Oslo, Norway
July 7, 2007
Yara Prize awarded Josephine
Okot and Akin Adesina
The Board of
the Yara Foundation
awards the African Green Revolution Yara Prize for 2007 to
Josephine Okot and Akinwumi Adesina for their pioneering work
with agricultural inputs and agrodealer networks. The Yara
Foundation recognizes their contributions to boosting
agricultural productivity and creating livelihood opportunities
for communities across Africa.
The Yara Foundation recognizes that a green revolution in Africa
can neither be achieved nor sustained without private sector
entrepreneurship to provide agricultural inputs and develop
agrodealer networks. For the Yara Prize 2007, the Yara
Foundation therefore focused on candidates who have shown both
entrepreneurial excellence and the ability to work at many
levels, from on-the-ground initiatives to strategy and policy.
The Laureates
 The
Board of the Yara Foundation considers Akinwumi Adesina and
Josephine Okot to be outstanding examples of a new generation of
African entrepreneurs who are willing to take risks, take the
lead and break new ground within African agriculture and food
security.
As the founder and managing director of Victoria Seeds Ltd,
Josephine Okot is ably demonstrating how to develop new
markets and a local private-sector agricultural inputs industry
in her native Uganda. Her efforts to reverse the decline in
agricultural productivity in Uganda and other countries of the
region is paying off. Okot has also taken a leadership role in
lobbying for appropriate policies and an institutional framework
that help to integrate the African seed sector with the global
economy.
Okot responded to the news of being awarded the Yara Prize by
stating: "I am mesmerized by this grand honor. The YARA prize is
an invaluable endowment to our company and the seed industry of
Uganda. The team at Victoria Seeds are energized and motivated
with the news of this prestigious award which will enable our
company reach out to more small-holder farmers by engaging more
agri-input stockists. It is my hope that this recognition can be
an inspiration to the women entrepreneurs of East Africa."
"My fellow laureate is innovative and tenacious with a
contagious enthusiasm for an African Green Revolution.There
couldn't be a more deserving candidate than Akinwumi Adesina."
 Akinwumi
Adesina is widely known for his efforts to make farm inputs
available to poor smallhold farmers. He developed a rural
agrodealership model to allow owners of small village shops to
develop into agrodealers selling agricultural inputs. He helped
the Rockefeller Foundation develop a program that provides
technical training and certification to this network of
agrodealers. Adesina is currently Associate Director, Food
Security and Africa Regional Program at the Rockefeller
Foundation.
Adesina responded to the news of being awarded the Yara Prize
saying, "This is great news. I am excited for all the
hardworking rural agrodealers who are doing such a wonderful job
to get inputs to poor farmers across Africa. This is all about
them. They are the rural businesses - mostly run by women - that
will carry the green revolution to the door steps of the rural
poor. This award is recognition of their great efforts and
remarkable entrepreneurship. They are the real heroes. I accept
this award on their behalf and I will donate the financial grant
that accompanies the award to support the continued vital work
of agrodealers in Africa."
Dr. Thorleif Enger, Chairman of the Yara Foundation Board called
the two laureates "examples of the entrepreneurial spirit and
drive that is playing a vital role in lifting Africa out of
poverty." He emphasized the necessity of both the bottom-up
approach exemplified by Josephine Okot and the broader strategic
and policy approach of Akinwumi Adesina in creating Africa's
green revolution.
Award ceremony.
The Yara Prize 2007 award ceremony
will take place on September 1st 2007 in Oslo, Norway. The Prize
will be awarded at a ceremony rounding off the second
African Green
Revolution Conference which convenes in Oslo on August 29.
The Yara Prize is awarded by the Foundation to commend
outstanding efforts to increase food production and availability
in Africa, contributing to the economic and social development
of the continent and its people. The Prize is made up of a
financial grant of USD 100,000 to each of the laureates, and a
diploma and a trophy. The prizewinner is free to decide how to
utilize the Prize in order to further the sustainable greening
and development of Africa.
The Yara Foundation Board
Dr. Thorleif Enger, President and CEO of Yara International ASA
Professor Pedro Sanchez, Director of Tropical Agriculture, the
Earth Institute, Columbia University, New York.
Dr. Marco Quinones, Regional Director for Africa, Sasakawa
Global 2000, Ethiopia.
Dr. P. Hartmann, Director General of the International Institute
for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Nigeria
Yara International ASA is the leading global supplier of mineral
fertilizers and the only international fertilizer producer with
a significant presence in Africa. As part of its Centennial
celebration in 2005 Yara established the Yara Foundation to
implement action in support of the UN Millennium Development
Goals and a green revolution in Africa.
Further information
www.africangreenrevolution.com
www.yara.com
The Board of the Yara Foundation
has awarded the 2007 Yara Prize for an African Green Revolution
to Josephine Okot and Akinwumi Adesina for their pioneering work
with agricultural inputs and agrodealer networks in Africa.
On July 4, the Board of the Yara Foundation announced their
selection of Nigerian agricultural development and policy
expert, Akinwumi Adesina and Ugandan entrepreneur and seed
company executive Josephine Okot as the 2007 Yara Prize
laureates.
The Board described Okot and Adesina as outstanding examples of
a new generation of African entrepreneurs who are willing to
take risks, take the lead and break new ground within African
agriculture and food security.
African Entrepreneurs
The Yara Prize for an African Green Revolution is awarded by the
Yara Foundation to commend outstanding efforts to increase food
production and availability in Africa. The Foundation aims in
this way to contribute to the economic and social development of
the continent and its people.
For the 2007 Prize, the Yara Foundation focused on candidates
who have shown both entrepreneurial excellence and the ability
to work at many levels, from on-the-ground initiatives to
strategy and policy. Okot, who has played a pivotal role in
developing a private-sector agricultural inputs industry in her
native Uganda, and Adesina, known for his lead in catalyzing the
drive for a African green revolution, were natural choices.
The two laureates will each receive a grant of USD 100,000, in
addition to the Prize diploma and trophy. The Prize will be
awarded on September 1st 2007 at a ceremony rounding off
thesecond African Green Revolution Conference, which convenes
inOslo, Norway on August 29.
Josephine Okot
As
the founder and managing director of Victoria Seeds Ltd,
Josephine Okot is ably demonstrating how to develop new markets
and a local private-sector agricultural inputs industry in her
native Uganda. Her efforts to reverse the decline in
agricultural productivity in Uganda and other countries of the
region are widely acknowledged.
Okot has also taken a leadership role in lobbying for
appropriate policies and an institutional framework that help to
integrate the African seed sector with the global economy. Among
other things, she was the first chairperson of the influential
Uganda seed traders association.
Okot, who has an International Business degree from Washington
International University, held a series of managerial positions
in marketing and export before making a courageous decision to
enter the capital-intensive seed industry in 2003. From humble
beginnings with very limited capital, she has developed Victoria
Seeds Ltd into a full line seed company engaged in research,
production, processing, distribution and marketing. Its turnover
grew from USD 800,000 in 2004 to USD 1.5 million in 2006, a 40%
increase.
Victoria Seeds had increased its original four members of staff
to 22 by the end of 2005. Today it employs 30 permanent and 40
non-permanent workers, 60% of whom are women. With limited
mechanization, the company delivered 850,000 kgs of certified
seed to farmers in 2004. This rose to 1,032,000 kgs in 2005 and
1,250,000 in 2006.
Victoria Seeds contracts over 200 growers to produce its seed,
giving them employment and an assured market. The company
markets over 55 seed varieties – from groundnut and pigeon pea
to sesame and soybean, maize, rice, millet and sorghum to
vegetable varieties like Abelmoschus, and Crucifers – providing
for the needs of 25% of the smallholder farmers in Uganda.
Proclaimed Uganda’s leading woman entrepreneur in 2006 by
Business in Africa Magazine, Josephine Okot is now working to
expand Victoria Seeds’ distribution capacity and network to the
East and Central African regional market. She also functions as
Management Committee Co-Chair of the Sub-Saharan Africa
Challenge Program at FARA – the Forum for Agricultural Research
in Africa. FARA is an umbrella organization bringing together
and forming coalitions of major stakeholders in agricultural
research and development in Africa.
Akinwumi
Adesina
Akinwumi Adesina is a highly experienced and internationally
respected agricultural development and policy expert, with over
20 years of top-level experience in African agricultural and
rural development. He has served on major global initiatives on
agriculture and poverty reduction in Africa, developed
innovative models for accelerating agricultural growth for poor
African farmers, interacted at the highest levels of policy
making and influenced African Heads of State to develop bold
policy initiatives for the poor.
Adesina, who has a Doctorate in Agricultural Economics from
Purdue University, is passionately pro-poor and committed to
ensuring that Africa achieves its green revolution. This
aspiration is channeled through his role as Associate Director,
Food Security and Africa Regional Program at the Rockefeller
Foundation.
Adesina led the Rockefeller Foundation to embark on a major
restructuring of its world-renowned agricultural sciences
program to incorporate a major focus on market development for
farmers. He now manages an Africa-wide program on the
development of agricultural markets, policies and institutions
for increasing incomes of poor rural households.
For an African Green Revolution
The Yara Foundation Board hopes that this award will underpin
the significant progress that has been achieved by the two
winners in their pioneering work with agricultural inputs and
agrodealer networks in Africa. It also hopes the Prize will
serve as a source of inspiration for African entrepreneurs in
their efforts to realize Africa’s green revolution, reverse
hunger and create development throughout their continent.
Further information on the Yara Prize and the African Green
Revolution Conference can be found at:
www.africangreenrevolution.com
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