecology business development. And one of
the opportunities explored was to conduct peer to peer learning, exchange visits, and as many
participated, they appreciated the knowledge from experiences shared by their fellow youths.

Mr. Jean acknowledged that mentorship is a two-way learning process, and there is need to
engage more youth in agriculture using different approaches to manage the dynamic shifts and
priorities of the young people. About the caravan, ‘We are all in the same boat, some people are

19
doing great things but lack some practical skills! So, visiting different agribusinesses enabled
people to exchange knowledge and learn new skills and the skills were used to improve their
products, introduce new products, and improve their marketing skills’ he noted.

Mr. Jean was optimistic that sustainable agriculture can be achieved through empowering the
youth. However, he raised challenges related to land access. There is need for a holistic approach
to succession planning including land succession plans since most youths do not own land. Further,
he urged the actors to create an enabling environment with youth inclusive policies in
agroecology. ‘YALTA initiated this and the project is ending when it is needed the most. Therefore,
it is time to find other opportunities where young people can engage and continue what they
have already started’, he concluded.

5.2.4. Best practices in the application of agroecology principles

By Ms. Jane Wambui, a Young Entrepreneur from Kenya

Ms. Wambui is a young entrepreneur and YALTA beneficiary from Kenya. As a passionate farmer
with a background in finance, a profession she referred to as boring – Ms. Wambui founded Kuuno
Organics, a demo farm based in Kenya that deals in production of mushrooms, azolla, vegetables,
macadamia and macadamia value addition.

From the YALTA initiatives in which she participated, Ms. Wambui she had learnt and currently
practices some of the agroecological principles including waste recycling, training youthful
farmers in application of agroecology principles, and adoption of digital marketing tools. In light
of the good practices, she identified major gaps that deter youths from engaging in agroecology
businesses and these included knowledge, market and funding gaps.

As away forward, Ms. Wambui recommended strengthening inclusion and recognizing the rights
of special interest groups such as women and Persons with Disabilities/ Special Needs since most
land is owned by men including benefits that accrue. She emphasized that inclusivity in planning
and implementation is crucial for the success of agroecology. Further, she underscored the need
to engage more institutions that can offer financial and technical capacity to direct the
interventions for special interest groups such as women, children and PWDs.

4.3 Plenary Session

After a series of presentations and panel discussions by subject matter experts, project
implementation partners/ teams and project beneficiaries/ farmers, the participants had an
opportunity to ask questions, comment, raise pertinent issues and guide on the content that had
been shared. Below are the key discussion points that were shared and calls to action/ responses
that were made.

Issue 1: Access to Credit – discussions revolved around lack of capital/ limited access to financing
especially for the youth who usually have no security or collateral as required by financial
institutions.

Call to action:
– Engage financial institutions to design appropriate and inclusive financial products
with less stringent restrictions on collateral to accommodate youth led investments.

20
 – Youth should establish youth councils under well-organized cooperatives and
anchor their activities respectively to benefit from the credit guarantee schemes
that provide opportunities of access to credit.
– Youths were advised to build credible networks and more trust worthy relationships.
The young people can partner with their fellows that run already established
businesses and family support to acquire soft loans.
– The young people were also advised to focus on building credible businesses, with
clear business plans and execution plans, keep financial records with a positive
CBR where financial flows be reflected on your bank accounts and this would
attract incremental lending from financiers.

Issue 2: Alternative feeds for Poultry

Response: The participants noted that agroecology provides a number of alternative
feeds for poultry including silver fish and trials were also being done to ascertain whether
exotic birds can feed on maggots.

Issue 3: Waste collection and recycling – how is the waste aggregated?

Response: Relationships are built with in the communities and partnerships have been
established with the farmers that use the organic fertilizer. These support the waste
collection efforts.

Issue 4: Integration of indigenous knowledge with research on biofertilizers – discussions revolved

around the composition of organic fertilizers and the extent of damage or threat that they can
pose.
Response: Participants learnt that for something to be labelled indigenous, it should have
been in existence for some time. There is need to document success stories around
indigenous knowledge and validate them through scientific research to understand the
pre-harvesting intervals and soil testing to determine the soil-nutrient composition.

Issue 5: Fast tracking regional cooperation to boost agroecology – concerns were raised on how
actors would harness regional cooperation to advocate for agroecology.
Response: Actors brainstormed a number of strategies and key highlights focused on the
National Youth Programs and Platforms that exist in different countries to strengthen the
youth skill set in agroecology. Establishment of coalitions and agroecology summits with
regional representatives were also proposed as key entry points.

Other all-round discussions revolved around:

1) Documentation of challenges, opportunities and recommendations to advance youth
participation in agroecology value chains.
2) Strengthening evidence based and science informed research in agroecology.
3) Policy advocacy around standards for some of the agroecology products.
4) Business development services such as financial management skills.
5) Making farming fashionable for the youth through agroecological entrepreneurship.

21
4.4 Creating a conducive environment

Photo 9: From Left to Right: Dr. Bayush from Ethiopia, Mr. Mathew from PELUM Kenya, Ms. Justine from SALI
Rwanda, and Ms. Hajjara from Uganda.

5.4.1. Youth engagement in policy development processes

By Ms. Hajjara Nantume, a Young Entrepreneur from Uganda

In her submission, Hajjara notified the participants about the various youth structures in place and
at different levels. With an example of the Uganda Young Farmers Federation, she noted that such
platforms provide an opportunity to the youths to voice their opinions regarding key policy issues
such as agricultural extension. Further, she highlighted the presence of youth committees at
district, parish and village levels which represent the youths and their concerns.

Hajjara also pointed out the opportunities within institutions such as Universities where programmes
such as agricultural innovation and extension are offered. These can be used as entry points to
develop the capacity of students in agroecology. She urged the actors to engage the
Department of Agricultural Extension at the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries to
support youth businesses in agroecological entrepreneurship. She reflected on the National
Agricultural Extension Strategy which aims at supporting and promoting youth businesses within
agroecology and ended by calling upon the Government to provide scholarship opportunities for
the youth willing to study professional courses in agriculture.

5.4.2. Campaign for Acid Soils Reclamation

By Dr. Bayush Tsegaye, a Community Agrobiodiversity Management Expert – Ethiopia

Dr. Tsegaye shared the experience of YALTA Ethiopia in campaigning for acid soils reclamation.
In her presentation, she noted that agriculture is the mainstay of the national economy and source
of livelihood for over 85% of the population. Nonetheless, about 41% of the cultivated land is
affected by soil acidity; of these 28% are highly acidic (Ejersa 2021). Soil acidity is a serious problem
in the highlands of Ethiopia, and its resultant effects of low soil fertility is a major limiting factor for
crop production.

22
Soil acidity is highly caused by heavy rainfall leading to nutrient leaching, loss of soil nutrients, use
of acid forming fertilizers and removal of crop residues. This often results into poor soil fertility, low
production (leading to food insecurity), and death of soil microorganisms which makes the land
non-productive.

In line with the challenges above, Dr. Tsegaye shared the management options for acid soils
highlighting lime application, practicing integrated soil fertility management practices, using acid-
tolerant crop varieties and balanced fertilizer amendment. She further expounded on the benefits
of lime application noting that it reduces the soil PH, creates favorable environment for plant
growth, reduces aluminium and manganese toxicity, increases availability of calcium and
magnesium, improves uptake of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Sulphur; enhances activities of nitrogen
fixing soil microorganisms and improves mineralization of organic compounds.

To execute the management options proposed, a coalition on on acid soils reclamation was
formed. The movement was part of a 3-years project implemented by YALTA and its networks.
Through an advocacy strategy, both government and non-government institutions active in rural
development work were engaged.

Together with government, a campaign for reclaiming soil acidity through lime application was
launched in Jeldu district, Central Ethiopia. The campaign involved conducting research to assess
the extent of problem, awareness creation, capacity building, on-farm demonstration of lime
application, documentation of results and developing communication tools, networking to build
allies, and policy lobbying and advocacy for change in practice.

The campaign for acid soil reclamation was a success – government included lime as part of its
regular agricultural input delivery system; productivity of reclaimed farm plots increased, and
targeted community members learned about soil acidity and its levels through simple field tests.
A number of lessons were also learnt from the campaign. Youth can be effective change agents
if a specific theme is focused on e.g. acid soil reclamation.

Dr. Tsegaye ended with sharing a number of opportunities that exist to influence policies, research
and education in the region. She emphasized:

i) Education - the integration of agroecology and sustainable food systems in to school

curricula.
ii) Research – action-oriented/problem-solving research that focuses on engaging
farmers, co-creation of knowledge by build on useful local knowledge and practices
of farmers.
iii) Policy – support and promote sustainable farming practices and use locally
available soil enriching practices.
iv) Conservation and management of on-farm diversity.

5.4.3. Youth engagement in policy processes at the country level

By Matthew Muendo, Programme Officer – PELUM Kenya

PELUM Kenya is member of YALTA Reference Group which has a membership of over15
organizations (Farmer Organizations, Development Partners, CBOs, Agro-enterprises,) that
promote agroecology and sustainable agriculture. PELUM plays a key role in coordinating the
working group activities – organizing agroecology actors’ meetings, county learning workshops to
promote agroecology, and organizing the youth coalition meet up. PELUM Kenya is a network of
over 57 organizations promoting agroecological practices, and spread across 42 Counties in
23
Kenya, thus brings more support towards realizing a youth driven agroecology movement in
Kenya.

Youths were supported to participate in policy processes and dialogues at county level to
influence integration of agroecology in county plans and policy frameworks. Six counties have
shown interest in in integrating agroecology practices and developing agroecology policies to
support implementation. YALTA also produced video documentaries and success stories,
organized Annual Coalition Meetings while the Youth in Agroecology Policy Initiative served as
platform for youths to share experiences, network and market their agroecological enterprises.
There is need to build a strong youth agroecology movement to ensure full involvement in food
system transformation discussions at national and counties

5.4.4. Inclusion of youth in agroecology research and education curricula

By Ms. Justine Mbabazi – SALI Rwanda

On sharing the position of the youth in policy formulation and creating a conducive environment
for youth participation in agroecology initiatives, Ms. Justine Mbabazi clarified that YALTA
facilitated the formation of an Agroecology Actors’ Group in 2020 and about 90% of the members
are youth which indicates a good beginning for the youth in the region.

As a secretary to the steering committee together with other members, the group has been able
to engage universities and other high learning institutions to deliver the message on agroecology
and work towards integrating the agroecology principles into the curriculum.

The committee visited nine institutions and an engagement action plan has been developed to
include agroecology in the agricultural education curriculum. Much as this takes time, a
foundation has been laid for a soft landing through continuous awareness campaigns, formation
of agroecology school clubs, workshops and seminars that bring the youth together. This has
created a great impression on how youths handle agroecology information in their fora such as
the youth councils, young entrepreneurs’ forum with youth taking centre stage in shaping policy
decisions for the next generation.

5 BREAKOUT SESSIONS

To facilitate in-depth discussion and encourage participation of everyone, the participants were
divided into groups and organized in breakout sessions to discuss critical elements for replication,
scaling up/out and identifying needs/gaps that required redress. This was also an opportunity for
the participants to absorb what they had learnt but also reflect and discuss in detail.

Participants were grouped according to themes – i) market access, ii) adoption of agroecology
principles; and iii) creating a conducive environment and each individual had the liberty to join
the session where they would make the biggest contribution. Each of the groups was required to
prioritize three important recommendations or proposals for replication/ scale up.

5.1 Market access

The breakout session was aimed at understanding the stream of accessing markets, target
stakeholders and the channels of accessing the markets.

24
 Photo 10: The Breakout Session on Market Access having their discussions.

From the group discussions, three priority issues were considered for replication:

1) Improve market information services through ICT - utilising digital and social media
platforms to improve advertisement,
2) Strengthen market linkages through building networks along the value chain, and
3) Support agroecology farmers to improve product quality and safety including
packaging.

5.2 Adoption of agroecology principles

This session focused on adoption strategies of agroecology as a promising contribution for the
future development of sustainable agricultural production.

Photo 11: Participants engaged in the Breakout Session.

This group discussed priority areas for enhancing adoption of agroecology principles. These
focused on:
25
 1) Integrating scientific research and indigenous knowledge in agroecology practices,
2) Strengthening access and delivery of extension services to agroecology farmers,
3) Improving access to finance for actors along the agroecology value chain.

5.3 Creating a conducive environment

This session focused on project initiatives that were a success and would be prioritised to create
conducive conditions for wide scale agroecology adoption.

Photo 12: Participants discussing strategies for creating a conducive environment for adoption of
agroecology.

From the detailed discussions, the group agreed to prioritise three action points to drive the
advocacy agenda:

1) Review and integrate agroecology in school curricula of all educational programmes

at all levels,
2) Gender mainstreaming/ inclusion for all special interest groups including women,
children, and Persons with Disabilities/ Special Needs, and
3) Affordable alternative options for product certification to ease access to markets.

The priorities were influenced and shaped by recurring themes and ideas that need to be
addressed by all agroecology stakeholders post the summit.

26
DAY TWO – 26TH OCTOBER 2022

1 BACKGROUND

1.1 Introduction

Over the past three decades, agroecology has gained more attention as the basis for the
transition from conventional agriculture and external-market oriented production to ecological,
localized agriculture that not only provides rural families with significant social, economic, and
environmental benefits but also sustainably and more equitably feed urban populations.

Young entrepreneurs have taken this opportunity to build their locally owned and operated
businesses and connecting farmers to local markets amidst the widespread supply chain
disruptions through innovation, diversification and market linkages. However, they still face
challenges such as limited access to credit, lack of business mentorship, unfavorable markets and
interactive spaces among others.

In light of this, PELUM Uganda in collaboration with the Netherlands Food Partnership (NFP)
organized the 1st Agroecological Market Systems Expo (AMASE) which is a multi-sectoral and multi
value chain expo that brings together all key actors within the Agroecological value chain and
food system space under the theme ‘Unlocking barriers and opportunities for scaling up
agroecological entrepreneurship and territorial market development.’ The Expo was attended by
275 physical participants (167 men and 108 women) at Silver Springs Hotel in Bugolobi, Kampala
on the 26th of October 2022.

The overall objective of the Expo was to provide a platform for agroecology entrepreneurs and
market systems actors to share experiences, build synergies, showcase (business exhibition) and
explore opportunities for strengthening agroecological entrepreneurship and territorial market
development at various levels.

27
1.2 AMASE Objectives

The Expo was specifically intended to:

1. Provide a platform for trade and negotiations in order to strengthen economic

relationships between all actors along agroecological value chains.
2. Highlight business opportunities for agroecology actors especially the women and youth.
3. Harmonize the efforts and build greater synergies of the agroecological value chain
players to establish value-based partnerships.
4. Inform policy processes towards favorable conditions for trade of agroecological produce
and services.

1.3 AMASE Activities

The Expo had different sessions that facilitated bilateral discussions between/ among
agroecological actors. These included the following:

1. Deal corners were created to enhance deal transactions among different stakeholders.
2. Business clinics were available to provide expert advice for young/ youth actors.
3. Advertisement and marketing sessions were maximized by the different actors in order to
attract sales and develop partnerships.
4. Product details were displayed on screens around the Expo area to showcase the different
products for the different actors.
5. Product auctions were conducted in order to maximize sales within the Expo.
6. Short presentations were made on different topics regarding agroecology to enhance
learning experiences at the Expo.

1.4 AMASE Outputs

1. Participants obtained and benefited from business ideas and skills on agroecological
products and services.
2. Knowledge sharing, networking and deal making among agroecological market actors
and participants were observed.
3. Increased awareness and show casing of different agroecological products and services
was a success.
4. Commitments and Calls to Action on how to unlock the identified by agroecological
Market actors were discussed and developed.

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2 SETTING THE SCENE

2.1 Opening Remarks

Mr. Joshua Aijuka, the Head of Programmes at PELUM

Uganda welcomed participants to the first Agroecology
Market Systems Expo (AMASE). He explained that the
Expo was meant to strengthen the participants’
understanding of agricultural market systems, working
with other actors in the agroecology value chain to share
information and learn from each other on how to address
bottlenecks, seize opportunities, and achieve systemic
change in adoption of agroecological principles.

In a special way, he appreciated the various partners –

the Netherlands Food Partnership, Bread for the World,
Ministry of Trade, KHOA-KHEA and many others that
worked tirelessly to facilitate the Expo. He informed the
actors that this would be an annual event with a vision to
grow it into a much bigger platform in the future.

He recognized the multistakeholder representation at the Photo 13: Mr. Aijuka delivering his remarks.
Expo and specifically the financial service providers –
stating that this was an opportunity for the youth to understand issues related to access to credit;
the exporters who would guide on the standards for exportation; the knowledge hub of innovators
and platforms like ‘Kebera’ to support entrepreneurs to test or verify organic products; farmers
who are the core of organic products; the youth; academia to share the knowledge on how we
unlock the barriers in transitioning the food systems and market systems; consumer networks that
play a big role in the transition to sustainable food systems; Business clinics on how to build
businesses, especially for the young people; among many other exhibitors.

Mr. Aijuka concluded by urging the participants to showcase what they do, learn something new
from the Expo and use it as a networking platform. He wished the actors fruitful and interactive
sessions.

2.2 Official Opening Speech by Guest of Honor

By the Hon. Harriet Ntabazi, the State Minister for Trade at the Ministry of Trade Industry and
Cooperatives (MTIC).

The Hon. Minister appreciated the PELUM Uganda for starting the AMASE initiative and notified
participants that the Ministry of Trade is responsible for marketing while the Ministry of Agriculture,
Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) is responsible for production. She emphasized that as a
Minister, her responsibility is to oversee trade at all levels, while the Expo was to showcase what
the population consumes at all levels.

29
 Photo 14: Hon. Harriet Ntabazi giving the official opening remarks.

Hon. Ntabazi appreciated the work of PELUM specifically on women empowerment and noted
that this is aligned to Government’s efforts of fronting women to deliver. In a special way, she
appreciated the financial support from the Netherlands Food Partnership.

In her observation of the displays, she was amused that most of the products were digital, and the
Expo was befitting unlike the trade fair. She added that the world is on a journey to e-commerce.
Whereas COVID-19 was seen as negative by many people, it was an opportunity for the trade
sector. Many people including the youth can transact online, and trust has been built among
market vendors to sell good quality products.

She appreciated the opportunity to be part of the history and was honored to launch the first
Agroecology Market Systems Expo. She applauded the team for a well thought theme: ‘Unlocking
Barriers and Opportunities for Scaling Up Agroecological Entrepreneurship and Territorial Market
Development,’ and expressed need to tap into it and build successful businesses. She
commended the participants for trying to promote organic products in their organic forms
especially coffee, tea, cocoa, fruit, vegetables and all the natural resources in their organic form.

The Minister reflected on previous debates in Parliament on whether the country would pursue
organic food systems or promote Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). The decision was
difficult to make because most organic products take long to grow and yield money over a long
time as compared to the GMOs. ‘We are in a difficult situation – e.g., in the poultry business, the
hotels want constant supply while we also want to safeguard our cultural values,’ she added.

The approach of the new model promoted is amazing. With the Pesa Agro enterprise Model, the
Ministry’s work will be eased through integration of entrepreneurship skills among farmers. She
urged farmers to adopt the Pesa model to improve their businesses and market certified products
in country and abroad.

The Ministry is open to partnerships and collaboration with NGOs and Development Partners to
support the micro and small enterprises because they are the majority. The government changed
its approach to the Parish Development Model to develop the people at village level and UGX

30
100 million has already been disbursed per parish. The idea is to boost the 39% of the population
that still languishes in poverty.

Uganda is one of the leading promoters of organic products with the biggest market in the
European Union, the United States through AGOA, Japan and many other countries. There are no
tax barriers at the moment and the focus is on quality and standards. The Minister promised to
involve PELUM Uganda to support the cause.

The Minister was gratified by the recent increase in volumes of organic products exported – coffee,
cocoa, dry fruits, vanilla, shea butter, etc. She encouraged farmers to also invest in beverages
and urged them to add value to their products to tap into the expanding market including
COMESA and SADC. The establishment of the Institute of Foreign Trade and Management has
huge potential for the micro and small-scale farmers while the capacity PELUM has built through
the Pesa Model is in line with the NDP III and Vision 2040 which identify strategic opportunities to
harness trade through youth inclusion.

Among the achievements at the Ministry, Hon. Ntabazi informed the participants that the Uganda
Exportation Promotion Board launched the Export Development Fund to support SMEs improve
their quality of exports through cooperation and collaboration with all stakeholders. The Ugandan
economy is premised on this through manufacturing, value addition and processing as priorities.
Further, she added that the Ministry is promoting private sector led policies such as trade policies,
licensing policies and others to support private sector to move forward.

Working through risk commercial officers, the Ministry is boosting the private sector. The
government disbursed UGX 200 bn to boost businesses through funds as ‘emyooga’ and others.
She added that efforts through establishment of markets at borders is intended to improve market
access whereas infrastructure such as roads in neighbouring countries like Congo are meant to
reduce cross border barriers in terms of taxation.

The Minister acknowledged efforts to establish regional standards that recognize UNBS
certification and no need for further conformities in other countries. In the same spirit, she
encouraged farmers to produce quality goods which can be supplied consistently. She
commended the Ministry’s efforts in promoting agricultural trade stating that 80% of the country’s
exports are agricultural products.

As she concluded, she recognized other participating countries and specifically noticed the
innovations around waste to wealth initiatives including the worm processing to produce chicken
feeds and organic fertilizers. On behalf of government, she committed to ease the process of
doing organic businesses and called for regional integration to improve production and market
access.

31
3 LAUNCH OF THE ‘PGS FACILITATORS’ GUIDE AND HANDBOOK
ON AGROECOLOGY PRODUCTION

Hon. Harriet Ntabazi, the State Minister for Trade at the Ministry of Trade Industry and Cooperatives
was honored to officially launch the Facilitators’ Guide for establishing and operating the
Participatory Guarantee Systems for Farmer Groups and the Handbook on Agroecological
Production. These are key guiding documents for smallholders farmers that engage in production
of organic products.

Photo 15: The Minister officially launched the Guide and appends her signature.

32
Photo 16: The Minister officially launched the Handbook on Agroecology Production.

33
4 AGROECOLOGY MARKET AND BUSINESS NETWORKING
ACTIVITIES

Exhibition stalls were set up like the normal market setting to facilitate the business networking
activities. The value chain actors exhibited different agroecological products and services;
participants inspected different stalls trying to learn from each other, participated in business clinic
consultations; and structured deal transactions between value chain actors and participants.
Below is a photo gallery of some of the networking activities that took place.

34
35
5 MARKET BARRIERS, OPPORTUNITIES AND RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR AGROECOLOGY ADOPTION

By Ms. Grace Babirye, PELUM Uganda

In a rapid survey undertaken using an online Kobo data collection tool,

participants at the Expo were subjected to questions to understand the
barriers/challenges they face in the agroecological market system; and
opportunities/recommendations for improved agroecological businesses.
Ms. Babirye from PELUM Uganda presented the findings from the survey.

5.1 Market Barriers/ Challenges

1) Product and price differentiation – consumers are not able to differentiate between
organic and non-organic products while price fluctuations also affect marketing of
organic products.
2) Stiff competition with non-organic products – they are often less expensive and yield results
in a shorter time.
3) Sub-standard products – some of the products are of poor quality. In addition, the
participants highlighted branding and packaging challenges.
4) High cost of certification of agroecological products – this in addition to the complex
procedures limits access to external markets e.g. it is expensive to get Q-mark from UNBS.
5) Limited access to specific organic markets – there are very few known organic markets.
6) Limited access to agroecological inputs (e.g. for organic tomatoes).
7) Poor technology – slow advancement in technology limits the use of more efficient
machines or equipment along the organic value chains.
8) Limited access to credit due to collateral/ security challenges and lack of bankable
investment projects.
9) Limited government support for agroecology products – there are no incentives or
subsidies for such products from the government.

5.2 Opportunities

1) PELUM Uganda organizes capacity building sessions, annual agroecology events, and
these provide a platform for learning, networking with other market actors, identifying new
markets and expanding knowledge of agroecological markets.
2) Presence of financial service providers that are willing to offer credit to agroecology
businesses.
3) Availability of scientific research to support policy processes and business planning models.
4) Increasing number of agroecology actors increases diversity and provides an opportunity
for partnerships with in and outside the country and attracts foreign exchange.
5) Growing market for agroecological products due to the growing demand for healthy
foods.
6) Increasing demand for information on agroecological value chain processes.

5.3 Recommendations

The actors along the agroecology value chain made the following recommendations:
36
 1) Engage financial service providers to improve access to credit through appropriate
financial and non-financial products and services such as grants, guarantees and business
advisory.
2) Engage and lobby government to simplify the certification process for agroecological
products and license agroecology actors especially input providers.
3) Establish specific markets for agroecology products and improve market access through
value addition, increased consumer awareness, advertisement, branding and packaging.
4) Increase investment in research and technological advancement for agroecology.
5) Strengthen capacity and enhance awareness among farmer communities, schools and
other stakeholder categories on the role of agroecology in sustainable food systems.
6) Promote inclusion of special interest groups such as the women and youth in the
agroecology value chain and policy discussions.

6 PITCHES FROM REPRESENTATIVES OF NATIONAL YALTA

REFERENCE GROUPS

This session involved pitch decks from different National YALTA Reference Groups who shared
actions that they would take forward to support acceleration of youth led agroecology
businesses.

6.1 MELCA Ethiopia

Mr. Solomon Kabede reflected on the current

food insecurity in Ethiopia and the need for
mobilization and policy leverage. Further, he
was concerned about the low level of
awareness, lack of skills and policy
inconsistency. In a country where agriculture
provides 57% of youth job opportunities, the
average age of the farming communities is 60
years. Only 9% of rural youth are interested
partly due to lack of enablers, negative
attitude and absence of policy space for
youth engagement.

In light of the above, a Network to facilitate

evidence-based advocacy and exchange for
knowledge and opportunities was established.
Currently hosted by YALTA–Ethiopia, the
Agroecology Network of Ethiopia was
established in 2016 by Agriprofocus and its
partners as open-ended platform to
advocate for the adoption of agroecological
principles for a sustainable food system,
agroecological entrepreneurship, value chain
linkages, and promote policy, institutional and Photo 17: Solomon making his presentation.
infrastructure enablers. In addition, the group
rests with the responsibility to share experiences and best practices, research findings, approaches
to transition to agroecology, market/ business information, funding opportunities, etc.

37
Major undertakings during the YALTA Project included field visits, youth caravans, mentorship and
exchange programs to improve knowledge and skills, establish partnerships, development of the
agroecology curriculum, consultative and awareness creation workshops and policy forums,
research studies on the danger of acid soil and the need for policy response, food and seed fairs.

Key future undertakings to scale up the project achievements will focus on formalization of the
Agroecology Network, policy advocacy for youth inclusion, resource mobilization, mentorship,
design of a knowledge management and advocacy framework, research advancement, and
increase membership for the network.

6.2 Help a Child Rwanda

Mr. Alex Uwizeye, a Program Manager at Help

a Child Rwanda made a presentation on what
their impact in Rwanda, supporting over 22000
farmers. Help a Child Rwanda is a part of a
youth movement and a reference group with
their program streamlined to building climate
change resilience through agroecology across
the value chain.

There are specific programs the organisation is

implementing (PIP) to increase climate change
resilience through promoting composting
practices, water harvesting, tree planting in
schools, and supplying organic foods (made a
fortune during the 2022 CHOGM meeting).
From their analysis in their partnership with
various stakeholders, it is evident that there is a
huge support towards Agroecology programs,
and these are geared towards providing
sustainable solutions to emerging climate
change impacts and variability

The movement towards agroecology

enterprise promotion in combating climate Photo 18: Alex presenting on behalf of Rwanda.
change is for the good of the current and future
generations. It is upon the youths of now to embrace Agroecology principles. YALTA has leveled
the ground for all the youth in the region to engage in Agroecology business and the commitment
from the youth is promising.

He added that the outcry to the shortage of organic products in the market can be managed
through building strong networks, Alliances and supporting regional integration movements. There
is a need for strategic collaborations and meaningful activism to drive inclusive policy changes to
attract youth participation in agroecology. He appreciated the government of Rwanda which
offered land to youth to practice agroecology while conserving the wetlands.

He advised the youths to have a unified voice and stop working in silos as this can only deter them
from attracting the attention of the policy makers, funders who are willing to support the
agroecology initiatives.

38
6.3 SNV Kenya

Ms. Leah Mwaura pitched on behalf of Kenya. She

noted that the Kenya Reference Group members
include the PELUM Association, SNV, Dudumasters,
Africa Agribusiness Academy, and the Food and
Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.

Some of the achievements from the YALTA Project

included: i) the Youth and Agroecology National
Summit which provided a good platform for
experience sharing; ii) Youth caravans in four regions
which were instrumental in shaping ideologies on
agroecology; and iii) the Youth and Women Learning
Photo 19: Leah presenting on behalf of Kenya. Event which has empowered communities as agents
of change. The platforms facilitated youth
participation in policy reviews; co-hosted learning forums with other like-minded networks on
youth participation in agroecology and facilitated linkages to other youth related platforms for
loans/ grants.

On actions to scale up, initiatives are focused on shared learning through organisational programs
and co-hosting learning forums for the youth, youth inclusion in policy reviews, and linkages to
other youth-related platforms for loans/grants.

6.4 PELUM Uganda

Ms. Josephine Akia Luyimbazi acknowledged that hosting

YALTA is one of the milestones registered and a humbling
experience at the same time and according to her, YALTA
gave PELUM a great opportunity to showcase what youth
and women can do and it set up a challenge to start
pitching for more gender inclusive proposals and devise
means on how to sustain youth interventions.

Her conviction is that what YALTA has started should be a

program not a project that is ending this year–on this front
she promised to strengthen their relationship with partners
they have worked with throughout the 3years journey.
PELUM still wants to associate with YALTA.

Photo 20: Ms. Akia presenting. She points out that Youth are discouraged to engage in
agroecology practice due to lack of information and this
is being addressed by the information shared by Knowledge Hub for Organic Agriculture in East
Africa (KHEA) hosted by PELUM-One can get authentic, synthesized stories on practice and
experiences in Agroecology.

PELUM has benchmarked best agroecology practices that have been showcased including
stories from other countries and it is based on these that scaling up will be projected. As you may
be aware that processes that feed into COP 27 neglected youth voices, however we are hopeful
that the youth champions will tag along and occupy spaces and negotiate for better terms that
promote agroecology.

39
AMASE has proved to us that youth unemployment can be tackled through embracing
agroecology production. The opportunities that come with this can only be realized once
products are on the market and the business-market models developed like PESA are key in
creating producer-market linkages and these will include but not limited to Harvest Money by New
vision and other opportunities that will come along.

Ms. Josephine promised to continue fundraising for YALTA and create more collaborations to
realize the vision as wells as establish business incubation centers for business continuity. The future
of the world belongs to the youth of the world, and it is from the youth and not from the old that
the fire of life will warm and enlighten the world, and this is our commitment to continuously tap
into the fire of the world,” she concluded.

7 PRESENTATION OF COMMITMENTS

Participants were divided into groups in three breakout sessions to develop an action agenda to
follow up on best practices, needs and gaps identified. This was a creative/ symbolic act of
commitment from participants.

7.1 Market access

The breakout session was aimed at understanding the stream of accessing markets, who is the
target stakeholders, what are the channels of accessing the markets. The discussion was guided
by the question - What has been shared or worked in terms of accessing markets and funding in
YALTA?

The issues prioritised from the breakout session included the following.
1) Work and interact with other stakeholders including the local experts.
2) Access to funding, build funding networks and social borrowing.
3) Clear planning and due diligence.
4) Branding and Advertising –utilising digital and social media platforms.
5) Quality and Quantity of products.
6) mindset change about AE products and Agriculture - (practicing delayed gratification).

40
 Photo 21: Group members prioritizing issues in the session.

7.2 Adoption of agroecology principles

Three priority issues selected included: i) Research; ii) More extension services and iii) Access to
finance.

The youths made proposals of requirements needed to adopt, implement and advance
agroecological practices. These included:
 Mentorship and exposure
 Demonstration at all levels of Agroecology especially knowledge generation
 Adequate capacity building
 Linkage of youth to successfully farmers
 Make sure youths have access to knowledge hubs and digital technology.

Photo 22: One of the group members presenting on behalf of the group.

7.3 Conducive business environment

41
The group members under the breakout session for strategies to create a conducive business
environment for agroecology businesses prioritized the following issues.

4) Review and integrate agroecology in school curricula of all educational

programmes at all levels,
5) Gender mainstreaming/ inclusion for all special interest groups including women,
children, and Persons with Disabilities/ Special Needs, and
6) Affordable alternative options for product certification to ease access to markets.

Photo 23: Members making commitments within their group.

42
8 CLOSING REMARKS

Dr. Christopher Kyeswa, the Board Chairperson for PELUM

Uganda appreciated all participants for their active
engagement and product display. He reminded the
participants about the major challenges highlighting rapid
rapid population growth, weak market linkages, the
emergence of undesirable chemicals in the food chain and
what this means for the agroecology value chain. In this
regard, he urged the participants to critically think about their
role in transforming the food system.

As he reflected on the challenges that key players had shared

including inadequate inputs for agroecology production, the Photo 24: Dr. Kyeswa delivering the
high costs of organic fertilizers and the lack of forward linkages closing remarks.
to markets, he requested ICT companies to come on board
and support market linkages through improved information access. He applauded the
innovative approaches that were exhibited at the expo and expressed confidence that there
were solutions to several barriers limiting the scale up of agroecology despite challenges such
as climate change and the pandemics.

He appreciated the stakeholders for their commitments and urged the PELUM Team to fast-
track implementation as this would inform the next course of action. It is important to work for
an agro-entrepreneurial world with an inclusive market and PELUM Country Chapter is
committed to support youth initiatives. He further called upon the human rights activists to
support initiatives aimed at agroecology inclusion.

On behalf of PELUM governance board, he committed to scout for resources to support the
youth in agroecology and encouraged them to support the transformation/movement – ‘We
need to convince the government that it is possible to support 100% organic production and
influence the young minds through school awareness campaigns,’ he adjourned the expo.

43
9 ANNEXES

9.1 Day 1: 25th October 2022 - Summit Programme

TIME (EAT) SESSION DESCRIPTION

8.45-9.00 The zoom platform opens. Online participants join.

Introduction and opening

● PELUM Uganda welcoming remarks and objectives by Josephine
9.00 - 9.30
Akia Luyimbazi, Country Coordinator PELUM Uganda
● Overview of the YALTA initiative and acknowledging of key
partners by Bente Meindertsma, Regional Programme Manager
YALTA
Keynote speeches
● Million Belay (PhD), General Coordinator, AFSA
Reflection on the importance of accelerating youth-led businesses
in agroecology
● Frank Buizer, Agricultural councillor of the embassy of the Kingdom
of the Netherlands
9.30 - 10.40
Reflection on the importance of sustainable food systems and the role of
youth
● Nico Janssen, Grand Manager at IKEA Foundation
Why are they supporting YALTA and how does it fit in their wider
programme
● Jannifer Muthike, A young entrepreneur in Agroecology
Sharing her experiences in investing in agroecological business
Panel Discussion: Markets reward youth in agroecology
● Sharing experience about the YALTA awareness campaign by
social media influencer Arthur Nkusi/Caleb Karuga
● Successful business acceleration for agroecology businesses by
Beryl Oyier, Managing Director of Bopinc
11:00 – 12:00 ● Creating scalable agroecology business models and access to
finance for AE businesses by Ivan Mandela, Director of investment
Shona
● Access to finance for agroecology businesses by M.s Felicite, a
young entrepreneur that secured funding

Panel discussion: Youth adopt AE principles

● Research on meaningful youth engagement and entrepreneurship
by Martha Kapazoglou - The Broker
● Youth caravan and peer-to-peer learning by David Ssembajwe –
A young entrepreneur (Uganda)
12:00 – 13:00
● Mentorship programme by Jean Marie Ntakirutimana - Mentor and
Business advisor Agriterra Rwanda
● Best practices in the application of AE principles by Jane Wambui
(Kenya) and Frezer Fikru (Ethiopia) - young entrepreneurs

13:00 - 14:00 Screen break (with music)

44
 Panel discussion: Creating a conducive environment

● Youth engagement in policy development processes by Hajjara

Nantume, a young entrepreneur (Uganda)
14:00 - 15:00
● Acid soils reclamation campaign by Dr Bayush Tsegaye (Ethiopia)
● Youth engagement in policy processes at the county level by
Matthew Muendo - PELUM Kenya
● Inclusion of youth in agroecology research and education
curricula by Justine Mbabazi - SALI Rwanda

15:00 - 15:30 30 minutes screen break (with music)

Breakout sessions
Discussion about elements for replication and scaling + needs and gaps
to be addressed:
15:30 -16:30
● Market Access
● Adoption of AE principles
● Creating a conducive environment

9.2 Day 2: 26th October 2022 - AMASE Program

TIME (EAT)
SESSION DESCRIPTION

9.15-9.30 The zoom platform opens. Online participants join.

9.30 - 10.00
Opening remarks from Joshua Aijuka, PELUM Uganda Head of Programmes.

Presentation of Market barriers, opportunities and recommendations for

10:00 – 11:30
agroecological products and services

Official Opening by Guest of Honor, Hon. Ntabazi -State Minister for Trade
11:30 – 12:00
at the Ministry of Trade Industry and Cooperatives in Uganda

Pitches from YALTA’s national reference groups about follow-up actions:

● Solomon Kabede, MELCA Ethiopia
14:30 - 15:00 ● Alex Uwizeye, Help a child Rwanda
● Leah Mwaura, SNV Kenya
● Josephine Akia PELUM Uganda
Breakout session
Developing action agenda to follow up on best practices, needs and gaps
identified:
● Market Access
● Adoption of agroecology principles
15:00- 16:00
● Conducive business environment

45
9.3 List of Participants

YALTA Summit Attendance List

YALTA Participants
List.xlsx

AMASE Attendance List

AMASE Participants
List.xlsx

46
9.4 Detailed Discussions from the Breakout Sessions

The subsequent sections provide details of discussions that transpired in the breakout sessions
before the main priority issues/ needs/ proposals/ recommendations were selected.

 Market access

The breakout session was aimed at understanding the stream of accessing markets, who is the
target stakeholders, what are the channels of accessing the markets. The discussion was
guided by the question:
What has been shared or worked in terms of accessing markets and funding in YALTA.

1) Work and interact with other stakeholders

2) Interact with local experts.
3) Access to funding is affected by the maturity level of the AE to benefit from the
available funding
4) Let’s focus on customer fit not capital—focus on customers and capital will come
easily.
5) Conduct due diligence for the business.
6) Start business, grow it, and seek capital to push it further.
7) There is increased demand for health foods in Africa.
8) Need to understand who the business customer is—design product to suit the
customers
9) Proper planning and clear execution for the business growth.
10) Financial management and accountability are key for business growth.
11) Quality and quantity of products.
12) Advertisement—utilising digital platforms.
13) Succession farming (interesting young generation into farming)
14) Youth should practice delayed gratification in business.
15) Clarity of the product (Branding).
16) Diversity in business/ marketing
17) From the submission above only SIX issues were picked for consideration as priority issues
for YALTA moving forward to support youth in Agroecology business access Markets.

Pic-Prioritising process

The issues prioritised from the meeting are

7) Work and interact with other stakeholders, local experts
8) Access to funding, build funding networks and social borrowing
9) Clear planning and due diligence
10) Branding and Advertising –utilising digital and social media platforms,
11) Quality and Quantity of products
12) Mindset change about AE products and Agriculture - (practicing delayed
gratification)

The above issues were given weights to assess their impacts on gender and access to market.

Issue Which gender is affected the most Who are the major stakeholders
we can work with to solve this
issue
Work and interact Women are highly affected – Ministry of Gender, Labour,
with other and Social Development
stakeholders, local – Production experts
experts – Consultants
Access to funding, Women are highly affected – Financial institutions
build funding – SACCOs
– Cooperatives

47
 networks and social
borrowing
Clear planning and Men are not keen to details and even
execution and when they are caught by the law it
conducting due affects them adversely.
diligence
Branding and Both—female have a high likelihood of
Advertising –utilising not having a smart phone to engage in
digital and social social media advertisement, however
media platforms, men feel left out whenever branding of
products is done women faces are more
appealing than male faces—even water
products.
Quality and Quantity Men are affected more because they
of products are not bothered by quality—Likewise
women are more engaged in informal
sector and few of their products
penetrate the formal markets.
Mindset change Ownership of land affect decisions on
about Agroecology what to do on land and men are not
products and bothered about engaging in
Agriculture- Agroecology business.
(practicing delayed In terms of consumption, we need to
gratification.) target men other than women.
– Buyers
– Researchers
– Agro-input dealers
– Credit institutions
– Insurance companies.
– Using advertisement
influencers, branding faces
and bloggers.
– Ministry of Science,
Technology, and Innovation
– Farmers or producers
– Uganda National Bureau of
Standards (UNBS)
– Ministry of Agriculture,
Animal Industry and Fisheries
(MAAIF)
– Ministry of Trade, Industry
and Cooperatives (MTIC)
– YALTA and PELUM

Participants in the group drew a commitment tree. This was an opportunity for organisation
commit towards supporting youth in agroecology business access markets for their products
and some of these included.

Organisation Commitment
MAAIF Formulate favourable policies and strategies for agroecology
business.
EVERGROW Organics Producing 100% agricultural products such as fertilisers, animal
feeds, pesticides, and herbicides.
NARO Hoima Provide research and improved technologies.
YIYA foundation Information sharing on Agroecology business opportunities
among youths using our platforms.
KWIFABI Eco farm Training more youth on agroecology value chain marketing
Uganda being the focal point
RINOBA adventure safari Training farms on product design development for agrotourism
products.
Birara eco-agribusiness Changing more youth to join Agroecology business.
PELUM Uganda Training more farmers in Agribusiness development
Alex Kasajja— Mindset change training in agribusiness
Agribusiness
development specialist
WUCE Train more farmers in organic farming
Viola Introducing farmers to credit and loan institutions
Agrotourism Association Development of Agro farms and linkage to markets
ESAFF Ug/KILIMO mart Support SSFS on value addition.
App
Rwasande Organics and Training farmers in producing organic and high-quality products
farmers associations to meet market demands
Orungo County Training farmers on PHH to produce quality for easy marketing.
Multipurpose
cooperative society Ltd.
ESBEN Organic farms. Training farmers in making bio-fertilisers and pesticides.

48
 Waka Environmental Avail information on how to use social media to create more
conservation Uganda markets.
ICES Training Youths on agroecological business concepts

 Adoption of Agroecological Principles

Objectives of the session: Identify the most successful parts of the TALTA to be replicated.
Gaps to be addressed in the future.

Review of the YALTA elements

1. Mentorship
2. Caravans
3. Coalitions

The session started with a review of the topical issues/panel discussion from the main session
which included:
 Integration of research and development and indigenous knowledge in Agroecology
 Financial access that is, how youth can access finances without collateral
 Polices. Development of favorable agroecological policies by government and CSOs
 Some of the issues identified by participants in the main sessions included
 Implementation of Agroecology policy is a challenge due to lack of
motivation/patriotism
 Use of locally available resources to make Agroecology cheaper
 Agroecology is both a science and social movement/art not just application and
implementation of principles.
 It its necessary to document the best practices, innovations and technology to address
the knowledge gap

QA Session. Which top 3 elements of YALTA Initiative are interesting and should be replicated
in the next phase and why?

1) Mentorship. because it’s possible for a mentee to become a mentor.

2) Caravan. The reason for this is that participants get to know the e best practices and
knowledge to be replicated.
3) Coalition. The reason for this is, nothing can be done alone so it’s important that people
work together, and this can be overstated.

QA2. Before YALTA ends, which needs of the YALTA initiative agroecological entrepreneurs
have not been addressed sufficiently in the last 3 years and should be done differently in future.

 Research  Integration of best principles in

 Country caravans mainstream extension(advocacy)
 Impact investments  Upscaling
 Research and extension  Working with youth groups instead
 Financial access of individuals
 Extension of YALTA to other  M&E for participants
countries  Group marketing
 Publication of success stories

Three priority issues selected included:

1. Research
2. More extension services
3. Access to finance

QA3. What the youths need to implement and adopt agroecological practices?

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  Mentorship and exposure
 Demonstration at all levels of Agroecology especially knowledge generation
 Adequate capacity building
 Linkage of youth to successfully farmers
 Make sure youths have access to knowledge hubs and digital technology.

In reference to the question: “What the youths need to implement and adopt agroecological
practices?”, the youths were tasked to make commitments either at individual or organization
level in order to advance the agroecology discussion.
All the participants made commitments, and these included:
1. Scaling up Agroecology to youth groups thorough mentorship and exposure. (The
Hunger Project Uganda)
2. Reach out to more youths to create awareness on agroecological products (No NAME)
3. Mentor 2 youths in Agroecology by Richard Guloba
4. Organize, support and mentor 60 youths in urban farming using Agroecology principles
by JESSE
5. Cluster youths in soccer teams and mentor them into Agroecology Farming schools
(Ndiyo Christopher).
6. Provide training to youths through skilling hubs (Onyum in Kenya)
7. Creating awareness about Agroecology in schools (AC Julius)
8. Support Agroecology transition initiative (SOSFaim)

Participants were asked to identify all relevant stakeholders necessary to advance

Agroecology.
1. Financial institutions 6. Faith based organizations
2. Food processors 7. Individual farms
3. Local governments 8. Youth
4. Private sector 9. Licensing bodies
5. Media

 Conducive Business Environment

Priority issue Detailed discussions Commitment

Integration of Institutional Universities are Structure the State House

AE in the engagements e.g., already integrating curricula to make YFFE
education schools, universities (Uganda Martyrs/ Mt AE become an JESE
systems teach different of the Moon) … independent KCCA
courses, and this would reach out to program with FAPAD
be an universities and different YALTA
opportunity…also an benchmark to modules… this Ethiopia
opportunity for engage more with requires SOCADIDO
mindset/attitude MAAIF to push the engaging Aqua Hub
change… students AE agenda into government Kenya
can be good change primary and
agents secondary institutions Engage
agriculture tutors
YFFE have school Include Ministry of and including
agricultural programs, Education in the AE them in the
but this should be discussion discussion
more business
oriented…. Engage Start a campaign Call for a reform
other key players to and engage NARO in the agriculture
promote AE through to focus on AE…with extension policy
schools directly to include AE
appropriated
MAAIF should resources… also
deliberately allocate a

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 budget for AE engage agricultural Awareness and
demos… learning training colleges sensitization
centres for about AE benefits
communities to Skilling program for
engage on budget the disadvantaged
advocacy youth in State
House… 4acre
model… this should
integrate AE for all
farmers…Kigezi Sub
region

More Ban importation of UNBS should set Target the JESE

favourable synthetic fertilizers to different levels of politicians to National
certification boost local standards and advocate for Rabbit Farm
system for AE manufacturing of compliance…. better policies in
products to organic fertilizers Engage UNBS to terms of fighting
support SMEs ease certification bureaucracies in
tap into the Lack of standards for processes fast tracking
regional/ AE production… processes…
international people use the IK they Ensure quality of the engage UgoCert
markets must produce and products through
process organic production

Gender Deliberately target AVAL

inclusion with and engage special YALTA
special focus interest groups Ethiopia
on women and
persons with
special needs

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