Podcast

In this special episode from the Green Week in Berlin, we dive into the big questions facing agriculture and food systems. With sub-Saharan Africa's population expected to double by 2050, how can agriculture meet the surging demand for food while ensuring sustainability, inclusivity, and resilience?

Host Katie Gallus is joined by Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and Mologadi Madisha, founder of Morgan BL Farming in South Africa. Together, they explore the vital role of local farmers, the effects of external shocks like avian flu, and the transformative power of youth and women in agriculture. This episode offers a unique blend of perspectives—from hands-on farming to multilateral policy—on how we can build food systems that are both sustainable and resilient, capable of thriving in an ever-changing world.

At the network meeting "Partners for change - Transformation to a food secure, resilient and sustainable future" in Nairobi, Kenya, over 200 stakeholders and international partners from around the globe came together to discuss the transformation of our agricultural and food systems.

In this episode, we listen to moderator Kah Walla and Paul Garaycochea summing up the event. Kah Walla is an activist, entrepreneur, and political leader from Cameroon. In 2008, she was recognized as one of seven women entrepreneurs working to improve the business environment in Africa by the world bank. Paul Garaycochea is the current director for sustainable supply chains, agricultural and food systems at the German federal ministry for economic cooperation and development (BMZ). He was also head of the Multilateral Policy Issues Division at BMZ, among others, during the 2022 German G7 Presidency.

No matter where we live or what we are doing in our daily lives – all of us are consumers of one thing or another. You might not realize just how many of the goods you consume are imported from other countries. This makes us dependent on global trade. Today we face many challenges in our established trading structures, such as price dumping, import dependencies and the exclusion of marginalized groups. How can we make our trade systems more just?

In the final episode of season 1, we talk to Carin Smaller (Shamba Centre for Food & Climate), Prof. Ousmane Badiane (Akademiya2063) and Jonathan Hepburn (WTO).

In many countries, secure and documented land rights have proven to be essential, especially for smallholder farmers. The reasons for this are simple: land ownership can serve as an asset that facilitates access to financial services. This opens up new economic opportunities for farmers. At the same time, however, it must be ensured that difficulties with repayments do not lead to the loss of land.

In this month’s episode we delve into the challenges that affect smallholder farmers when it comes to land tenure and access to financial services. In this context, we also look at the aspect of gender equality.

Nowadays, we have a vast array of digital services at our disposal – weather its ordering groceries, checking the weather forecast, refreshing the news or social media to stay up to date on current events, or listening to this very podcast – it's hard to imagine what life would look like without technology in our lives.

Experts say: leveraging digital tools to support food and agricultural transformation offers great potential to transform the food system, work towards the goal of SDG 2 (zero hunger) and put less pressure on our natural environments while conserving more biodiversity. Let’s take a closer look.

In this episode Katie Gallus talks to Neth Daño (ETC Group), Sonja Vermeulen (CGIAR), Meron Sileshi (Lersha) and Paul Zaake (AgriShare Uganda Limited).

By 2030, the United Nation’s 2023 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report projects that almost 600 million people will be chronically undernourished while 1.5 billion people will be overweight or obese. Today we’re asking once again a rather big question: How can food environments around the world be adapted to promote and facilitate healthy, sustainable, and equitable food choices for everyone?

In this episode Katie Gallus talks to Abdul Rashid Wumpini Alhassan (CEO of Ummy Farms), Namukolo Covic (African Nutrition Society and International Livestock Research Institute) and Dr. Ella Compaoré (Scaling Up Nutrition and African Federation of Nutrition Societies).

Healthy and productive soils are the very foundation of our global food production. Without them, nothing can grow. Yet, between 2015 and 2019, the world has been losing at least 100 million hectares of healthy and productive land every year, due to agricultural overuse, deforestation, sealing or climate change. In this month’s episode we’re asking: How does the quality of soil affect global food production? How can we keep them healthy and nutritious? And: How can we prevent further losses?

In this episode Katie Gallus talks to Natalia Rodríguez Eugenio (FAO), Andrea Meza (UNCCD), Delwendé Innocent Kiba (former Minister of Agriculture of Burkina Faso), and Benedikt Bösel (German farmer).

Currently, Africa has the largest number of young people in its history, with over 70% of the population in the Sub-Saharan area being under 30 years old.  And this number is still growing. This holds great potential for the continent, in regard to modernizing the agricultural and food sector, contributing to the national economies and making rural areas more sustainable and attractive. In this month’s episode we ask: How do we help create sufficient job opportunities for Africa’s largest youth generation? And how do we strengthen rural areas to ensure there are sufficient job possibilities? In this episode Katie Gallus talks to Alison Blay-Palmer (UNESCO), Muriel Diaco (Djouman), Abdoulaye YEYE (Rural Youth Employment project in Burkina Faso), and Curlstar Karegi (Vihiga Young Agripreneurs Network in Kenya).

While public support to agriculture amounts to more than 800 billion dollars a year, today’s food systems still seem ill-equipped for our 21st-century challenges. But why is that? In the second episode we unravel the hidden costs behind our groceries, from the environmental impact of agricultural production to inefficient subsidies. Join us, as we explore the potential of redirecting public funds toward a more effective and sustainable solution. In this episode Katie Gallus talks to Melissa Pinfield (Senior Partner at Meridian Institute and Executive Director of the Just Rural Transition Initiative), Charlotte Peters (farm owner), Dr. David Laborde (Director, Agrifood economics division at FAO), and Jacob Nyirongo (Chief Executive Officer, Farmer Union of Malawi).

De l'instabilité politique aux catastrophes climatiques, notre système alimentaire est confronté à d'énormes défis. Dans le premier épisode, nous posons la question suivante : comment pouvons-nous nourrir le monde en période de crises multiples ? Nous nous penchons sur le rôle essentiel des chaînes d'approvisionnement dans notre monde interconnecté, et nous découvrons les histoires de ceux qui s'efforcent de prévenir les arrêts de production et de mettre en place des systèmes alimentaires plus résistants. Dans cet épisode, Katie Gallus s'entretient avec Stefanos Fotiou (directeur du Bureau des objectifs de développement durable à la FAO [et] chef du Centre de coordination des systèmes alimentaires des Nations unies), Ibrahim Mayaki (envoyé spécial de l'Union africaine pour les systèmes alimentaires) et Phichong Ou (chef de projet et spécialiste du développement, WorldFish).