Empowering young people in agriculture, helps unlock their potential to drive economic growth, create jobs, and build resilient food systems. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

The African Agri Council's 40 Under 40 initiative highlights the critical role of youth who form a significant portion of Africa’s agricultural workforce

The programme is dedicated to celebrating the exceptional contributions of these young leaders who are driving innovation, sustainability, and economic growth within the agricultural sector. Youth engagement is vital for ensuring food security and creating sustainable livelihoods, since young people are more likely to embrace new technologies, adopt sustainable practices, and develop innovative solutions to the challenges facing agriculture.

Empowering young people in agriculture, helps unlock their potential to drive economic growth, create jobs, and build resilient food systems. Their ability to quickly learn and adopt new methods, coupled with their inherent understanding of digital tools, makes them ideal candidates to lead the transformation of African agriculture.

This initiative recognises the contributions of young leaders throughout the entire agricultural value chain. This includes, but is not limited to, those involved in agricultural inputs (seeds, fertilisers, equipment), agricultural financing, primary producers (farmers, livestock herders), agro-processors, logistics and transportation, marketing and distribution, exporters, and those driving technology and innovation within the sector. Anyone under 40 who is making a significant impact on the African agricultural landscape is eligible for nomination.

The criteria to qualify include:

• Innovation: Highlighting breakthroughs in agricultural technology, sustainability, entrepreneurship, funding, and transformative business models.
• Leadership: Demonstrating commitment to food security, sustainability, and equitable market access through exemplary leadership.
• Impact: Showcasing measurable contributions to productivity, job creation, environmental stewardship, and social empowerment.
• Advocacy: Influencing policies supporting farmers, food security, sustainability, and job creation through active advocacy.
• Education & Mentorship: Fostering agricultural leadership through mentorship, skill development, and capacity-building initiatives.
• Sustainability: Committing to environmentally friendly practices that enhance biodiversity and long-term agricultural productivity.
• Research & Development: Advancing agricultural science with innovative research improving yields and farming techniques.
• Media / Communications / PR: Shaping agricultural narratives through impactful journalism, PR, and advocacy-driven storytelling.

Ifigenia Urbina Barreto, PhD in Ecology and former Biome Makers employee conducting a tomato trial. (Image source: Biome Makers).

Biome Makers and Anglo American have collaborated on a joint research project on the impact of POLY4, Anglo American’s new low-carbon fertiliser, on the soil microbiome

The partnership involves soil trials that analyse and verify the impact of POLY4, Anglo American’s multi-nutrient fertiliser, on soil microbiome composition and functionality through a study on tomatoes and wheat in Spain. 

Soil trials have confirmed that with a targeted approach, POLY4 is environmentally friendly and preserves native soil microbiome biodiversity and boosts microbial nutrient mobilisation of potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and chlorine (Cl), improving plant nutrient uptake and development. The research also showed a reduction in soil electrical conductivity, thanks to the activation of calcium and chlorine microbial mobilisation, which further supports healthy soil ecosystems.

“Our collaboration with Anglo American shows our commitment to advancing sustainable agriculture through applied science,” said Dr Alberto Acedo, chief scientific officer of Biome Makers. “By leveraging BeCrop’s proprietary microbiome analysis tools and global soil database, we are able to provide companies like Anglo American with strong evidence of the positive effects of emerging ag input products on soil health.” 

While women remain the backbone of small-scale agriculture, they continue to struggle with issues such as food insecurity, sexual harassment and low wages. (Image source: African Union)

To combat the challenges currently being faced by women farmers in Africa, a plethora of initiatives are being undertaken, with hopes of empowering these farmers and ensuring the transformation of the region's agricultural landscape

While women remain the backbone of small-scale agriculture, they continue to struggle with issues such as food insecurity, sexual harassment and low wages. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), women receive less than 10% of available agricultural credit, limiting their ability to purchase high-quality seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, and irrigation equipment. The lack of collateral, restrictive banking policies, and financial illiteracy further hinder their ability to secure funding, leading to lower yields and poor crop quality.

Moreover, land ownership is another major hurdle. Studies show that only 15% of women in sub-Saharan Africa own land, reducing their ability to secure loans for expansion. This lack of ownership discourages long-term investments in soil improvement and productivity-enhancing innovations, keeping women in subsistence farming. Unstable markets further compound these issues. 

To tackle these challenges, African Union Special Envoy for Food Systems, Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki advises women farmers to form or join cooperatives, which can help them collectively bargain for better prices, access bulk purchasing discounts on inputs, and eliminate exploitative middlemen. Cooperatives should also develop digital marketplaces and mobile trading platforms where women can connect directly with buyers, ensuring fairer pricing. Governments, NGOs, and financial institutions must design gender-responsive credit facilities, including collateral-free loans and microfinance programs tailored for women farmers. Expanding mobile banking and digital wallets to rural areas can facilitate transactions and savings. Additionally, financial literacy training should be introduced to help women understand budgeting, credit management, and investment strategies.

Advocacy efforts should focus on ensuring that inheritance laws are equitable and that women farmers have secure land tenure, enabling them to make long-term investments in their farms. Governments and private sector players should invest in structured market systems, including farmer markets, digital trading platforms, and cold storage facilities. Participation in regional agricultural exhibitions and trade fairs should also be promoted to connect rural women with larger markets.

To enhance cross-border trade opportunities, trade regulations should be simplified, and training on trade policies and export procedures provided. Setting up cross-border trade facilitation desks can offer guidance and protection against exploitation at borders. Preferential trade agreements for small-scale women traders should also be introduced to enhance their competitiveness in foreign markets. Governments should also expand women-focused agricultural extension programmes, leveraging mobile apps and radio-based training to reach remote areas. Peer-to-peer learning and mentorship programmes can also provide knowledge on best practices, innovative farming techniques, and climate-smart agriculture to improve productivity and resilience against climate change.

Moa's agreement with NAICONS gives the former exclusive rights to develop any new herbicides discovered in the library. (Image source: Moa Technologies)

Oxford-based agricultural biotech firm, Moa Technology has entered a partnership with Italian natural products company, NAICONS to find a safe, effective and affordable biological herbicide  

With over 273 species of weeds that are now resistant to one or more commercially available herbicides, the need for new herbicides has never been more urgent. To date, Moa's platforms have screened almost 800,000 synthetic and naturally-occurring compounds, discovering over 70 potentially novel mode of action herbicides. Three synthetic herbicides with novel modes of action discovered by Moa have already performed strongly in their first two seasons of international field trials.

Moa's agreement with NAICONS gives the former exclusive rights to develop any new herbicides discovered in the library, with value to be shared from future licensing and commercialisation. CEO of Moa Technology, Dr Virginia Corless said the company is looking forward to applying the screening technology to NAICONS' high-quality library of actinomycete bacteria to find out whether a sustainable and effective biological compound can be discovered to assist farmers with controlling weeds. 

"We are very excited about this collaboration," said NAICONS CEO, Stefano Donadio. "Our library has never been screened for herbicides and we are confident promising lead molecules will be rapidly identified through our powerful micro4all platform. Over 150,000 different molecules have been identified in the extracts sent to Moa and our team is eager to help in identifying the most promising herbicide candidates."