 Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening from wherever you're watching us from. It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to the agri-forsay report launch of the navigating the food crisis perspectives from Africa and Southeast Asia. My name is Nyendo Mashua. I work as a communications officer at the Stockholm Environment Institute and I lead the communications and engagement team for the agri-forsay 2030 program. Together with my colleague Eva, who you'll soon meet, will be your moderators for today's event. With only seven years left to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, food insecurity remains a significant global challenge catalyzed by climate change, population growth and the COVID-19 pandemic. The agri-forsay 2030 report that we'll be launching today is a crucial contribution to our understanding of the challenges and opportunities of navigating the food crisis. Specifically from the perspectives of Africa and Southeast Asia. We are honored to have a distinguished panel of experts who are project leaders from the agri-forsay project and members of our advisory board who will share their insights and recommendations. We look forward to hearing from them about the reports, key findings and how they can inform policies and practices for sustainable and resilient food systems in these regions. You can find the report on our website, slu.se forward slash agri-forsay. Thank you for coming. Thank you for being here and without much further ado, I'd like to introduce Sofia Bokvis, the agri-forsay 2030 program director. Thank you, Negenda. Thank you everyone joining here and also everyone that is joining online. So my name is Sofia Bokvis and I'm the director of the agri-forsay program. And apart from that, I'm also researcher at the Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences. And this morning, I traveled by train from Uppsala to come here and I did a bit of thinking of this report and what was the starting spark for this, why we did this report. And if I remember correctly, it was Madeleine Ostwald, who is one of the team members of the agri-forsay 2030 program. And she said at one of our regular meetings, something like this, she said, like, you know, guys, we should reach out to the project teams in Asia and Africa and ask them how their projects tackle this global food crisis, what challenges they have and what they do to solve that and contribute to food security. And then we spent some time talking about that. We talked about the draft in Eastern Africa, floodings. We talked about effects of the Russian war on Ukraine and how that has led to increased prices of fuel and food and transportations. And we also talked about disrupted markets as a result of restrictions due to the COVID pandemic. Then the ball was rolling, definitely, and we reached out to the 18 project teams we have in Sub-Saharan Africa and in South and Southeast Asia and ask them for the reflections on these matters. So in this report that we're launching today, we have compiled seven agri-forsay 2030 program voices from the feed, from Kenya, from Uganda, from Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines. And we will invite you to tour to Africa and to Asia where some of the project teams will give their perspectives on how their projects contribute to solve the challenges related to the current food crisis. And as Neyja Gendo just mentioned, this is highly relevant as we're only seven years away from 2030 but the distance to reach the sustainable development goals are getting even bigger for every year. And how can this be tackled at local level where the food is produced? So the agri-forsay program has since its start in 2016 filled an important gap in building and supporting capacity for individual researchers and their research institutes in Sub-Saharan Africa and East and Southeast Asia to synthesize, analyze, communicate and also to co-create knowledge in support of productive and sustainable small-scale farming. And the agri-forsay program, we do not use the trickle-down approach more like the trickle-up approach, so to say. And we had developed an innovative approach to translate science to improve local practices and policies. And more practically, this means close collaborations between research institutes, universities, scientists, stakeholders, politicians, policymakers and farmers for them to come together and co-create locally adapted knowledge that will improve policy and practice in target regions. And today, you will hear these seven contributions included in this report and they all describe specific examples related to food security in time of crisis. However, you can also look at it from the other perspective. These are seven projects showing the way forward. And I'm very, very proud of this report that has been produced and is being launched today. And I'm very happy to listen to the contribution. And now I will invite Gunnar Kjellin, who will give some opening remarks. And Gunnar is one of the members in the Agri-Forsay 2030 advisory board. The screen is yours, Gunnar. Thank you. Thank you very much, Sofia. And I'm really very honored to give these a few opening remarks at the launch of this very important perspectives report. So in my mind, and I'm sure in yours too, it's always relevant to meet and talk about research and agriculture for food security. But this particular launch is very, very timely because of what is happening around us in the world today. As I'm sure you've all seen in the media, the World Bank and IMF have their spring meetings right now. And some of the key messages coming out of that meeting is that food inflation is still high, not only here in Sweden, maybe in your countries, but actually globally. And extreme poverty is increasing again, which is of course very worrying after decades of other improvements. And as Sofia has already said, the underlying causes are apparent to all. We have the Russian war on Ukraine that has affected the availability and price of food, particularly wheat, which has a direct effect on not least in East Africa that has been affected by droughts. Then you have, of course, that Russian and Ukraine are among the leading exporters of fertilizers, which further aggravates the cost of agricultural production and has a cascading effect on the volumes of agricultural products and prices globally. And as was mentioned, all of this, of course, came down on the back of the COVID crisis that had already given a devastating blow to many economies in the global south with increasing poverty as a result. And then we have at the background looming the devastating effects of climate change, and we already started to see the implications of that. So given this accumulation of prices that directly affect food security globally, particularly in the most vulnerable countries, we should all be thankful that there are dedicated researchers like I see here today who focus exactly on food security in these vulnerable countries. And we see many brilliant examples here in the report, and we will hear more from them after me. So the focus of AgriFoCi 2030 and the work presented here today is on the enhancement of resilient smallholder farming systems. And it's, of course, not a coincidence that we are working on this. To us here at this meeting, it might seem so obvious to invest in and strengthen the smallholder farming systems. But it's actually true also if we take a step back and look at alternative development strategies that we should look at this. More than a decade ago, when we worked on the World Development Report 2008 on agricultural development, it was documented already then that investments in agriculture is not only the best poverty reduction approach. It's also the best development approach. And we still see that growth in the agricultural sectors two to four times more effective in raising incomes among the poorest compared to investments in other sectors. So given what we know about the importance of agriculture for food security, poverty reduction and development, one would think that all countries, particular developing countries, would invest a lot in applied research on agriculture, but as I'm sure that we have all experienced here far from enough is actually done in this respect. And the current fiscal crisis in many poor countries after the COVID makes it even harder. And at the same time, there are many other sectors that are competing for attention. I know, for example, that the African Development Bank has prioritized funding for just energy transition for Africa rather than agriculture. So it is in this context that the AgriFoCID 2030 and its research collaborations are so important. So as I have repeated the voice in the advisory board, AgriFoCID is this unique combination of being very targeted and very broad. So let me explain my contradiction here. So AgriFoCID is, of course, targeted in a singular focus on applying science to SG2 to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. But AgriFoCID is very eclectic in how it does this. As we will see here today, AgriFoCID has its four challenges and marries multiple disciplines, while it zooms in on this important science policy interface. And AgriFoCID does this in many, many countries and with very many institutions and researchers. So I'm sure that you will be as impressed as I am in AgriFoCID actually pulling this off. So I would like to finish by congratulating all the contributors to this report and for work well done. And I would end by wishing that this second funding cycle from CEDA will be followed by a third. And we will, we have many here in the audience that will be very curious of the closing remarks that will be provided by Matsuobi at the end of this session. So thank you. And back to you, Sophia. Thank you. Thank you, Guna, for those succinct remarks and no pressure on Mats, who is here representing CEDA. Thank you for that. I think we move straight straight into our first panel, which will be comprised of project leaders from our Africa project, select Africa projects. We have Frank from Uganda, Judith also from Uganda, also joined by Jainaina from Uganda. And we have David from Kenya, Samuel from Kenya, and we're joined by our AgriFoCID advisory board member from Kenya, Steve, Stephen. We can start with Frank, who can give us a summary of his submission for the report. Frank, over to you. Frank. Yes, thank you very much and good morning to everyone. Good evening to wherever you are. Yes, Frank Mugaga from McKay University and the project leader for the RAF's project, which is the Resilient Urban Food Systems Project that we are implementing in two cities in Bali and Kasese. The motivation for this project was the fact that despite the overwhelming evidence, which points towards the contribution of smallholder farmers to urban food sheds in these cities, smallholder farmers have often been left out of policy and decision-making processes, which affect their operational environment. Yet these farmers are facing a multitude of climate induced challenges, such as droughts, floods and all these hamper their steady food production. And more recently, smallholder farmers were affected by COVID-19 because of the restrictions that were imposed by government, which impacted on their social interaction, transport and mobility. In terms of what we think that has to be done to avert these challenges, one, we think that protracted action by way of mobilizing and organizing farmers into viable groups is critical to their voice being represented and participating in these decision-making processes. Two, we also think that respective urban authorities need to create databases on farmer groups that operate within their boundaries such that they can use these databases to include them in local budgeting processes. And thirdly, we also think that there is need for the farmers to build synergies, maintain communication and integrate actions between different stakeholders, both from the state and non-state actors, such that they can build the resilience to climate vulnerability, such as floods and droughts. What have we done as rough in Uganda? We've done three things. Largely, we've mobilized the smallholder farmers into formal groups and platforms, which can be supported by their respective local governments with the technical and financial resources. Two, we've also conducted the resilience building trainings through which the farmers that we've mobilized have been provided with the relevant knowledge to guide their planning for farming activities. And thirdly, we've also facilitated peer-to-peer knowledge exchanges across the two areas where we are operating, especially the smallholder farmers have been exposed to new ideas which have enabled them to expand their networks and have also been able to share learning experiences which are geared towards transforming their urban local food systems. In terms of what we are seeing that we've contributed in terms of the changes among our stakeholders, one, the decision makers, including politicians and taking care personally in the two areas we are operating, have started to appreciate smallholder farmers as key players in the urban food shed. For example, in Kaseise municipality, which is one of our sites, representatives of smallholder farmers were, for the first time, invited and involved in the budgeting processes for the 2020-2023 planning year. In Imbali City, a new position of cultural officer has been created to offer targeted technical support to cultural farmers. All these were not there before the project started. Two, on the smallholder farmers themselves, we've seen them continue to mobilize themselves into formal groups aimed at tapping into existing opportunities. For example, currently the government of Uganda is implementing the parish development model. And through these groups, the farmers have started benefiting and we are proud to have contributed towards unlocking their potential. And hence, the title of the project, unlocking the potential of smallholder farmers in Imbali City and Kaseise municipality towards a more resilient urban food system. I submit, thank you very much. Thank you very much, Frank. Moving over to Judith to give us a summary of the submission in the report. Judith, over to you. Thank you very much, Ngedo. Judith Nagasha from Uganda, Chambuwe University and the Challenge One. I'm looking at gender-based approaches for improved milk safety, value addition and marketing systems in smallholder farmers in the western part of the country. And the challenges that were on ground while the first was coming in, there was plenty of milk being wasted because of low prices during the wet seasons. There were also low household incomes in the community and also less empowerment of women because with value addition in this culture, it is only the women who do value addition because of the culture and because the community is highly patriotic. So many have a big say in that the sole decision makers in this community. Now, what we have done as the FOSI and this project were fueling capacity of women and value so that we can increase incomes in their households. And we are training women to do value addition. But the entry point was a bit tricky. But I think now we are there because we have built trust. And the first step that was taken was to involve the male counterparts. You cannot access any woman in this community without consent from the house, the spouse and the owners of milk, assets, cattle, mission oil. So in order for us to have an entry point, we have to bring them on board so that they may build capacity. And what the project has done so far for us, we used an entry point using a theory of change that was trained by the FOSI team. I think it was one of those approaches that have helped the project penetrate this community. And we have involved different stakeholders, the male counterparts being the very key essential stakeholders in this community. So they run all through the project, whatever we are going to do in this community, we have to have consent of all the men. And what we have seen, we have seen positive change. And now the male counterparts have opened up because they have built trust with the project leaders and the implementing team. And also this has, they have, they are also freely now that the women can access milk after buying it from them. Because we said, yes, they want money, but there's no money when you add value to this milk in terms of yogurt and cosmetics. Different products of cosmetics, body lotions, jellies, oils, all those are being done within this community. And they have trained now they are embracing it. And the change that has also shook me is that this community from where my university is about 340 kilometers from the town. And yet we wanted to advance their training with a very big institute here in Kampala, which is Uganda Research Industry Institute that had different technologies and advancement in terms of value addition. And my problem, a problem was getting these women on board. So we visit the communities, talk to the fellow count, the men, their husbands, and they consented. These women traveled alone without their husbands to the city for training. That was really a big, big change. And I think was this is attributed to that year of change. And they have also accepted because we said for sustainable marketing, you need to work in groups. And those are the distances from one household to another. It's that that would be quite big. So they have also agreed to work in groups. We are training them in groups, supporting them in groups. And we are seeing empowerment now starting to mushroom out of these women there. Now they are outspoken, now they can speak up. And I think this is very positive for Agroforesee and for us as a country. And way forward, I think I must attribute this to Agroforesee for mainstreaming gender inclusivity in all their programs. And this was beyond Agroforesee always also mainstream gender in agriculture research and also productivity. Thank you very much. Thank you, Judith. Very good changes that you're experiencing there in Uganda. Now we move over to Jenaeina. Thank you. My name is Jenaeina Karungi from MacTerry University. I'm an associate professor of science. So I lead a team that is working on a challenge to Agroforesee project on sustainable intensification in the coffee banana system of the Mount Elgon region of Uganda. So the motivation for this work came out of the situation in Uganda, where you find that our population growth is among the highest on the continent with the 3% rate per year. So now we are 47 plus million people and counting and Uganda is not a big country. So this population puts a lot of pressure on land resources for food and for food and economic development. Yet the trends are showing that since actually 2014, the productivity and production of key food security crops like banana, millet, maize, beans, ground nuts, even cash crops like coffee has been actually fluctuating hugely. And you find that in a given year, when we have shocks like drought, some regions go into food prices, others are food stressed, whereas you find like 60% are the ones that are not affected. So above 30% are more or less in a crisis. So this is due to the weather, as I've said, usually drought. So when we have a drought event, you expect that we will have a crisis. Then the other challenge has been the low productivity levels from farms. So in Uganda, most of our agriculture is done by small scale holders and the productivity coming from those farms is very low. And this was even before we had shocks like COVID, the Russia-Ukraine war, Ebola here in Uganda, and the continuing climate change situation. Like this season, we are expecting rain, but it rains once like in two weeks. So you find that we have issues of food security, nutrition security, and the inflation in food prices. At one point in 2022, it was at over 20% in pressure on food prices. So what we need to do is to see how to increase production on the small pieces of land that our farmers have in a sustainable way. And that's when we brought in this project, this agri-fossil project, that how can we empower our farmers to change their mindset so that they can increase productivity on the small pieces of land that they do have. So we decided that we need to bring together all the stakeholders, the farmers, the extension, the researchers, the private sector made up of mid-domain exporters, like in the case of profit, the policy makers, all of them to come together and talk together in dialogues and see how to transform the agricultural sector. So we wanted to have entry points in creating this dialogue and there are government programs that are currently running like the Polish Development Model. So it was one of the things we wanted to talk about in those dialogues. How can we as researchers help the farmers through the Polish Development Model? Then also in these platforms, we want farmers to be empowered and have a voice so that they can demand for fair prices for their produce. Because if you have a cash crop and you get good income from it, then you are food secure in your home. So the project was set up in the Mount Elgon region, which is one of the areas with very high population growth. But they have an opportunity in that they have banana and coffee as key crops and banana is a food security crop. Well, as coffee is an economic security crop. So these were our entry points. We want to see how they can increase productivity. That is the intensification in this banana coffee system. The intensification can be conventional or it can be agroecological depending on the reality on the ground. So what we have been able to do is to bring these people together on a platform to start the dialogue. And we were very happy to find that everybody that we invited to start this dialogue process came, they even invited people we had not even invited that let's go. So we were happy to have them and we sat together and went through together through the theory of change together so that we could create and drive transformation as a group of all the stakeholders. So we have already done that. And in that co creation, in that co planning, the local people, including the farmers and the area leaders were the ones that actually suggested to us who should be trained to move forward because we want to use model farmers as our platform for change. And they are the ones that help us select these model farmers who are actually now being trained and empowered. And then these model farmers will now do the the training of their counterparts. So we are happy so far with the progress. So our mandate is to create the platforms where we can bring every stakeholder and we actually did stakeholder analysis in that workshop that we had the two big workshops we had and they all identified who are the stakeholders that need to come together. So our mandate is to create that platform, bring everybody together, give farmers a voice and also build capacity because sometimes you find they have gaps in knowledge as far as production is concerned. And that's where as educators and researchers coming. So we are happy that AgriForsi has funded this project and we are seeing good results coming out already, even though it's six months into the project. Thank you. Thank you very much, Janaina. You can read more about all these projects on our website, slu.se forward slash AgriForsi. Now we move over to my home country, Kenya, and we hear from David Jakinda. David, you need to unmute yourself. We are still in the era of unmuting and muting. So I understand the technical challenge is over to you. OK, thank you very much, Nkendo. And I want to welcome everybody to this launch. Now, I'm David Jakinda, a senior lecturer of AgriCashio Economics of the University of Nairobi, Kenya. And the project that we are implementing a courtesy of AgriForsi focuses on transformation of pastoralist livelihoods through enhanced adaptation of nutrition and commercialization policies to the local context in West Pocots County, which is a dry land area. And the issue we are addressing is that that part of the country experiences prolonged droughts. And when that happens, the smallholder livestock keepers lose up to 30 percent of their livestock huts. And in terms of the policy response, what has been happening is that the national and even local county government, first of all, delays to put in place any response mechanism. But then when they do that, they focus on imports of cereals, particularly maize. Yet we know that maize alone is not is not adequate nutritionally. So that's one challenge. The other challenge is that even when the emergency response through relief maize is put in place, it is done as a top down approach without consultation of the very local households whose food or nutrition security those initiatives are meant to address. So what we see from the project point of view that needs to be done to achieve sustainable food and nutrition security for the affected household, we see three intervention areas. One is that we think it's necessary to develop a mechanism of incorporating the local households. Feels first of all, in the definition of what food and nutrition security is. And number two, in the planning of the best response mechanism. So their voices need to be incorporated in the design or the planning of the interventions. Number two, we see that it's necessary to incorporate indigenous knowledge, particularly on the foods that are needed in the area based on the local people's food preferences. So this need to incorporate their dietary preferences as well as their knowledge on how to prepare those foods. Number three is that we see the need to build capacity of the local households in terms of. Value addition for the various foods and understanding and even complying with different requirements, standards and regulation in the food marketing. So those are three important interventions that will be very, very instrumental in achieving sustainable food and nutrition security. Now, this Agri-Force project that we're implementing has focused on three intervention areas in order to address the situation. One is that we've been able, through this project, to create mechanisms that allow dialogue between the local county planners and the members of the local community so that they are able to present their views on what they think is the best nutrition intervention. So creating an opportunity for dialogue between the local government officials and the smallholder, pastoralists and farmers. Number two is that this project has been able to facilitate learning on indigenous food preparation and utilization, particularly by working with local women groups to train other members of the community on how to how to how to prepare indigenous foods which are drawn from different indigenous crops as well as livestock products like meat. Because it's very important to document that knowledge for future generations because a lot of the indigenous foods have been forgotten by the youth and that that gap needs to be addressed. So that's one of the interventions that this project is working on. Number three is that this project has done some work in facilitating peer learning of the local pastoralists and farmers by supporting them to visit other farmers in other parts of the country to learn and share knowledge on certain foods which can actually be grown in the dry lands because they've thrived in other areas of similar challenges and how to add value on those foods. So having done that, we are beginning to see some small changes which are useful and we attribute them to the initiatives that we've undertaken. One of them is that following from the peer learning or exchange learning visits of these pastoralists to other parts of the country, we are able to see that their own local county government that previously could not find resources or plan for group training on value addition has set up and integrated training and they've actually trained close to a hundred farmers whereas in our case, we are only able to support about 30 to 40. So they've sort of bought that idea and in their own way, they've been able to reorganize their budgeting and found some resources to do their own training of their staff as well as members of the community. Number two is that through this initiative of supporting women groups to train others on how to prepare indigenous foods, how to preserve them and utilize them, the county government has been able to use the women group as I call it champions because now after our training, they've been able to be invited to train other people. So the county government, which previously could not give them a voice, has now seen that what they are doing makes sense and has incorporated them as champions of nutrition in the community. So we believe that going forward, there will be more positive changes which then fit well with our theme of transformation of the nutrition and commercialization aspects by making sure that they are they fit the local context. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, David. Now, our last project leader is Samo, who will be followed by Steven Mosheria, our advisory board member. Over to you, Samo. Thank you. Thank you, Gendo. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are. I'm Samuel Omondi, leading a project on governance of food systems in Nakuru and Kisumu counties of Kenya. I'm working within a research team consisting of researchers from the University of Nairobi and a local NGO called Basingira Institute and, of course, we work closely with the two county governments. So a few points about the local challenges and the context. First of all, climate change is a big issue and the resultant variable weather patterns such as prolonged droughts, delayed rains, the rains coming, but very short risks such as felt and disease are really tampered with the way our small farmers are producing their crops. And the situation has been worsened by over dependence on rain-fed agriculture. The second issue is that for us, food security implies some extent wheat and rice and these are commodities that are highly disrupted by whenever shocks happen within the supply chain. For instance, the COVID-19 outbreak, the wars that are happening, you know, and the international, the fluctuation of prices at the international markets really affect these crops. So what needs to be done? In our project, we think it's about time now we start tapping into productivity of potential of traditional crops and prodding the food basket, not relying mainly on maize, wheat and rice as our main staples, but instead diversify. And we can do this by empowering our farmers to cultivate shock-resistant crops. These are the traditional crops, traditional and indigenous to our surroundings, they are better equipped to resist the effects of climate change and droughts and also persistent to pests and diseases. So what has the project done so far? On the governance of food system, we've tried to establish platforms for discussing food system issues with a focus on traditional variables. And in these platforms, we bring together stakeholders that are being affected, ranging from smallholder farmers, traders, the county governments, consumers and any other stakeholder who is affected within that particular value chain. And then we've also engaged in capacity building through peer learning activities. We've had sessions where our farmers learn from fellow farmers and also sessions where counties learn from each other. I'll give an example of that. Nairobi has got a food system strategy and the two counties in the process of developing one. So we had the chance of inviting county staff from Nairobi to discuss with their colleagues in Kisumu and Nakuru on how they can come up with these food system strategies. Another area we are keen on is to champion for inclusive food system governance and institutionalization of food systems. And through our activities and, of course, activities of other actors, we've seen that Kisumuna is in the process of developing a food system strategy. So what are some of the significant changes that we've observed from our activities? First of all, is that our small group of smallholder farmers, it appears to us like they're gaining a voice to demand for better services for better quality among consumers demanding better quality goods. I mean, in terms of food system governance, we are seeing an improvement in that particular area. Again, there's a changing mindset and approach, especially from our county governments. Now, the two county governments, I think, are in agreement that it is very important to involve farmers when they are making decisions that affect the smallholder farmers. Another significant change, which, of course, I cannot solely attribute to our efforts, is that Kisumu County is currently working on a food system strategy. And that's one of the key changes that we are envisioned in our theory of change. Of course, the main fund area is someone else. But I believe we also can then pursue that particular direction. Thank you. Very much, Samuel. Thank you very much. Now, we'll hear from Stephen Mosheery, who is one of the AgriForce advisory board members based in Kenya. Thank you, Nando. I think I had about five questions to respond to. One was around an overview of the food crisis in the region I am in. And I think, just like everybody has said, the advent of COVID in East Africa really affected and greatly impacted production in the region. And a series of shocks there after have actually led to significant food insecurity. Like was mentioned, COVID caused a limitation in movement within countries and across borders. And we saw what you call food nationalism the drought that crept in the entire region also resulted in massive crop failure. We have lost a lot of livestock and drought has seen the rise of desert locusts, army fallworms, and all these are virtually strained as in terms of resources to manage them. Of course, the war has also strained access to fertilizer and the demand and supply forces have actually made fertilizer very expensive to procure. In Kenya, the strengthening of the dollar has created because of market uncertainties, has also created a new challenge. I don't know if you can hear me. And the new challenge is on cost of importation. Bear in mind that the entire region right now doesn't have sufficient or surplus food to be actually importing. So importing food is actually very expensive. Energy is very expensive. And that component by the shock that I've talked about, I've led to closure of many SMEs, MSMEs and those of employment as a result of the rising cost of living. So the region is currently facing a challenge of maize. And for example, Kenya, which actually buys from Zambia. Now, Zambia even has no maize. It's actually stopped exports. It's actually also importing. We also have insufficient raw material for animal feed, resulting in very high costs of production, as well as I think whatever Nels has talked about falling in productivity. The second question I was supposed to respond to was to do with the importance of supporting and enhancing resilient smallholder systems in terms of achieving SDGs. I think we all know that farmers are the backbone of any food system. And smallholder farmers collectively feed more than 65 percent of the entire population of Africa, as well as Asia. So they actually call to the sustainability of any value chain. However, majority are in what you call low value value chains. Therefore, they actually take home what you call the least value in any value chain. So there isn't series of shocks have exposed as in terms of how vulnerable our food systems can actually be and more so the farmers who are actually the backbone of our food systems. So what do we need to do? It is important that we create incentives for farmers practicing resilient forms of farming. When I looked at the report, I could see that there's work around agroecology. I think this kind of practices should be supported, but more importantly, incentivize because at the moment we don't have any incentives around agroecology because agroecology and other has actually transcended some of the shocks that have actually been mentioned. Number two, it's important that we support the adaptation agenda. The climate adaptation agenda is actually very important because the challenge you have in adaptation is that we don't have sufficient investments in that. And we actually need to look at how we can channel more investment around that so that we can actually scale up adaptation practices. Number three, it's important that we develop and implement what you call import substitution strategies like you've had. We are now importing almost everything, but you don't have policies that actually help us manage that. And it's important that we also try and diversify our food chain. And I think that has been alluded to. Number four, it's important that we support the food system partnerships. And I think one of the presenters talked about it, especially in terms of proper governance, but most importantly, the balance of power. But that question was the issue of the need for science-based knowledge and translating science to improve practice and policy, the value of agroforestation. I think it's very clear that we cannot run away from science. I think the challenge we have in Africa and probably other regions is that scientists still want to talk a lot to other scientists and they don't talk to policymakers. They don't talk a lot to private sector and even engage farmers. And I think this has been mentioned in so many reports as one of the reasons why there's a low uptake of innovations. There's actually need to co-create knowledge. I think we need to see how these partnerships can be built better. So we actually blend practice and research. These relationships need to be created, like I said, they need to be mutual, but most importantly, they also need to be balanced. From my observation, policy workers be left to politicians and because they lack scientific evidence to inform policy and because those scientists are shared away from these discussions, the end result is that most of the policies that we have in our region have failed to attract what we call the right investments. And the last question was on reflection on agrifossia's work. I think, like I mentioned, I went through the report and when I looked especially at the report from Africa, I observed that not that's actually been mentioned by the speakers earlier that that many of the pillars that that would support mitigation of food crisis are actually being worked around. If I could mention a few, for example, I read reports on agroecology, value addition, irrigation, diversification of diets, formation of organized groups into cooperatives, generated interventions, building partnership ecosystems, working on communication, which is actually very important. And I think that has been alluded to by most of the speakers. I think in terms of the next steps, which I feel are always a challenge is the issue of scaling. You know, how do we actually scale to create impact? I think someone talked about working with very few farmers as compared to, you know, working with large numbers. Number two is the issue of complementarity or integration into bigger programs and partnerships. And I've liked the presentation around exchange between counties, which I think actually helps in terms of crosslining. The issue of communication, I think this is very important. Scientists don't usually communicate resources to policymakers. Scientists don't communicate resources to investors. I think it's important that we tweak these around how that can actually be improved. And I think someone has talked about these at the beginning, additional resources. I think resources are usually never enough. We need to think about how to continuously mobilize resources. And the last one was on other relevant reflections. I think, in my view, there are many challenges that lie ahead and they actually would be quite significant. And when you look at, for example, the geopolitical happenings now, I think there's a lot of uncertainty in the world. You can see the bricks and so on. You don't know what is going to actually happen going forward. The dollar is there's a lot of uncertainty around that. Issues of nationalism. I think that's something that we have we have we have seen with COVID food nationalism. The second thing is, of course, the magnitude of the impacts of climate change in East Africa. This has moved from a five year cycle to a three year cycle. Now it's almost every year. And we are seeing a lot of conflicts. The most important, we are seeing a lot of losses. I just came from Malawi. And the cycle on there was actually very devastating and affected, you know, majority of farmers. The lowering productivity, I think we all know we have a challenge of production and productivity. So I was becoming poor. The weather has become good at it. And the last one, but not least, is our growing population, which means that the demand for food and feed is actually going to be unsurmountable. So I think these are challenges that I feel are going to be ahead of already here, and they are going to actually increase. So as a project, we actually need to also think about this in terms of how we actually going to intervene. Otherwise, thank you very much for listening to me and I submit. Thank you, Steven. And for all the Africa panelists and all the submissions, remember, you can read the report, the full report on the website. Slu.se for slash AgriFoci, where you can learn about the projects and what they're doing on ground to overcome the challenges that smallholder farmers are encountering. Now I hand over to my colleague, Ivar, who will take over for the Asia panel. Welcome, Ivar. Thanks. Thanks, Enjendo. I'm Ivar. I'm a colleague of Enjendo Heritage, but also a very proud member of the AgriFoci consortium. And especially I'm even more proud now. I think we heard some fantastic presentations from Africa. Perspectives on on on the crisis, but also a lot of useful insights on how to attack or how to address those challenges. And I think thank you to the whole African team for for those insights and for for making a change, I think, towards what we think is a better future. So from Africa, we're doing a giant leap over the Indian Ocean into South Asia, Southeast Asia, where AgriFoci has a number of projects. And we will hear from two projects and and we will also hear. So we'll hear from Florida Lease in Philippines. We'll hear from here from a colleague Sen in Vietnam and from Fanit in Cambodia. We will also hear from Rachmat in Vietnam. We will also here have our AgriFoci board members from Vietnam and Iris from Philippines. Those are the panel members of the of the South size East Asian panel. So we will hear about the digitalization of extension. We'll hear about e-commerce and but I'll give the floor now to you, Florida Lease, the floor is yours. Please. OK, so thank you, Sir Ivar. Good day to everyone out there. And good afternoon from the Philippines. I'm Florida Lease B. Daquian, the project leader of AgriFoci 2030 digitalization of extension services in Southeast Asia, Philippines and working hand in hand with Dr. Lefe Huacen of Wei University of Agricultural Sciences in Vietnam and Dr. Chau Fanit of Royal University of Nong Phen, Cambodia. So with our project, digitalization of extension services, we have recognized that while Southeast Asia region began to recover from the COVID-19 crisis, a new challenge emerged with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it is causing significant shocks to the food supply chain in the region with the rising costs of energy, fertilizers, wheat and wheat related products. The war has highlighted the disparities, inequalities and vulnerabilities in global food production with major grain importing countries such as the Philippines at risk of food price shocks and potential food insecurity. What needs to be done? Farmers must be connected to domestic and international market actors and facilitate access to supplies, techniques and technologies that will add value to their production. These can be done through digital platforms. What has the AgriFoci project done in Southeast Asia, particularly in the countries of Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines where the digitalization of extension services has been operating for the last eight and months? With this, the project aimed to explore the availability and quality of digital advisory information to small holder farmers to ensure that their accessibility to science-based extension programs, innovative approaches and timely market information is made available to them. It is a way forward to support food security in times of crisis. Different types of digitalization and extension services, or what we call it here, or the project this, are providing timely and relevant information to small holder farmers, offering them multiple benefits through more efficient agricultural production, improved market information and increased income opportunities. The project, particularly in Cambodia, the Philippines and Vietnam, have identified barriers and enablers to desk access and use by small holder farmers in project communities to make the production system more effective and to improve farmers' incomes and food security. After an intervention, what key significant change has taken place in our areas of coverage? So far, we could say that farmers were facilitated to have access to and use of this desk in project areas and involved stakeholders in relevant research, such as training workshops on farming smartphone applications. We have oriented them on extension websites and programs and services developed by the government and the private sector. With this, they were introduced to effective agricultural information channels and market platforms that they were able to sell their farm produce, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, farmers were introduced by a project activities to more accurate and updated information about agricultural production technologies and market opportunities. Many farmers' groups have been established to learn, exchange and support each other in applying the training on desk we have provided for them. These paved the way to strengthen collaboration and partnerships among agricultural stakeholders with the government, private sector and the civil society sectors to ensure that there is a more productive, effective production system. Thank you for listening. Thanks a lot, Floridlis, and thank you for a very concise summary of your very interesting project. I now call on Rachmat, so we're going from the Philippines now to Vietnam. Please, Rachmat, the floor is yours. Thank you, Ibar. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, everyone, wherever you are. I think it is interesting that the other two projects in Southeast Asia, say Vietnam and the Philippines are interested in digital tools, I think, because in Vietnam also we actually focus on e-commerce of agricultural products. As all countries, I think, across the world, then Vietnam also was affected by COVID-19. For example, in all sectors, including in agricultural sector, for example, at national level, it has been reported that the export of Vietnam agricultural product has declined by about 30 percent. And then at community and then household level, actually many farmers' experience, they were deprived of income because they could not sell the products, agricultural products, because of the travel restrictions and also social distancing, for example, in different levels applied by the government of Vietnam, especially along 2021 and until the mid-2022. So then, well, this is the challenge, but also farmers also had a challenge from the climate change. Vietnam also is one of the most affected countries by climate change, like drought and also flooding during the rainy season. So then learning from this impact of COVID-19 pandemic, then the government of Vietnam tries to boost the local participation in e-commerce. Why? Because although we are now, for example, in many countries, we can say are back to normal, but then participation in e-commerce has several advantages, for example. Now the first to diversify market channel and then so farmers not to become too dependent on middlemen that come and buy the products directly at the farm gate. And then the second, actually, the farmers can reach potential customers not only within their region, but also other provinces, for example, to Hanoi as the capital of and also urban and consumer center in Vietnam. And then e-commerce also has an advantage that it can better involve women and youth, for example, to use the social medias or e-commerce platforms to use a smartphone for them to better participate or for the families to better participate in e-commerce. What the project has done so far? So then first we aim, actually, to investigate the knowledge, technical and policy level challenges to help boost again local participation in e-commerce, especially smallholder farmers and also actors along the supply and market value chain. And then we did policy review, policies at national and sub-national level. And also we did some awareness generation and capacity development activities, like training on e-commerce, on how to use e-commerce platforms, etc. And also we produce communication materials such as videos and also policy brief. The changes so far that we observe mainly there is a strengthened effort and more coordinated effort at local level among stakeholders like local authorities, the research institutions, the farmers cooperative. There are mass organizations in Vietnam like Farmers Union or Women Union. So then they work together in more coordinated and strengthened way to help especially smallholder farmers to better participate in e-commerce. And then thanks to the enhanced knowledge, yes, the smallholder farmers now have a more interest actually to engage in e-commerce and they can see the potential benefits of e-commerce, especially again to diversify market channels that can help stabilize their income. I think that's all from my side at the moment. Thank you. Thanks a lot, Rashmat for illuminating the potential benefits of e-commerce for small-scale farming systems in Vietnam. Brilliant, thanks. Now in the AgriFusor program, we do have an excellent advisory board and you heard from Steven Moschuri in the African session and we now have two board members from Asia present with us. So I call first on Sian from Vietnam, the floor is yours, Sian. Yeah, thank you very much for the introduction. Good afternoon from Hanh Loi, the capital of Vietnam for everyone. You have heard the two speakers mentioned about the situation in Vietnam, especially during the COVID outbreak. And now with the limited time, I will say very briefly overview a food crisis in Vietnam and some comment on the projects. And as you know that the population of Vietnam currently is about 100 million and in 2016 reported that a amount of people facing hunger in Vietnam was 9.4 percent and it was decreasing years per year. And in 2020, it was about 5.7 percent. But the COVID-19 outbreak and with the COVID lockdowns increased a huge unemployment rate that have a boost up to five million people into poverty. Especially the mainly holding skilled jobs in the informal sector. And even though we produce a lot of price and we are mainly exporting rice and fruit, but not on this as only available in some remote area of the country. So in certain season, there is not often enough food for people in those areas. And the fact that in 2018, the Prime Minister issues zero hunger next to the action plan and to fulfill the sustainable development goal number two of the UN with five specific targets by 2030, including ensuring food and nutrition for people year round. And no monetary soon among children under two development of sustainable food system and most small scale farmers enjoying increase in productivity and income and no wastefulness and lots of food. And we see that in the small scale farm in Vietnam, there are many weakness need to be improved. For example, productivity, quality, safety of sustainable. And we also can see some reason the farmers like information of knowledge on technology, service, market and consumer as also very quick. And and I can see one project before set create out in Vietnam, have before have small holder fruit farmer better in get in e-commerce. But I think it's very, very important for the government to develop its plan on bringing agriculture production household to e-commerce. And as well as promoting the development of the digital economic economy in agriculture and rural area. However, I'm thinking there are some difficulties, even when the farmers can sell their food on the e-commerce. For example, to ensure the product quality, as you know, that fruit are difficult to preserve with a source of life and also changing prices day by day and the preservation and transportation. This product has also much more difficult compared to other items. So I wish that the researchers would consider to add more research on that and also get more content relevant on this issue into the policy recommendation. And the other project provided clearly evidence is that the small holder would gain many benefits when they participate in the training courses via digital extension services. And the training courses could bring connection between the farmer and farmer, also between the researcher and farmers and farmers with local authority or extension people. And I also think it's a very, very good reason to support to the government's plan on digital transformation in agriculture. However, I am still considering that how to control the information in the digital system, that is also very challenging. And I also wish that the researcher should have a more comment on that or have some more investment and have some recommendation for the policy. And in addition, I am thinking these two projects should be combined in the future in some way. For example, both e-commerce and digital extension services should be applied together by the small scale farmers in both projects and the policy recommendation also should cover both as well. Yeah, that's my idea. Thank you very much. Thanks a lot, Sian, for those thoughtful comments. Irish, I call upon you. We are a bit in a time constraint here. So I wish if you could keep your comments for within three minutes, I would be very, very grateful. So now we move from Vietnam to Irish, our second board member in the Philippines, please, Irish. Yes, thank you. Since I have three minutes. So just to say that I'm here representing the Asian Farmers Association for Sustainable Rural Development, which has members in Southeast Asia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines. And I don't want to reiterate what has already been said by our colleagues also from the East Africa Farmers Federation. I mean, we have very we are experiencing very similar situation with with ongoing multiple crises. And then now we have climate crisis we have the degradation of of our our land and the water quality and also, of course, the fuel price crisis, which has really impacted our members. So we did have some consultation in the past years among our constituencies and membership and also the wider civil society movement in Southeast Asia. And I just wanted to to highlight some few things to respond to the first question on the food crisis and, in general, the multiple crises that we are we have experienced and are continue to be experiencing. So indeed food insecurity was expressed during the consultation. There was a lack of safe, safe nets and social protection in place for the people who relied on daily wages, the urban workers and the informal workers. And they were the one who who were greatly affected. And because of the the restrictions and the restrictions in place, there is food waste in the rural area. And at the same time, there is lack of fresh and nutritious food in the urban areas and people in the urban areas relying mostly in ultra processed food. So I think the indeed the pandemic has has shown us the the problem and challenges of the current food system that we have. And from the farmer's perspective, I just want to highlight three things that came out during the consultation that indeed there was economic loss experience at various intensity. For example, the fuel price hike manifesting manifested in increased costs of production, post harvesting, processing and transportation costs and fishers. Fisher folks are spending much more to have access to the same fishing areas that they have been fishing on. And on the production side with the increased cost of agri inputs along with the increased price of food items, goods and services. There was a tendency or farmers reduce their investment, especially towards crops that are dependent on chemical inputs. And this is affecting now the the yield and the farm outputs in in general. And also, I want to say that social cultural practices in agriculture was disrupted by the pandemic. I think it was also mentioned earlier, and there were also cases of land grabbing, land use change and resource conflict in Southeast Asia. So that is what I want to share on on the crisis. So I want to to respond to to the project that were presented digitalization, e-commerce. Yes, we acknowledge that it's a reality. It's happening. And in fact, during the pandemic, some of our members at the national level or national farmers organization in Laos and in the Philippines, they have tried to to to set up e-commerce platforms. And it was very challenging and very costly for them. So I think it's important moving forward that we look for business models so that cooperatives and farmers organization that would set up e-commerce or digital platforms for their value chain will be able to sustain you know, the management of e-commerce. It's it's very costly. One of our members in the Philippines, they have tried to, you know, to look for e-commerce platform available in the market. And it's it's the cost is like 50 million, you know, a peso to actually buy the the software and manage the website. So it's not feasible for farmers organization. However, they managed to do the low cost like models. They hired an IT programmer and now they were able to launch their own e-commerce. So I think it's important that you work with cooperatives because they have the capacity to actually manage the e-commerce platform and they are able to sustain another challenge when setting up e-commerce platform or digitalizing extension is I mean, for e-commerce in particular, the problem that our member in law have experience, for example, is the profiling of its member. So it was mentioned earlier that data security is very important. Some farmers are not willing to provide their information like address, land size, number of crops, you know, the input requirements and those things. There are barriers, but there is also potential. There are opportunities that we also see for e-commerce and digitalization of extension services on the digitalization of extension services. I think your language is very important. So some of our members, they were they were able to they were successful in doing extension through digital because they have translated the content into the local language. So yes, it's three minutes. So that's the insights I want to share. Thanks, Arish. And with this, I want to sort of thanks all the members of the Asian panel with the clap and and thanks for interesting presentations and good reflections and and we move into the Q&A session. I'll leave the word in again. Yes. So we're going into a Q&A session. For those of you who are joining us online, feel free to put your question in the chat. For those of you who are joining us in the room physically, feel free to walk up and take the microphone and ask your question. So do we have any questions in the chat or anyone in the room with a question? A question? Please walk up to the table, pick the microphone and ask the question. As we wait for anyone in the room or in the chat to ask a question, I have a question for one of the panelists and I'll direct it to either Fanith or Sen, who are part of the digital extension services team. And in Agri Force, we work with the theory of change model where we invite different stakeholders to work with the project teams to harness this knowledge that we have and research as knowledge as well. My question is, what are the barriers for you as a researcher to co-create this knowledge together with these stakeholders? I direct the question to either Fanith or Sen. Fanith or Sen. Yes. Yeah. Thank you very much. So the question is about how this Agri Force provides a wider chance not only building capacity for the researcher, but also a chance that we co-create with other stakeholders to grant the knowledge and share the knowledge. So like our project in the challenge three on the scientific base on the digitalization on the pre-culture. This is a new topic for South Asian, even we are in the world of the digitalization. But the keyword digital extension service is very new for the stakeholder in Cambodia, Vietnam and also in the Philippines. We just implement the project in the small scale, but Agri Force provides a chance that we mobilize the stakeholder, come together, co-create the knowledge, share the knowledge. And then everyone just gets something that new. Wow, this is a digital extension. Why we cannot work together to move or to have the smaller farmers in another level? Because after that, many problems occur, many new problems. If we maintain the farmer in the conventional technology or our knowledge, it cannot work or cannot solve the problems. So this Agri Force provides us a kind of the sharing. I think we've lost Fanith. Sen, anything to add? Yes, good afternoon from Vietnam. So it is an interesting question. So digital extension services is a new concept for us, even our. It is new to us, so we need time to study and also time to transfer in our local language and in our context to work with the stakeholders. So I think the theory of change is very, I think it is significant to us. It is the first time. OK, we seem to be losing the project. Normally, the theory of change is applied for a developer. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Yeah, so I think for the new concept of extension service, we need more time. So during only 18 months, we have to interact with different stakeholders and also most of them, they are not familiar with the digital extension services. So we need time to interact with them and to work with them about this new concept to make them understand and involve and engage them in the research. So I think the most barriers, the most challenging for us is the time constraint and also the new concept to make them understand. Thank you. Thank you for those answers. We seem to be having some connection issues, but that's normal. But thank you, Fanny, then send for your questions. You can just speak the microphone and speak to it. Just detach it. Yeah. Oh, you need to remove it. Just remove it. It will come out exactly. Thank you. So I introduce yourself and ask the question. Yeah, thank you. I'm Sara Gräslund with SLU Global. Thank you so much for these incredibly interesting presentations. Really very valuable for all of us to hear about these insights from the current navigating of the food crisis from all these different teams. And I have two questions relating to traditional crops that came up in several of the projects. And one is about to what extent do you see that the policies and regulations, et cetera, for the big crops, rice, maize, et cetera, to what extent are those policies hurdles for increased use of traditional crops? And the other question is more like on the overall agri-fossil level, here we have heard some common themes emerge from several of the projects, for example, when it comes to the need to increase use of traditional crops. And you spoke in the beginning, Sofia, about trickling up. And have these themes or topics, have they emerged independently of each other? Or have you had a joint theme from the beginning with particular topics that you've promoted? Or is it a true trickling up? Thank you. I think the first question will direct it to David Jakinda. To what extent have policies or regulations been huddled towards achieving your project success? Thank you very much. If you allow me to refresh the question, I think the concern is that it appears that most of the government policies, food policies, in our countries focus on a few major commodities, like maize, rice, wheat. And now the issue is to what extent does that hamper the development or recognition of indigenous foods? Well, the answer to that is that because of that overemphasis of policies and budgets on major cereal crops, particularly maize, rice, and wheat, when we experience global shocks to do with the exchange rates, to do with oil products, and other global issues, then it leaves these countries in a tight corner in the sense that they cannot easily adjust their local food policies because they've fixed a huge amount of their budgets and planning on importable commodities, the cereals. Yet in the local household diets, they are indigenous foods, some of which are short maturing, and they do not depend on global shocks. So I think the solution here is to pursue a multi-prong approach that we can scale down on the level of emphasis on the major commodities without forgetting the indigenous foods, which take shorter periods and they fit within the food preferences of the local communities so that in case we experience global shocks, we have something to fall back on. And that's how we can build locally resilient food systems. So we just need to have a conversation on how to begin thinking towards a healthy balance in our policy, planning, and budgeting so that we do not overemphasize on the few major cereal crops that are affected by global shocks. Thank you. OK, maybe Sophia, you can answer the second question on the overall themes for our workforce. Did they emerge independently, or how did we come about them? Thank you, Sarah. It's a very good question. And the agroforesee program, we consist of four different challenges we call them. And those challenges, they were identified by agroforesee alumni and also together with discussions with the advisory board members and other stakeholders. And that's sort of the core of the program, these four challenges, each of them addressing a specific theme. And within these challenges, then we have these 18 projects and we've seen a few of them today. And we haven't been able to use open calls within the agroforesee program because that's a process that we just couldn't handle it work-wise. So we have used existing networks we have, universities we have worked with before and also added new universities as partners. And all suggestions of these projects, they have come from the project partners at the collaborating universities we have. So it has not been like us coming up with this idea. So it's very well grounded within the local context and within the universities. And of course, then develop together with us using this theory change approach. Thank you. We have one last question in the chat from Madeleine. And she asks, in this new setting of multiple stressors, do the projects see it only as a hurdle or is this a window of opportunity to transform many of the business as usual of farming practices? And I want to pose this question to both Frank and Judith. If you could answer in 30 seconds each as we wrap this up, Judith. Are the hurdles that we're experiencing now the multiple stressors? Are they an opportunity or are they a hurdle? Frank? It is an opportunity, too. Yes, can I go? Yes, Judith, please go ahead. Yes, the hurdles you are facing, some of them are not sure we can do anything about them. So it is an opportunity for us to think beyond the hurdles and find out where strategies on how we can sustainably have good security in our communities. So the hurdles, we can't run away from the hurdles. The only way to see them as opportunities on how we can sustainably achieve the objectives of our first training is that. Thank you. Yes, would you admit to add on that? Yes, please. Yes, thank you very much. Yes, I agree with Judith that the stressors and hurdles that we are experiencing in one way present an opportunity. I mean, case in point is previously, that was as a far approach to farming in the urban context. If I talk about Tumbali and the cassettes where I've been working with my team, where the whole thinking was planning should be for physical space. There is no space for agriculture. But with all the stresses that we are having in the different stakeholders are coming in to realize that they cannot think the same way. All space that is available can and should be able to support food provision and support the food shed. So the stressors are helping stakeholders to think out of the box, to see them as opportunities through which production can be enhanced in this context that we are dealing with. Thank you. Thank you. I think that's it for the Q&A session. Very good questions with very good responses. Now I want to hand over to Mats Obari, senior policy specialist at SIDA to give the closing remarks. Welcome, Mats. Wow, thanks a lot. This has been a very intense and interesting session or sessions, 10 of them in only 40 minutes. So I had my doubts when coming and would this be feasible? But yes, it has been feasible and it has been so interesting. And so it's a huge privilege for me to deliver this closure, which in part already has been done. We have heard from Stephen on the Africa context and we heard from Sian and Irish from the Asian focus, but still some rounding upwards here to get these firsthand experiences on how the different crises, the different reasons for the food crisis have concretely been affecting the food systems and their livelihoods in Africa, in Southeast Asia, has been very good. And also then to understand and to get this leveraging of local knowledge through the research and how that could in the short and in the long run be boosting the situation for the smallholder farmers when it comes to resilience, when it comes to reducing poverty and et cetera, et cetera. And also the importance of creating good partnership is something that has been coming through in these in the document and in the presentations and then also that this one size doesn't fit all. Some talk about one country, one commodity, but here we have so clearly understood that this is not the situation. You can't, I mean, we can't talk about the African situation. We can't talk about the Ugandan situation. It's so diversified. We need to go down to the micro level to see on individual districts on livelihood level to see which crops, which commodities, which markets, et cetera, et cetera, that are fit for purpose to be a way forward on for the livelihoods there. And I think on these in the report here, on the way that's talked about the ways forward, some of these observations there are, some of them are well-known for us since before, but they need to be mentioned and stressed once again all over and over again until we find good solutions to them. And what I will be curious of is understanding more, not only the what's, but also the house. We have had some house. We have heard about the e-commerce and the e-extensions services, which is definitely a huge need. And there we have seen good concrete examples, but we have also seen these very important observation on the what's. So I think this would be an interesting follow-up on from this project. Then also as was raised in the question, these common denominator, there are things coming through from the various geographical context and then to distill that even further, what's common denominator and what's also the more newer observations, the more innovative thoughts that could be then launched in other, in connections with other for us. Then on the house, it has been the launch of more efficient, better cooperative solutions was mentioned, I think in both on two of the Uganda pieces and in Vietnam. And there, how do we get through the cooperatives hasn't had in many places the best reputation for various reasons. But in a country like Sweden, we had in the 19th century, the development of the producers cooperatives, which still serves its purpose for the Swedish farmers and for farmers in many other countries. How to find good ways forward. I mentioned the digitalization, the extension services. And yes, extension services in many countries are lagging financing, are lagging resources. And also we have got the providers of input that come with their advice. But of course that's colored by the produce they are selling. So then how to get this, I think this is a very interesting ideas to follow. But of course you need to have the infrastructure in place, the farmers need to have access to the internet, need to have the local infrastructure. And I think reports like this will be useful. We have got, we had in 2021, we had the Food Systems Summit that will be a stock taking event this July. And there we need evidence on what works and what could assist the ways forward. And then I was in the initially, yes, if I were to decide, if only I were to decide, of course, I would advocate for the agri-food set to continue and build on the existing very good, interesting ways of working. But of course as you all know, the resources are scarce also within the Swedish ODA and there are very many needs to be met, et cetera, et cetera. So, but I'll follow the second part of this second phase and hopefully something could be done. And definitely very many good things have already been done through this project. So with this, thank you to all the presenters and all the others that have been involved in the country examples and to all of you that has organized this event in such a very nice way. Thanks a lot. Yes, a hand of applause. So as we wrap up, we'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who was involved in the event, the project members who took their time to write their submissions, the program team who guided in the editing and the writing of the report and for the partners for the tireless efforts in producing this report. We also want to express gratitude to all of you who made it online and in real life to attend this event. Thank you for joining us and for your continued interest and engagement in addressing the global food crisis. Thank you Blackbox for the seamless production and the work that you've done. Thank you very much. So everyone is welcome for lunch and networking and thank you very much. The report is online. You can contact any of the challenge members, even Sophia and the advisory board members. The contacts are there. Remember the report and any other information on the AgriForce program is available on slu.se forward slash AgriForce. Thank you and have a good day.