Future Agricultures Consortium is a multidisciplinary and independent learning alliance of academic researchers and practitioners involved in African agriculture. We aim to encourage dialogue and the sharing of good practice by policy makers and opinion formers in Africa on the role of agriculture in broad based growth. Collectively we offer a responsive mode of working, so we can engage with policy debates and issues as they arise. {jathumbnail off}

Envisaging alternative futures for African agriculture through evidence base research.

FAC has been exploring what needs to be done to get different forms of agriculture – food/cash crops, livestock/pastoralism, smallholdings/contract farming/large holdings – moving on a track of increasing productivity and competitiveness. Through a series of debates, dialogues and conferences – at local, national and global levels – the Consortium has been asking in particular: what are the challenges for institutional design and wider policy processes, from local to global arenas?

Our mission is uncontroversial – it is “to encourage dialogue and the sharing of good practice by policy makers and opinion formers in Africa on the role of agriculture in broad based growth”.

Overall, we aim to be the one of first ports of call for advice, ideas and evidence on policies for African agriculture, known to be distinct and different from the mainstream. We believe that in this key area of agriculture and food security in Africa, given the challenges presented by the food crisis and the wider efforts around fostering a New Green Revolution for Africa, a ‘mixed ecology’ of different voices, perspectives and opinions is an advantage, adding resilience, diversity and capacity to the policy system.

The guiding principle of the Consortium is that agriculture, despite its often gloomy record and poor reputation, is a crucial pathway out of poverty in Africa: absorbing labour, producing food and generating economic growth, both within and perhaps most importantly beyond the agricultural sector. Agriculture is thus a vital engine of economic growth, especially in Africa. Getting pro-poor growth moving through different types of agriculture – for the benefit of both poor producers and consumers, and to generate growth in the wider economy – is therefore a key policy priority. {jathumbnail off}

FAC continues to build on our achievements and we are now beginning a new phase to deepen and extend our activities. In particular, we are: