Biographies of winners of the Yara Prize

Roots of the Africa Food Prize
Yara Prize
Winners
The Yara Prize was
launched in 2005 to
recognize the efforts of
individulas who were
striving to transform
African agriculture into
a productive profitable
business.
The prize has brought muchdeserved recognition to 16
recipients, whose outstanding
achievements (summarized below)
point the way forward to a more
vibrant farming sector for the entire
continent.
Representing a wide cross section
of African society, the winners of
the Yara Prize, now the Africa Food
Prize, have included entrepreneurs,
scientists, community organizers
and activists, business leaders,
and policy makers – all contributing
in diverse and effective ways to
a green revolution in Africa that
bolsters the continent´s agricultural
development and food security.
2015
Eric Kaduru
Founder and CEO, KadAfrica, Uganda
For his commitment and effective approach
to engaging youth in agriculture as a
sustainable livelihood. His work enabled 1,500
girls to build their financial, technical, and
entrepreneurial skills and provided them with
the self-confidence they needed to start their
own commercial passion fruit farms.
2012
Agnes Matilda Kalibata
Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources,
Rwanda For her outstanding leadership of a
transformation of Rwanda´s food security and
agricultural development, which was achieved
in a remarkably short time and has turned the
country into a farming success story that its
neighbors are eager to repeat.
Dr. Ousmane Badiane
Director for Africa, International Food Policy
Research Institute (IFPRI)
Eleni Gabre-Madhin
Former CEO, Ethiopian Commodity Exchange
(ECX)
For bringing a strong African voice to the
debate on food security, which has had a
profound influence on governments and
was instrumental in translating the agenda
of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture
Development Programme (CAADP) from a
mere concept into decisive action.
For her visionary leadership in creating
a transparent and efficient market for
smallholder coffee producers, which since ECX´s
inauguration in 2008, has boosted the volume
of coffee traded by more than four times, while
increasing farmers´ share of the final export
price from 38 to 65 percent.
2014
Professor Tekalign Mamo Assefa
Minister of Agriculture, Ethiopia
2009
Peter Munga
Chairman, Equity Bank Limited and National
Oil Corporation of Kenya Limited
For his leadership in devising scientific
approaches to landscape and soil fertility
management that have won widespread
support from farmers, lead to the reversal of
land degradation in Ethiopia, encouraged the
large-scale uptake of efficient fertilizer use,
and increased incomes for millions of rural
people.
2013
Dr. Lindiwe Majele Sibanda
CEO, Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources
Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN)
For her years of innovative research and
advocacy work, that strengthened food and
environmental policies in southern Africa,
and for her global leadership in bringing civil
society influence to bear on major issues, like
the role of agriculture in confronting climate
change.
Nnaemeka C. Ikegwuonu
Founder and CEO, Smallholders
Foundation, Nigeria
For his tireless promotion of sustainable
agriculture and environmental conservation
through educational radio programs for
smallholder farmers, which reach 250,000
listeners daily, as well as through school
and community gardens focused on
entrepreneurial development.
For his selfless dedication to providing
millions of smallholder farmers with access
to affordable savings and credit – a feat he
accomplished through the development of
pioneering services, such as mobile rural
banking and large-scale agro-dealer financing.
National Smallholder Farmers’
Association of Malawi (NASFAM)
For its extraordinary success in making
smallholder farming a viable and sustainable
business, particularly for women, through
measures such as the provision of extension
services and a commodity exchange, which
have contributed vitally to Malawi´s recent
advances in food production.
2008
Florence Wambugu
Founder and CEO, Africa Harvest Biotech
Foundation International (AHBFI), Kenya
For her remarkable ability to merge solid
science – using tissue culture techniques, for
example, to achieve higher yielding, diseasefree banana production – with a holistic value
chain approach that has improved access to
markets and microfinance for thousands of
banana producers.
Victor Mfinanga
Founder and Managing Director, Shambani
Graduates Enterprises Co Ltd, Tanzania
2007
Akinwumi Adesina
Interim Vice President, Alliance for a Green
Revolution in Africa, Kenya – The Rockefeller
Foundation, USA
For his pathbreaking efforts to make
agricultural inputs more widely available to
smallholder farmers, through an innovative
model to transform village shops into a
network of trained and certified agro-dealers
as well as his strong engagement with African
leaders on fertilizer supply issues.
Josephine Okot
Founder and Managing Director, Victoria
Seeds Ltd, Uganda
For demonstrating how a determined and
resourceful entrepreneur can develop a
successful, export-oriented seed enterprise,
while fostering the wider development of
Africa´s vital seed sector by advocating for
more favorable policies and institutional
frameworks.
2006
Celina Cossa
Founder and President, General Union of
Agricultural Cooperatives, Mozambique
For her contribution to rebuilding the
country´s agricultural economy after
a devastating civil war through the
establishment of a network of agricultural
cooperatives embracing thousands of
smallholder farmers and inspiring women to
play key roles in national development.
Fidelis Wainaina
Founder, of the Maseno Interchristian Child
Self Help Group, Kenya
For helping eradicate malnourishment and
raise incomes among the most vulnerable
members of rural communities through the
creation of local networks to share low-cost
innovations from agricultural research aimed
at achieving sustainable small-scale food
production.
2005
Meles Zenawi
Prime Minister of Ethiopia
For his courage and commitment in placing rural
people at the center of Ethiopia´s development
strategy and for his political support of bold
programs to raise agricultural productivity and
strengthen food security in Ethiopia and of a
wider green revolution in Africa.
For his pioneering work on the development
of a dynamic livestock value chain that has
created new market and income opportunities
for female Maasai cattle keepers, while
supplying urban consumers with nutritious
value-added mil k products.
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