Business moguls and globul gurus step up for Farm Africa

20 August 2012

One of Britain’s most innovative charities, Farm Africa, has recruited to its board of trustees a new ‘powerhouse’ of business big hitters and leading practitioners and thinkers in global development.

Judith Batchelar, Director of Sainsbury’s Brand at the big-four supermarket  and publisher Charles Reed, owner and MD of William Reed Business Media, are both becoming trustees of the farming NGO.

The charity, whose patron and ambassador are globetrotters Michael Palin and Kate Adie, has also signed up top development experts and economists to its board.  Professor William Otim-Nape, Professor Ephraim Chirwa and Professor Jonathan Kydd are all joining the board.

“Farm Africa means business. It’s a different sort of charity, working to attack hunger, not with food aid, but with the agricultural innovation and business enterprise which can farm Africa out of famine. We create best-practice models of ‘green commerce’ that can triple harvests while conserving environmental resources. Our Board needs to be a powerhouse of expertise and the thought leadership, dynamism, flair, and acumen that these high-fliers bring to Farm Africa will be put to great use”, said Farm Africa chairman Martin Evans.

Against a background of climate change and global food shortages, Farm Africa’s mission to get subsistence farmers producing more food has never been more urgent.  The new trustees will help Farm Africa to achieve its ambitious target of doubling the number of rural people it reaches each year - and getting its best-practice farming models disseminated through private sector and government channels

Unlike many charities which spread their efforts widely, Farm Africa focuses only on agriculture and works solely in eastern Africa.  It puts the benefit of world-class research and innovation into the hands of subsistence farmers, and by skilling them up and connecting them to markets brings prosperity to rural Africa.

Judith Batchelar, a qualified biochemist and nutritionist, has 30 years’ experience in the food and drink industry.  Before joining Sainsbury’s she worked at Safeway, Mars, Bass, and Marks and Spencer, where she drove their health and well-being strategy. 

At Sainsbury’s, Judith is responsible for all the own-brand products and for championing fairer trade.

Charles Reed’s William Reed Business Media is a fifth-generation family-run business which provides market-leading business information and has a wide portfolio of magazines, including the food sector trade leader, “The Grocer”, plus websites, exhibitions, events, and high value data and insight.

Last year, Charles stepped up for Farm Africa by joining the UK food industry’s sponsored climb of Mount Kilimanjaro.  It raised a staggering £250,000 in aid of the charity.

William Reed Business Media’s flagship, “The Grocer”, was the media partner for the trek and raised both profile and funds for Farm Africa’s work.

 “There is a natural affinity between Farm Africa and the UK’s food and agriculture sector, and we very much value the support we get from key players and companies within the industry”, said Evans.

Professor William Otim-Nape, a plant scientist of international renown, helped restore Uganda’s food security by developing a resistant cassava strain following a blight of the staple food. His presence on Farm Africa’s board will greatly strengthen the organisation’s drive to boost food security across eastern Africa through the improved production, storage and marketing of crops. Professor Otim-Nape studied at ReadingUniversity, the Scottish Crops Research Institute, MakerereUniversity, Kampala and the JF Kennedy School of Government at HarvardUniversity. A former Director-General of Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Organisation, he has been publicly honoured for his scientific work. Professor Otim-Nape is the Founder and current Chairman of the Africa Innovations Institute.

Ephraim Chirwa, an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Malawi, has a particular interest in the performance of markets, in poverty and food security analysis and in technology adoption. He advises international organisations and governments and is widely published. Professor Chirwa’s expertise fits perfectly with Farm Africa’s strategy to help small scale farmers connect to markets and become the rural entrepreneurs of the future.

Jonathan Kydd is Dean of University of London International Programmes and Chief Executive of the University of London International Academy. Professor Kydd has a background in research management and has been an Acting Chair of UK Export Finance. He was Special Adviser for the House of Commons International Development Select Committee’s enquiry on agriculture and has held senior posts at Imperial College London, WyeCollege, the University of London and the Department of Economics of the University of Malawi.   

Notes for editors:

Founded in 1985, Farm Africa is a focused modern charity that works to end hunger and bring prosperity to rural Africa.  We believe that ‘farm aid’, not food aid, is the key to ending famine in a continent which possesses 60% of the world’s uncultivated land.

Farm Africa works in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda and concentrates solely on the areas of crops, livestock, forestry, and fish farming.

80% of rural Africans rely on farming for their living, but they often use traditional methods and lack access to soil improvers, drought and disease resistant plants, and water.  Farm Africa provides solutions to some of the key problems they face.

Providing tools, training, market links and new technology, Farm Africa specialists work directly with grassroots smallholders, herders, fish farmers and forest dwellers to modernise their methods, boost harvests, and create sustainable income on which greater health and wealth can be built without exploiting Africa’s fragile environment.

Farm Africa is a British charity with a small staff in London. The majority of its employees are highly-qualified eastern African locals who work alongside farmers providing on-the-spot training, advice and assistance.

For more information, photos, or interviews please call Ngaio Bowthorpe on 020 7430 0440

ngaio.bowthorpe@farmafrica.org.uk

Please visit the Farm Africa website www.farmafrica.org for information about our work, events and campaigns.