AFRICA - Accelerating Investments for an Agricultural Revolution
- AGCO’s Third Africa Summit Focuses on Innovation in the Field
Rob Smith, AGCO Senior Vice President & General Manager Europe, Africa and Middle East, John Agyekum Kufuor, Former President of Ghana & Chairman of The John A. Kufuor Foundation and Martin Richenhagen, AGCO Chairman, President & CEO at the AGCO Africa Summit 2014.
The FAO study ‘Contribution of Farm Power to Smallholder Livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa’ states that there are significant economic and social benefits to be reaped from farm-power mechanization:
economic: increasing the efficiency of labor, reducing costs, increasing the area cultivated, undertaking more timely production, improving the quality of cultivation, increasing yields, adopting new crops, reducing harvest and post-harvest losses, and earning a rental income through hiring farm-power services to others.
social: reducing drudgery and workloads, improving safety, gaining prestige, and encouraging younger and more innovative people to remain in rural areas and work on the land.
“In the last decades, sub-Saharan Africa has faced significant challenges in reducing hunger, food security and poverty,” said Rob Smith, AGCO Senior Vice President and General Manager for Europe, Africa & Middle East. “However, Africa has a huge growth potential in the agricultural sector because nowhere else in the world is there such an abundance of untapped resources. That is a major driver for AGCO to be engaged in the World Economic Forum’s Grow Africa Initiative and why we are committed to the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition of the G8.” 15% of the world’s arable land lies in Africa, of which more than 80% remains uncultivated. Pre-1960, Africa provided 10% of the world’s food, that figure is less than 1% today. After decades of decline, the sub-Saharan agricultural sector - 80% of which consists of smallholder farmers - finally started to grow over the last few years.
“Innovation and investment has driven agricultural productivity to new highs in developed countries, and now these resources should be redirected towards a continent that has the means and potential to feed the world,” explained Mr. Richenhagen. AGCO continues to be engaged in Africa and has developed a strategy that focuses on investment in human capital to improve farming know-how, improvement of distribution and expansion of AGCO products and services.
AGCO plans to continue to collaborate on establishing further demonstration farms and training centers in different African countries. These facilities will allow local farmers and dealers to be trained on new farming technology. Currently, Zambia has an AGCO Future Farm and Training Center already operating, and it has yielded its first harvest of maize and soybeans in the last year. A key component to the success at Zambia’s Chalimbana Farm and Training Center are the strong partnerships that have been forged. The purpose of these partnerships is to bring together subject matter experts from various backgrounds that can create a roadmap to educate and train farmers on how to increase their agricultural productivity.
Through its global tractor brand, Massey Ferguson, AGCO has more than 50 years of experience in African agriculture. During this time African farmers have come to rely on the quality, reliability and support provided by Massey Ferguson, which was a major player in the power farming revolution, mechanizing and increasing farming efficiency across the continent. Recently, AGCO started a joint venture with companies owned by the Algerian government to locally produce Massey Ferguson tractors. This venture will continue to build on innovation in the field, and mechanization as well as encouraging farmers how to become more productive.
This year’s AGCO Africa Summit turnout was exceptional, and AGCO is proud and excited at the success of the journey started together three years ago.
ABOUT AGCO
AGCO, Your Agriculture Company, (NYSE: AGCO), is a global leader focused on the design, manufacture and distribution of agricultural machinery. AGCO supports more productive farming through a full line of tractors, combines, hay tools, sprayers, forage equipment, tillage, implements, grain storage and protein production systems, as well as related replacement parts. AGCO products are sold through five core machinery brands, Challenger®, Fendt®, GSI®, Massey Ferguson® and Valtra® and are distributed globally through 3,150 independent dealers and distributors in more than 140 countries worldwide. Founded in 1990, AGCO is headquartered in Duluth, GA, USA. In 2012, AGCO had net sales of $10 billion. www.AGCOcorp.com
Website: http://www.agcocorp.com
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This news is a press release provided by AGCO Corporation.
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2024년 1월 31일 15:30