Yara Prize honours youth entrepreneurship, policy advocacy

The Yara Prize 2013 is being awarded to Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu, founder/CEO, Smallholders Foundation, Nigeria, and Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, CEO, Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN). These two prominent African laureates were selected for their work as African farmers and for the continent’s green revolution.

According to the Yara Prize committee, the award recognises their effective entrepreneurial work which has spread knowledge that has inspired smallholder farmers and youths to improve their lives, and their policy dialogue and advocacy, which have enabled change in the African agricultural sector.

Through personal commitment and special efforts, both laureates have translated ideas on the development of African agriculture into impactful results in their respective areas of work. They are both examples of the can-do spirit and drive that is playing a vital role in transforming agriculture in Africa.

“Yara creates impact by addressing global challenges. By awarding the Yara Prize, we salute the champions of sustainable agricultural development. I wish to extend my personal congratulations to the laureates,” Jørgen Ole Haslestad, president/CEO of Yara, and chairman of the Yara Prize committee, said.

The two laureates will be celebrated during a Yara Prize ceremony in Maputo, Mozambique, on September 4, 2013, in connection with the African Green Revolution Forum 2013.

Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu is being awarded the ‘communicating for impact award’ for his entrepreneurial work of using radio as transmitter of sustainable agricultural development and environmental conservation, beneficial to rural poor small farmers in Imo State, South-East Nigeria. Ikegwuonu through the Smallholders Foundation develops and broadcasts 10 hours of educational radio programmes daily to 250,000 listeners. The radio programmes are held in the local Igbo language. Since 2007, 65 percent of his radio programme listeners have increased their agricultural yield by 50 percent and their household income by 45 percent.

Ikegwuonu’s goal is to reaching 3.5 million farmers in almost 5,000 villages in his own region. Since 2008, 4,500 students have been trained and 10 school gardens have been established in Nigeria. Through the Future Farmers Programme, Ikegwuonu imparts sustainable agricultural, environmental management, entrepreneurship and financial management skills to young people by establishing the School and Community Gardens in secondary schools and rural communities across Nigeria.

Lindiwe Majele Sibanda’s award is the ‘advocating for impact’ for her many years of work generating knowledge and facilitating dialogue to develop informed, research-based development through policy and advocacy across Africa as CEO of the FANRPAN, where she has served since 2004.

FANRPAN is perceived to be one of the most influential policy networks across the African region. Its focus areas include policy research and advocacy work on food policy, agricultural productivity, natural resources and environment, and the impact of HIV/AIDS on farmers’ livelihoods. Sibanda has played a global leadership role in increasing the visibility and importance of agriculture as a key development driver.

FANRPAN extended its mandate to become Africa-wide in 2012, and has identified youth as an important stakeholder group to be further nurtured and included in agricultural policy processes, launching the FANRPAN Youth in Agriculture Award in 2012.

The Yara Prize for an African Green Revolution seeks to contribute to the transformation of African agriculture and food availability, within a sustainable context, thereby helping to reduce hunger and poverty. The Yara Prize is based on nominations of candidates who are carefully evaluated by the Yara Prize committee. The Yara Prize consists of $60,000, which will be split between the laureates, a crystal trophy and a diploma. The Yara Prize was handed out in Oslo from 2005 to 2009. In 2012, it moved to Africa where it was handed out as part of African Green Revolution Forum 2012 in Arusha, Tanzania. The Yara Prize 2013 will be handed out during a ceremony in Maputo, Mozambique on September 4, 2013.

The Yara Prize is now handed out annually in Africa.