ADI to hold webinar on agricultural policy responses to COVID-19 in Africa

The African Development Institute (ADI) and the African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE) will next week host a virtual seminar on agricultural policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa.

The webinar, the second in a series of the ADI’s Global Community of Practice (G-CoP), will be hosted on Monday, 18 May 2020, from 14:00 to 17:00 and Tuesday, 19 May 2020, from 08:30 to 11:30 (Abidjan time), to accommodate delegates from different time zones in the Western and Eastern hemispheres.

The theme of the webinar is Building Resilience in Food Systems and Agricultural Value Chains: Agricultural Policy Responses to COVID-19 in Africa, and will feature speakers from sister multilateral development banks, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), universities of agriculture, and agricultural policy research institutions and networks.

The participants, including former Ministers of Agriculture, former Finance Ministers, agricultural policy experts and practitioners, will examine the impact of COVID-19 on agri-food systems in Africa and identify evidence-based policy options that can help the continent build more resilient and efficient food systems and value chains.

The forum will also explore the implications of other perennial challenges, such as climate change, water scarcity, post-harvest losses and poorly developed agricultural markets.